Adult Education Theories & Tools
Branch Out by Vrindy Spencer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Branch Out by Vrindy Spencer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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One trend in adult education is the addition of social emotional learning into curriculum and practice. I project that there will be more interest in bringing in curriculum, workshops, and/or facilitators to increase the SEL within various classrooms and work environments. I am interested in learning and preparing effective tools and techniques to facilitate programs that include SEL.
Responsible Decision-Making: The ability to make constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions based on ethical standards, safety concerns, and social norms. The realistic evaluation of consequences of various actions, and a consideration of the well-being of oneself and others.
I would like to incorporate elements of SEL in all workshops I create and facilitate. 3 Key SEL practices include: Welcoming rituals: Activities for inclusion (for example, check-ins) Engaging practices: Sense Making & "Brain Breaks" (for example, stretching breaks) Optimistic Closures: Reflections and Looking Forward (for example, closing reflections) One article, "What Makes SEL Work," discusses the 3 main "buckets" of skills: cognitive regulation, emotion, and interpersonal. Within my facilitation work, my focus is on the emotion and interpersonal.
One example of practice that the article shares that I would like to incorporate is called the "SECURe corner," a designated place for students go to manage their behaviour. I would like to include a section of the workbook I provide participants that has a feeling true to support them in articulating how they're feeling and worksheets or exercise ideas to help them self-regulate. I appreciate the idea that the article shares about the importance of education the adults within the education system as well as the children. I would like my students to be those educators.
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My "industry" is facilitating personal development through methods of: curriculum development, coordination, facilitating, training, and coaching My interest is taking principles such as positive psychology, whole-hearted living (Brene Brown), and self-actualization (Abraham Maslow), designing workshops and trainings around them, and facilitating these workshops in groups over a set time period that allows the positive effect of connecting with others to support each individual further.
The benefits of reviewing the statistics and trends are that they indicate the demographic of people who may be most interested in services in the future. Particularly, it seems as though middle-aged women that are able to have their coaching sponsored are the most likely participants
References International Coach Federation. (2016). 2016 ICF Global Coaching Study Executive Summary. Retrieved from: https://coachfederation.org/files/FileDownloads/2016ICFGlobalCoachingStudy_ExecutiveSummary.pdf
For my Liberal Arts degree at Quest University Canada, I studied the Question, "What conditions optimize a sense of belonging?" The answer came in clear: community-building Although I did not have any of the language at the time, I chose to teach myself curriculum development, program coordination, and group facilitation. I investigated, "How can I facilitate group intimacy?" and decided to design a community for community's sake. My mentors told me my task would be unsuccessful without another goal of the group. I did it anyway. The group, a collection of Quest students interested in taking part in meetings once a week to "explore and express authentic identity," was so successful that they decided to continue running the program for the second semester, after I completed my own project. I loved seeing hours spent on my own researching activities and group dynamics come to fruition through this beautiful community and intensely practicing my facilitation skills on-the-spot. However, I noted my lack of mentorship and efforts in reinventing the wheel. Fast forward to a year and a half later working on creating group-based personal development programs for adults, trying to find organizations to join that are aligned with my passions and skills, and looking for guidance...
I'm taking on the element of water: letting myself fall from the sky, soak into the soil, find roots, be gathered up by a greater tree than I could create, extend to its branches, and let myself be absorbed by the sky once again; learning along the entire way. I want to be part of a forest, so that when I plant my own seeds, I know just how the ground should feel. My next task is to design a curriculum for a new non-profit called Low Entropy
"We are a non-profit organization that provides free resources for those who may be seeking inspiration, meaning or purpose. We offer opportunities for growth, connection and self introspection. Through various free courses, support groups and one on one connections, we help each other come to a place of self-acceptance. This is the foundation for all meaningful relationships to flourish." My program will be an expansion of their current Conscious Connections meetings. I will combine my experience and skills of program development with their intentions and greater purpose. The 6 Social Learning Needs as described by an article on transferring neuroscience to elearning (citing a video on YouTube that applies neuroscience to business) are:
I find these ideas valuable in reflecting on designing and facilitating another online challenge or course. 1. Belonging to a Group: The video states: "If we don't know where we stand in a group. If we don't know why we're part of the group. Then a lot of our cognitive, thinking capacity goes towards trying to fit in." They support this concept through describing how everyone learns the same material and are valued members of the group. Within my online programs, I try to create a strong community and group dynamic that emphasizes the value of each individual. I ask participants to introduce themselves within the first activity and create partners or "buddies" so that participants are connected with another participant. I frame the material in terms of a collective experience. 2. Ability to Express: One suggestion from previous 30 Days of Growth was to have more platforms of expression and connection, such as video. I relate most to written communication and want to expand my programs to include various other possibilities of ways individual learners relate to material and feel most comfortable in expressing. I want dialogue with me and with the other participants to be easy and continuous for participants to ask questions, share experiences, and express themselves. 3. Ability to Compete (Accountability): I disagree with this idea of competition being inherent and beneficial in learning environments. The argument is that with competition, learners will be more motivated to pay attention and internalize their learning. I would rather use accountability instead of competition. With accountability, participants have clearly defined regulations and expectations that they can reach. In a way, accountability could be used as a tool to have internal "competitions" with improving themselves.
4. Ability to Support and Be Supported: Ideas for support include:
5. Ability to See: Content needs to be "relevant, useful, practical, comprehensive, succinct, organized, and engaging" It is better to translate abstract ideas into clearer concepts. I want each component of my programs to be directly transferable and relevant to the participants' lives. Typically I have ensured this through having each question be specifically directed towards participants' uncovering something about their life. However, I could also use methods of using video, infographics, charts, diagrams, or graphs to explain material. 6. Excitement about Applying Learning:
Ways to increase excitement about applying learning could be:
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AuthorI am passionate about creating experiences of personal growth for adults through self-reflection and connection with others in groups. Archives
March 2018
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