HOW TO TEACH ADULT LEARNERS

First of all, good afternoon to all, my Name is Susana and is my pleasure to present you this topic today.

OVERVIEW

I'd like to start stating something that I feel is important to remark: Teaching adult learners has many
potential advantages over teaching younger students. This type of learners have much more life
experiences and we can profit them in order to share them among the participants of the class.

However, it is a fact that we may not need to put the same effort into engaging your class that a
schoolteacher would, we still need to build a rapport with our learners and develop a teaching strategy
that maximizes the amount of information they are actually learning. Understanding the way adults
process and retain new knowledge is critical in order to create a learning experience that can help them
to be capable to handle the situations awaiting in the actual work environment

Which leads us in some strategies that may sound logic but in the practice are more complex than we
think.

Point number 1: Focus on your learners’ life experience. What does this mean exactly?

If you’re teaching an introduction of anything for beginners, don’t overwhelm them with jargon.

Use familiar terms and address them at an appropriate level for their experience, background, and age.
Sometimes using acronyms and buzzwords is the most appropriate way of teaching.

I understand that may be easy for the trainer to get carried away by the subject and start speaking with
a jargon that may be familiar for them but new for the trainees. Nobody likes to feel lost whenever
someone is explaining something and with a novice audience, too many new terms will only be
confusing.

We need to introduce the terminology in a way that the trainees can relation it to things in their
previous background.

Remember: the expert was always once a beginner. Be the teacher that you wish you had once you
begun to learn something.
Point number 2: Tell stories as you’re teaching

Can you recall when you were a kid? How we have been taught to recall the colors of the rainbow to the
order of notes in music? We learnt a lot of information by converting it into stories. Even now as adults
we still do the same. We need to Tie storytelling into real-world examples by talking about a time you
helped someone or the way you think you could have helped them.

Point number 3: Break up information to avoid cognitive overload

You can ensure that all learners follow your teaching, and build in time to recap each section and ensure
everyone is keeping up.

Highlight the key points of each lesson

Make a list or bullet points of each step of your class, and identify where individual sections begin and
end. If you do this in the case that you have to pause for any reason, or find the class discussion
wandered away from your original subject, it’s easy to return to your lesson plan and continue from
where you left off.

Point number 4: Provide feedback in the moment of need

When creating your online course, masterclass, seminar, or other offering, it’s a good idea to structure
your teaching so you have space for a recap and questions at the end of each section. This ensures that
your learners can keep up with your material and prevents anyone from being left behind

It is almost always better to interrupt your masterclass at the “moment of need” (the point at which the
mistake has been made) in order to set your learners on the right path, rather than circle back to it at a
later stage

Point number 5: Make your material stimulating and dynamic

It isn’t only children who find color and images appealing. If your handouts and slides are too plain they
become boring, and your learners’ minds will switch off. Instead, attract learners’ attention with the
judicious use of color, fonts, and pictures to highlight important information and boost the memorability
of your masterclass.

WARNING: too much color, or too many images, also detracts from your lesson. If your slides and
handouts are visually overwhelming, that can also turn learners off.

If you use slides or charts to illustrate your masterclass, choose powerful images, colors, and even fonts
that are evocative of particular emotions.
A

Point number 6: Encourage questions and discussion

Adult learners typically need to understand new material in the context of their own life experiences,
and one of the best ways to make those connections is by talking. Allowing your learners time to ask you
questions, and to discuss your lessons among each other, is a great way of helping cement your teaching
in their minds. It’s also a good time for you to spot any mistakes or incorrect assumptions your learners
are making, and by opening the floor to general questions you might find learners are approaching your
material in ways you hadn’t envisioned. This provides invaluable feedback and insight into your teaching
and gives you the opportunity to make adjustments in real time.

Point number 7: Be flexible

Unlike kids, adult learners don’t have to be kept to a rigid schedule to keep learning. Structuring your
courses is a great idea, both to keep you on track and to help frame your lessons in a logical, progressive
way. However, you can afford to allow short breaks and discussions without your learners losing track of
what you were teaching.

Trust in your learners’ enthusiasm for your subject, and their passion for learning from you. Many
schoolteachers are addressing a captive audience who would rather be elsewhere, and turning your
back for five minutes can quickly result in conversation moving away from the class material and toward
something more interesting. When you host a masterclass for adult learners, you and your lessons are
the most interesting thing. This means you can relax a little and let your masterclass flow more naturally.

Broadening the scope of discussion during a learning experience is also a great way of understanding
how your learners are interacting with your teaching, and what information they’re really taking away
from your class. Listen with an open mind and you can learn a lot about becoming a better educator. If
you immediately close any discussion you think isn’t relevant, you’ll never understand where the original
connection to your material came from.

Ultimately, you control and lead your class, so don’t be afraid to make the call to get back on schedule
once you think general discussion has gone on long enough. But by opening the floor to your adult
learners, they can teach you as much about being an edupreneur as you can teach them about your
subject.