Core Competency 1: Developing Discipline-Related Teaching Strategies

Description

EAD 861- Adult Learning is a valuable course for educators within any filed and especially sport and exercise psychology-related disciplines. Adults are learning all the time from a variety of sites and programs. Coaches learn from their athletes' feedback and athletes learn from their previous performance. An increased number of students from diverse age groups in this field are pursuing their degrees in higher education. The more we understand adult learning, the better we can be as practitioners who design and facilitate learning activities for adults. EAD 861 provides fundamental knowledge and experience in adult learning.

Artifacts

EAD 861 - Adult Learning

Artifacts Rationale

The syllabus for EAD 861 is available in Google Doc form just as it was for the course. It provides a quick glance at the course landscape which covered topics giving students opportunities to explore who adult learners are, why they learn, how they learn, and the relationship between learning and development. With formal knowledge, students will engage in critical thinking and apply the concepts of adult learning to real world scenarios and design adult learning experiences.

Materials Developing during Course

EAD 861 - Adult Learning Materials

Rationale for Materials

This document is a summary of the work completed throughout the course. Within this document, there are some learning resources, including 1) Reading reflection to selected questions, 2) essays/medium for each module. These materials showcase my process of gaining insight into adult learning and ability to think critically on issues associated with adult learning.

Interpretation/Reflection

Completing this course is critical to be an instructor in college now and in the future. The emphasis on adult learning is particularly relevant as students in college are adult learners. Teaching adults is different from teaching children. Adult learners have different characteristics: they need meaningful learning; they are autonomous, independent, and self-directed; their previous experiences are a rich learning resource; their readiness to learn is related to a transition point or a need to perform a task; they are intrinsically motivated. Since teaching should be based on students’ needs and characteristics, traditional teacher-directed education does not work well for adult learners. Adult learners are the center of policy and practice in adult learner-centered institutions, which are characterized by flexibility and individuation for self-directed adults. This course offers students an opportunity to think about their role in teaching adults. Teaching adults can be more like a facilitator instead of knowledge giver.

This course covered a series of topics and each of them was reinforced by the instructor through course design and continuous feedback he provided. It is organized around four modules, including: 1) conceptualizing adult learning, 2) adult as learner, or learner as adult, 3) How adults learn and approaches to facilitate learning, 4) critical, non-western, global perspective on adult learning. Within these topics, we not only explored the different ideas underlying the terms “adult learners” and “adult learning, and what they entail, but also examined some dominant perspectives about what constitutes ‘adults’ as learners and their development. Additionally, we considered the concept “learning in adulthood in both U.S. and non-U.S. contexts”. The primary activity for this course was writing papers, which includes a movie analysis, a narrative analysis, a designing and facilitating learning paper, and a medium essay. By completing these activities, students realized that adult learning is more than formal learning which happen in formal education system. Informal learning is a defining feature of adult learning, which occurs in everyday life. Furthermore, students were required to redesign a course/workshop that has traditionally been taught in a teacher-centered, lecture format mode. Thus, AED 861 not only helps students get a deeper understanding of adult learning, but also apply their knowledge to improve their teaching in real life.

At the beginning of this course, I was embarrassed by how little I knew about adult learning from both the perspective of the students and teacher. Taking this course has greatly expanded my knowledge on adult learning. Below are two picture that I chose to represent my understand of adult learning before and after taking this course.

I consider adult learning as an approach to becoming a lifelong learner. With the rapid development of modern society, it is necessary for people to keep learning and updating their knowledge and skills. Unlike children and youth learning, adult learning means having more autonomy and is associated with great percentage of self-teaching.

At the beginning of the class, I chose a picture about an individual learning through his/her life by reading. After learning this course, I leaned that adult learning is more than just learning from formal education. Informal learning, especially learning from experience, is an important characteristic of adult learning. The above picture clearly showcases daily experience help us bridge the gap between theories and real life. The context and support from other people are also included, which is we have emphasized many times when talking about experiential learning. Adult learning is a process of internalizing everyday experiences and creating new meaning to support their ability to navigate future world.