T E a C H a D U Lt S

How to Teach Adults About the Author How to William A. Draves is an internationally recognized teacher, author and consultant, and one of the foremost authorities on t e a c H adult learning. He is President of the Learning Resources Network (LERN), the world’s a d u l t s leading association in lifelong learning with more than 5,000 members. Draves is the most-quoted expert on lifelong learning by the nation’s media, William A. Draves having been interviewed by The New William A. Draves York Times, BBC, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, NBC Nightly News, and Wired.com, among others. He holds a master’s degree in adult education from The George Washington University in Washington, DC. With co-author Julie Coates he has also written Education in the 21st Century, and their classic work Nine Shift: Work, Life and Education in the 21st Century. He is also author of Advanced Teaching Online and well as Energizing the Learning Environment. A popular speaker, he has keynoted conferences in Russia, Japan, Australia, England, Slovenia, and throughout Canada and the United States. WilliAm A. DrAves LERN “If you want to teach adults successfully and enjoy ably, this is the book to have at hand.” Ronald Gross, author of The Lifelong Learner “A marvelously comprehensive and practical guide to teaching adults. Useful for frequent reference.” Allen Tough, author of The Adults Learning Projects “A down-to-earth book dealing with reality. There are many specifics that will be helpful to the experienced practitioner as well as to the beginner.” Leonard Nadler, author of Developing Human Resources “A book which is useful to all adult education teach ers- beginning and experienced. Draves writes in a very readable style with jargon-free language.” Donald W. Mocker, in The Adult Learning Review of Books How to t e a c H a d u l t s William a. Dr aves Fourth Edition Revised fourth edition, copyright © 2014. First edition copyright ©1984 by William A. Draves. Second edition copyright © 1997. Third edition copyright © 2007.All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the au thor except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and articles. Manufactured in the United States of America. Published by LERN Books, a division of the Learning Resources Network (LERN), P.O. Box 9, River Falls, Wisconsin 54022, U.S.A. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Draves, William A., 1949- How To Teach Adults, fourth edition Bibliography: p. 1. Adult education. LC5215.D73 1984 ISBN: 1-57722-034-X Manufactured in the United States of America 7 6 5 4 3 2 Preface to the Fourth Edition Since the first edition was published, the popularity of How To Teach Adults has been continuous and steady. Sales have topped 100,000. The book has been translated into Japanese. Institutions have ordered hundreds of copies of How To Teach Adults for all their teachers. People in all walks of life use the book, from in structors of professional training courses, to those doing avocational and leisure-learning subjects. Within the genre of books on the teaching of adults, this book has continued to maintain its relevance and its place as one of the crucial texts of the genre. While the author professes only to be a good teacher among equals, it is the continuing praise for the book from teachers that is most gratifying. The fourth edition consists of updates, revisions and additions. It also contains two more significant additions. First, in this edition we predict and plan for every in-person course to become a hybrid course. As a result, in this edition, we integrate tips and techniques for incorporating online learning and teaching features into traditional face-to-face courses. Second, improving completion rates in higher education is now an urgent issue of crucial impor- tance, along with the reality that most college students are now non-traditional students. Thus, there is a new section on Teaching Adults in Higher Education for those of you who are teaching in higher education. The new edition neither negates nor neglects anything of sub stance in the first three editions. The successful practices and techniques remain the same; the act of teaching continues to be a mixture of some basic principles and how-to techniques, and there is still no one best way to teach adults. Luckily for all of us, there is still room and necessity for “the art of teaching,” for creativity, for individuality, for the uniqueness of you as a teacher in the company of your learners to make learning a joyous, wonderful experience. Acknowledgments As a journalist in adult learning, I am indebted first to those who have made this story: teachers, past and present; including those who have taught me and those I interviewed for this book. Those who have written before me include mid-century great masters, such as J.R. Kidd and Gilbert Highet. And there are those more recent great masters whom it has been my privilege and honor to know personally, such as Malcolm Knowles and Jerry Apps. And there are my equals, thousands of other teachers from whom I have learned much. Finally, I want to thank Julie Coates for her support and her example of a teacher without equal. How to Teach Adults Chapter 1. Introduction .............................................................................. 1 A Different Kind of Teacher; Why You Should Read This Book; An Invitation to Teach Part I. How We Learn Chapter 2. How Adults Learn ................................................................... 7 Emotional Characteristics; Physical Characteristics; Mental Characteristics; Social Characteristics; Motivation to Learn Chapter 3. Helping Adults Learn ........................................................... 19 Attributes of a Good Teacher; Skills You Should Have; Steps in Positive Teaching Chapter 4. Tackling Learning Styles ...................................................... 27 Sensory Learning; Styles Gender Learning Styles; Generational Learning Styles; Ethnic and Cultural Learning Styles; Neurological Learning Styles Part II. Developing Your Course Chapter 5. How Knowledge is Now Organized ...................................... 37 Course Content is Now Unlimited; Course Content Goes Deeper, Not Down; Course Content is Best Organized by Units; Course Content Can Be Posted Online and Become Permanent and Reusable; Course Content and Resources Online Can be Shared Chapter 6. Preparing The Course ........................................................... 43 Goals, Objectives, and End Results; Amount of Material; Slant or Approach; Materials Preparation; Overstructuring Chapter 7. Building Hybrid Courses ....................................................... 53 Less class time; More discussion time; Getting Training; Technical Help; Where to Start; Build one feature at a time Chapter 8. Discovering Your Participants ............................................. 61 Finding Out Who Your Participants Are; Meeting Participant Expectations; The First Class; Preparing for the First Class; Step by Step; Ice Breakers Chapter 9. Involving Your Participants .................................................. 73 Students as Participants; Ways to Involve Learners; The Teachable Moment; Dropouts; Adjusting to Different Expectations; Emailing or Texting Participants Chapter 10. Varying Your Teaching Techniques ................................... 81 Modes of Teaching; Leading a Discussion; Online Discussions; Making Presentations; Online Presentations; How to Ask a Good Question; Arranging People; Out-of-Class Experiences Chapter 11. Energizing the Learning Environment ............................. 97 The Learning Room; Teaching Tools; Devices and Aids; Other High Tech; Reading Lists, Handouts, and Exercises; The Natural Environment; Learning Mediums Part III. Improving Your Teaching Chapter 12. Measuring Results ............................................................. 113 Defining Terminal Goals; Assessing Entering Knowledge; Assessing Learning; Kinds of Assessments; Decline of Time-Based Assessment; Guidelines for Constructing Tests Chapter 13. Improving Your Course ................................................... 123 Fail Early, Fail Often; How to Improve Your Course; How to do an evaluation; Surveying Your Participants; Generating Testimonials Part IV. Teaching Adults in Higher Education Chapter 14. How Younger People Learn Differently........................... 131 Collaborative Learning; Students Create Content; Learning from your Students; Peak Learning Time; Self-discipline; Every student is treated differently; Peer engagement; Rework is Encouraged Chapter 15. Enabling Learning and Completion ................................ 137 Stop; Start; Give Your Smart Students Equal Attention; The Top 10 Solutions to Increasing Completion Rates Chapter 16. Gender Differences in Learning ....................................... 147 Twenty percent crossover; The Impact of Neurological Differences; The Female Brain; The Male Brain; The Fundamental Difference; Females are superior in language skills; Males are superior in spatial skills; Males and females test equally; The implications for teachers Chapter 17. Grading in the 21st Century.............................................. 153 Measure outcomes, not time; No grading on the curve; Enact Gender Neutral Grading; Test when ready; Grade learning, not behavior Chapter 18. Summary ...........................................................................

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