In the article "Quick Tips for a Senior Friendly Classroom," the writer goes through many tips useful for teaching an older audience. Many of these tips can be applied to anyone though, so in my opinion its important that everyone in the class read this article as it can affect future training projects (that, and its been assigned to us).
The writer breaks down the learning process into 5 steps, 4 of which are useful when teaching anyone and the last step is useful for teaching anyone with disabilities. There are some specific guidelines under these steps that are useful for teaching older adults.
The writer describes step 1 as creating an environment for learning. One way to do this is to put students at ease about the technology they are using. I have seen this on a first hand basis: often times adults lament at how easily their children or grandchildren (or great grandchildren) learn new technologies. They say that "an old dog can't learn new tricks." This is absolutely incorrect though, the reason younger people are so adept with technology is because they are willing to try new things without worrying of the consequences. Adults are generally afraid to break something and therefore take precautions that interfere with learning.
Step 2 is to present the information clearly. The most valuable thing I gathered out of that was to avoid using indefinite referents (this, that, it). This is something I do all the time and by the time I am finished speaking its no longer clear what this, that, or it is.
Step 3 is to keep the students focused. One of the most important things to take out of this is the idea of passing handouts out before the lesson they are relevant to. This is one thing I have admittedly never thought of. It really is a great idea and keeps people from reading ahead and not paying attention to what you are talking about.
Step 4 covers one area that I'm I strongly believe in - retaining information and specifically hands on practice. I've never been a good learner listening to someone lecture about a technical idea but not being able to put those ideas in practice. The article reiterates my belief that hands on practice helps an older adult retain information.
The final step has to do with accommodating physical changes. I pretty much knew most of this, but I had never thought about the fact that seniors often get colder than younger people and that we should recommend they bring a sweater.
The article was very useful in explaining ways to train older adults. Despite the focus on seniors though, this article can also be applied to any sort of training with some adjustments
No comments:
Post a Comment