Wie balancieren Sie die Rolle von Trainer und Moderator in der Andragogie aus?

The use of spaced repetition is one of the key elements that must be factored in and utilized when working with adult learners. Don't treat them like children.

One thing I have found helpful is to reassess the way I am sharing information based on the needs of the adult learners. For example, even though I am fundamentally sharing the same information, I may frame it differently if I am speaking to a room full of Career Counsellors, as opposed to if I am speaking to a room full of Parents of college kids.

An example of how I've gotten to know my learners early in the process is by doing activities that would allow them to speak about their previous work and learning experience, their strengths, and expectations. Sometimes, I would have the learners interview each other and ask a few questions about their personal and professional lives; this would allow people to share experiences with each other and the group, and to connect at a deeper level. It also provided me with valuable information early in the learning process to assess the class individually and collectively and come up with a strategy.

Adult learning encompasses a wide array of diverse and meaningful experiences, addressing a variety of personal and professional needs. As an Independent Domestic Abuse Advocate (IDDA), I focus on delivering DA awareness training to adults from all walks of life, including professionals, any agencies /orgs, or the public. I also share my own DA journey and feedback shows (survey monkey sent after training) that this makes a tangible difference in the lives of those I train.. This training aims to empower participants with the knowledge and tools needed to understand and address domestic abuse effectively, whether in their personal/professional roles. I aim to create safe, relatable, awareness in order to save lives.

Planning relevant activities for your training session is essential. Adults need to interact with the information learned, they need time to practice and put theory and practice together. Lecture, or reading alone is not sufficient to ensure a full understanding of the information and how to apply it all to their daily duties.

I have found in order to increase retention, it is really important to always integrate why they need to learn the specific process or sit in the meeting. Always design the content around what is changing and how it will affect their work.

It can be helpful to have a poll at the beginning of a training session where attendees can rate their comfort level with the topic. Having this information enables the trainer to tailor content on the fly to ensure they engage all learners.

In my experience, this is true of most adult learners. An example of this in practice occurred at the last team retreat that I facilitated for my department. We were looking at journey maps for adult learnings in the California community college system, and to tee up the discussion we began with an exercise in which team members took turns describing their journey from learner to earner to two others in their peer groups. What resulted after vivacious discussions were shared insights into the myriad paths that exist in one's career trajectory, a readiness to dive deeper into the topic, and stronger connections with coworkers. Facilitating an open discussion prior to the presentation made the exercise much more impactful.

In my experience it is important to be open and honest up front and get to know everyone’s behavior and learning styles. By doing so you can make sure you tailor your coaching/teaching to all.

This is great advice. Part of being an effective teacher is respecting the different ways that students learn. While you need to be aware of your learner's learning preferences, you should not hesitate to challenge them to learn in other ways that may not come as easy to them, but could serve as important complements to their academic skill set. I am an advocate for using multiple approaches for learning and always look for multiple ways to solve a problem. In the end, variety is key and as a facilitator you need to have a wide variety of tools in your tool box for your learners.

I find that this is difficult to do as most companies consider training as "done" once the learner leaves the classroom. Scheduling meaningful follow-up sessions is often difficult as the learner is now assigned to a team and a regular schedule on the production floor.

Instructors in adult education need to recognize the difference between training content and training process. The first is a focus on effective teaching methodologies, lesson plans, having an understanding of the knowledge being taught. The second is the real-time focus on whether and how well the students are learning, both the knowledge being passed and the skills derived from that knowledge. The first requires the instructor to apply the skills of a mentor. The second requires the skills of a coach. Most instructor training focuses on teaching skills but assumes the instructors already have learning process skills. This leads to decrements in learning for many students.