DE with Adult Learners

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Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:1392] DE with adult learners
From: jataylor (jataylor_at_utk.edu)
Date: Thu Apr 15 2004 - 16:59:22 EDT

Hello All,
Wow, have we completely exhausted the subject of online PD? Surely not! :-) Eileen, Nickie, Debra, Duren, and others have brought up some good points this week, and I hope we continue exploring the issues. We have covered a lot of territory, but what opportunities for learning have we yet to explore? Is there anything you have encountered in your experience that might help us better understand professional development online?

As one example, does anyone subscribed to this list have experiences with providing distance education for adult learners? If so, please tell us about it.

In what ways is providing distance education for adult learners similar/different than for teachers? What might we - as professional developers - learn about providing online PD from what is being learned about providing distance education for adult learners?

Best, Jackie

Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:1393] RE: DE with adult learners
From: Patricia Duffley-Renow (pduffley_at_utk.edu)
Date: Thu Apr 15 2004 - 17:20:44 EDT

Hello to all,
Please keep in mind when doing any type of training that the format you use is accessible. Recently two of my students enrolled in an online course at a major university and they could not access the course because of all the bells and whistles. I have several references that give ideas how to accomplich this if anyone would like to have them. Patricia Duffley-Renow

Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:1394] Re: knowing what works?
From: Eileen Eckert (eileeneckert_at_hotmail.com)
Date: Thu Apr 15 2004 - 17:56:01 EDT

Hi Duren,
I think this is a perennial question--how to set goals when you don't know the full array of options (or don't know what the options are at all). I think it can help to ask people what it is that frustrates them or keeps them up at night, and use that to direct attention to certain parts of a course, or questions to keep in mind as they participate. Goal-setting doesn't have to be a one-shot deal either; it can start with a "fuzzy" goal that comes into focus as it is re-visited throughout the course.

Maybe goal isn't even the best word. I remember reading some studies that found when people come into a course with a specific goal, they direct their attention narrowly to meet that goal, whereas when they come with a non-specific goal their attention is more broadly distributed and they may get more out of it because they're not sorting relevant from irrelevant based on that specific goal and thereby screening out lots of potentially good information.

Maybe this is a question of re-visiting, in dialogue, the needs, interests, and learning experiences of the participants as well as delivering the content. I know it bugs me when learners figuratively sit back and wait for me (the teacher) to offer them something they deign to accept as useful--it doesn't happen often, but when it does I feel like I'm supposed to be an entertainer (and it should come as no surprise that I'm not one). Part of that attitudinal change starts with awareness: so you're here because your supervisor recommended it, but now that you are here, it's your choice to make the experience worthwhile or not. Were we talking about teachers or ABE students? Some similarities there maybe. But this goes back to the discussion board and dialogue being the heart of the course for me.

Eileen

Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:1395] Re: DE with adult learners
From: Eunice Askov (ena1_at_psu.edu)
Date: Thu Apr 15 2004 - 19:29:39 EDT

Jackie, on the issues of adult learners' using online instruction, Jere Johnston, Leslie Petty, Shannon Young, and I wrestled with these issues in writing "Expanding Access to Adult Literacy through Online Distance Education." This monograph, funded by the US Dept. of Education, is downloadable from the NCSALL web site <www.gse.harvard.edu/~ncsall/research/occas.htm>. We described practices recommended in Project IDEAL, informed primarily by experimentation in PA, as well as in Australia which takes several different approaches to implementing online distance education for adult learners. We hope the monograph will be useful to teachers and program administrators as they struggle with the issues around online distance education for adult learners. It might also inform those involved in online professional development of teachers. Nickie Askov, Penn State

Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:1396] Re: DE with adult learners
From: jataylor (jataylor_at_utk.edu)
Date: Thu Apr 15 2004 - 23:39:50 EDT

Hi Nickie, Jerome, and All,
Nickie, you mentioned that you and the other authors wrestled with the issues of distance education for adult learners. You also alluded to issues in the monograph that may in fact, help inform online professional development.

One reason why I tend to schedule discussions like these to formally end on Mondays, is to allow room for reflection over the last weekend of a discussion. Would you and Jerome care to expand a bit on some of the points either of you found to be significant from the monograph - as it might relate to professional development? I realize we could probably spend at least an entire week or two discussing this aspect with the both of you; (and would be so inclined!) however, I do know that yours and Jere's time is limited. Given the discussion over the last couple of weeks, are there things that stand out to the both of you from the monograph that would add to this discussion?

Thanks so much for all of your contributions. :) I think I can safely say that many of us have learned a lot from the experiences that all have had to offer.

Best,

Jackie

Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:1397] RE: DE with adult learners
From: Jane Mencer (jmencer_at_famlit.org)
Date: Fri Apr 16 2004 - 08:31:56 EDT

I was heavily involved in the state of Kentucky's rollout of three online curricula for adult learners. It was a rocky road since so few had traveled it before us. What stands out in my mind for lessons learned include the following:

A. It is imperative that the instructors who facilitate the learners'progress have a working understanding of the computer, the products, and their role as distance educators. Accomplishing this is no small feat!
B. Readily available technical support accessible in multiple forms is a must (for example, online and by phone). Those staffing the help lines must know not only about computer use but about the specifics of the curriculum product as well.
C. Introducing the learner to online learning in person (face-to-face) is ideal.

Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:1398] DE or e learning?
From: Frances Keenan (fkeenan_at_pbs.org)
Date: Fri Apr 16 2004 - 17:02:14 EDT

I would suggest that we not equate online education with distance education. Learning online is just that. A teacher may be nearby or not. A learner may be in a lab, a classroom, at home. Sometimes a learner may be at a distance from her teacher, but not necessarily.

Recently, I saw the term e-learning used. I think that would be a broader way to talk about computer based learning. There are lots of issues related to teaching via computer! Distance education issues are just one set (and are not always determined by the delivery technology).

This discussion on online professional development has been great! Kudos to Jackie for stellar facilitation!

Fran
PBS Project CONNECT
www.pbs.org/esl

Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:1399] Re: DE with adult learners
From: Eunice Askov (ena1_at_psu.edu)
Date: Fri Apr 16 2004 - 19:47:15 EDT

Jackie, my hope is that readers will go to the NCSALL web site <www.gse.harvard.edu/~ncsall/research/occas.htm> and download the monograph for themselves to read about the issues related to delivering online distance education to adult learners. We are assuming in using the term "distance education" that learners and the teacher are separated geographically. The purpose in offering instruction online is to expand access to adults who otherwise would not be able to engage in instruction. (Project IDEAL found in the Pennsylvania experiment that the learners in the online program were not the same as those in their face-to-face programs. These learners tended to be employed and unavailable for classroom instruction.)

We approached the issues of instruction from a constructivist learning theoretical framework. We believe that a good teacher is a facilitator of learning. Learners learn best if provided applications from real life in problem-based learning instruction. The role of the teacher, therefore, does change in online learning. Hence, there is definitely a need for online professional development. One of the best ways to learn how to teach online is to experience it!

We also contrasted the governmental approaches to implementing online distance education in the US and Australia. In the US the federal government and other organizations have funded large curriculum development projects so that students could engage in multi-media instruction, some of which includes online learning. In Australia the approach varies across the states with some taking a more centralized approach and others more homegrown. However, the federal investment has been in the professional development of teachers rather than in the development of multi-media instructional projects. Teachers are funded to develop a small online project (or to work with technologists who do the technical work). After that experience they are then funded to become mentors of other teachers who are just beginning online instruction. That is the major difference that we see in policy.

Jackie, thanks for your skillful facilitation. We appreciate having the opportunity to explore these issues in depth. Nickie Askov, Penn State

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