CIL10: Teaching Adults: Getting and Keeping Attention

with Rebecca Jones

• 80/20 rule...will never reach 20% of peeps! Acccept it
• learn how adults learn
• if you want to learn s/t, teach a course on it
• how do you make training fun / interactive
• need to stimulate people...make them have fun
• problem with most courses is too much information!!!
• do "book ends"...prep / content / follow up
• 7 peeps in workshop -- wide variety of backgrounds
  

The trainer's role is...

• facilitation
• communication (two way street -- talk and listen)
• guide (to what their level of understanding needs to be)
  
• development
• teach people to fish

• get people to talk / interact...so they feel more comfortable / relaxed...when you hear yourself speak within first 15 mins, you're more likely to be engaged throughout the session
• also get people physically moving around (eg. post-it on the wall)...helps engage physical learners
  

How do adults engage in anything?...(we will get deeper in to these points)

• foundation
• preparation
  
• selection
• application

Guidelines for today: (always set ground rules...helps to deal with conflict)...good idea to do tent card name tags with guidelines on the back (facing people)

• SOT (start on time, stop on time, stay on topic)
• respect the 5 minute "T" zone (time out / tangent)
• be here
• be willing to try
• respect differing opinions and styles
• actively listen (no side convos etc...)
  
• enjoy mutually funny humour
• use the parking lot...and visit it at the end of the course / session

So what IS the trainer's role?

• not to "tell"
• you're the tour guide
• tour peeps through a way of doing things...can apply in their own way
• not to persuade...give them a taste

Try to start with a common point...
"What are your objectives?...ask people what they want to learn / know.

Acknowledge peeps' starting point...basic set of knowledge. Very important to acknowledge what people already know. Good slide with circles..."acknowledge their starting points" ...can use that as pre-work...gives you a good starting point

• remember there are a wide variety of learning styles...could be a disconnect btw how you like to learn and how you like to teach!!!
• "what's in it for me?"...sometimes people want to be acknowledged...could say, "I haven't heard from you for a while and I wanted to check in with you...is everything ok?"

Training vs. presenting

• training more interactive
• very different (but a fine line)
  
• training = engaging / interacting...cover it, engage, cover it, engage...clarify what's important in what.s being covered
• training = clarifying...cleaning the windshield (nice analogy)

Foundation:

• training is not about us, it's about the peeps you are training
• training is about the participants, and they're adults

Adults:

• decide for themselves what is important to learn
• need to validate the info based on their beliefs and values
• expect what they're learning will be immediately useful
• have substantial experience upon which to draw
• may have fixed viewpoints
• have the ability to serve as a knowledgeable resource to the trainer and fellow learners

Adult learning depends on:

• readiness
• participation
• linked/relevant/self direction
• safe, mistake-welcome environment
• clear connections to existing knowledge
• appeal to learning styles
• clarity and succinctness
  

Learning styles:

• visual...graphics/drawings/colours/taking notes
• auditory...lectures/group discussions/stories/sound or word clues
• kinesthetic...movement/hands-on/role playing/just do it/lots of breaks

• 10 mins = max attention span
• do 10 min chunks of content/content/activity

icebreakers:

• engage people
• relieves tension
• introduces people
• gets you thinking about the topic

eg. from RJ (did at an innovation type workshop): hand out hula hoops...brain storm ways to use at the library...more ideas the more people you talk to ...lesson = talk to people, and get new ideas!!!

eg. from Melissa McIntyre...for BI classes...hands out little M&M packages, picks a colour...how ever many of that colour you have, say that many nifty things about yourself

Resistance...
identify it and deal with it...if someone is pushing, don't push back...say, "You're really quiet, is there a reason?"...or "You seem to know a lot abou this topic, would you like to share'''"

Check-ins...
fab idea for the end of a workshop...what did you learn? what surprised you from today's session?...can you summarize what we covered today?

Personal action plan:

• do an ice breaker at FB101 classes
• add a worksheet component to FB101 handouts...eg. a place for peeps to note their un and pw...(record, but keep private)...or maybe brainstorm ideas how they could see using FB...