Online Course: Designing Contextualized Instruction

Update! The Adult Career Pathways online courses are now available on LINCS!

LINCS is adding the opportunity for professional development for its members in the form of a series of optional online courses developed by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education’s initiative Adult Career Pathways. These online courses are self-paced, freely available, and accessible 24 hours a day through the LINCS Learning Portal. The courses will enable users to work at their own pace, at a time that is most convenient to them. 

 

Online Course: Designing Contextualized Instruction

The Designing Contextualized Instruction online course helps teachers understand contextualized instruction and its supporting research base and discover how to use the contextual model of instruction to develop adult career pathways courses, and how to identify and overcome common challenges in developing contextualized instruction.  The course is self-paced and features three modules: (1) Understanding Contextualized Instruction; (2) Building Contextualized Lessons; and (3) Overcoming Development Challenges. The modules link to this discussion thread (Title: Online Course: Designing Contextualized Instruction) within the LINCS Community Career Pathways group to provide opportunities for you to discuss how to apply the course information in your teaching with your colleagues from around the country.

Use this discussion thread to post your responses to questions below from the online course, Designing Contextualized Instruction. Please share your comments to any of the following questions, or post a general comment or feedback on the course:

1. Introduce yourself.

2. Share your tips and best practices for techniques, strategies and resources that help you refresh your knowledge and enhance your skills.

3. Share your experience developing and using rubrics to evaluate your students’ learning.

4. After watching the two videos on contextualize teaching and learning, consider and respond to the following:

  • What is the role of the teachers in the program?
  • How would you describe the teachers’ attitudes toward teaching contextually?
  • What methods are used to deliver the instruction?
  • How would you describe the reactions of the learners to contextual teaching methods and strategies? How do their comments compare with those of your learners?
  • To what do you attribute the attitudes of learners in the video?

5. Share your lesson plans, courses, activities and curricula that contain ABE or ESL content, as well as content related to a specific career pathway.

6. Discuss your newly acquired knowledge and learn about others’ experiences in designing contextualized instruction to enhance their ACP programs.

 

This online course was developed under the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education’s Designing Instruction for Career Pathways initiative under Contract No. ED-CFO-10-A-0072/0001, which developed and delivered trainings and online courses to adult education providers in order to increase the quality and quantity of adult career pathways programs.

 

The new LINCS Learning Portal offers adult educators free online professional development courses from a variety of OVAE initiatives. Join today at: https://courses.lincs.ed.gov.

Comments

I do recommend this course if you are wondering how to include pathways to an existing adult education or technical program.  It contains some very helpful materials and useful links.  However, many links which would, I feel, have given valuable examples or context-driven CP instructional design are dead ends, so it would be helpful if LINCS would update them.

Hi! I teach a broad math skills course at the Unemployment Office in our area. It has been a rewarding experience.  I have had very positive response from the clients who are attending my course.  One student said she learned more math in this class than in all the math classes she ever took. 

I have so much to learn about how to bring more contextualized learning into my classroom.  I  

JoAnn

Hi!  I teach at our local Unemployment office.  I have students from various career fields.  I try to use contextualize word problems and activities.  I need to add to my list of activities and make files on blackboard to provide useful contextualized material in each of the math concept areas.  I have much work to do.

JoAnn

To Answer the following questions:

  • What is the role of the teachers in the program?  Facilitator/coordinator; a knowledgeable guide to finding, developing, and applying knowledge 
  • How would you describe the teachers' attitudes toward teaching contextually?   The instructor knows teaching contextually increases the speed of learning. 
  • What methods are used to deliver the instruction?  Inquiry, discovery, applied learning and methods
  • How would you describe the reactions of the learners to contextual teaching methods and strategies?   Students really gain motivation to learn the concepts used and taught.
  • How do their comments compare with those of your learners?  When I do not use contextualize activities, they grow tired  and disinterested.
  • To what do you attribute the attitudes of learners in the video?  The learners see the end goal.

Hi, Jomalis. Apparently you took the LINCS course, Designing Contextualized Instruction, which led you here. If not, let us know so that we can respond accordingly. I'll drop in a couple of cents worth to invite you to reflect on the concept of contextualization. There are many ways to look at the process. One common interchangeable term used to describe the contextualization process is "integration." That might provide you with another way of considering the process. 

The goal of integration (contextualization) in to integrate the adult into learning academic skills in the context of his life: his goals, interests, or experience. Adults learn when new material connects to their lives. Contextualization is designed to do that. 

Take writing development, an area that is mightily feared by underprepared students. So often, students were stuck, and still are, in writing classes that discuss grammar issues (verbs, parts of speech, sentence structure, punctuation), writing organization (topics sentences, thesis statements, details), and support (research and citations). Result? most students dropped out. Some who didn't only succeeded after semesters of taking remedial writing courses. What a drag. Or take math, another feared academic area. In those classes students were, and still often are, stuck learning/reviewing basic concepts (basic operations, fractions, percentage, ratios, proportions, decimals) and applying those concepts in additional dreaded areas of algebra and now, I hear, even trigonometry. The results have been similar to those found by teaching writing concepts our of context, as I described above. We lose students. 

Probably, the thrust behind the current movement to contextualize originated with WIOA and its emphasis on accelerating workforce preparation. However, the approach, which has a much longer history, has other benefits beyond workplace prep; it also extends to broader areas of context that include student interests and experiences that are not necessarily related to the workplace. 

When you create contextualized/integrated curricula or plans, start by becoming very familiar with the context you will use to hook students: job interest, life skills (resumes, payment interests, consumer issues, and so forth). Analyze the reading, writing, and computational skills required in those areas at different levels. For example, the math required for getting a CDL license is very different than that required of a nurse. The reading and writing terms and communication demands also vary considerably between those two occupational interests. The next step is to find quality materials that provide the training-relevant content for teaching the skills required to meet the interest, and then emphasize the academic skills that are required to complete that training. Focus on teaching academic skills within the context of the topic selected. 

What about other skills that are not covered in the selected area of context? My take? Let the student take if from there. Once adults are engaged and recognize how to learn, they can continue to meet new challenges and to find resources that will help them get there. The important aspect of contextualization, again, is the integration of the student in the learning content. 

I hope that others will add their thoughts or resources to address your question. Leecy

Leecy Wise, Moderator
Reading and Writing CoP
leecywise@gmail.com

Hi, I'm the Learning Center Coordinator at Five Towns CSD Adult Ed.  I teach, tutor, plan, and schedule.  It's pretty much all me in the Learning Center.  New to the job this year and really enjoying it.  

Role of teachers in this video is to be the facilitator to get to know their students, really get to know them.  Connect with their students, and the teachers seem to have found their love of teaching again, the way the students have found their love of learning again.  It really seems like everyone loves being at the school.  The students sound like the sky is the limit for them now as they learn through hands on learning with their career pathway as their motivation and their guide.  

I love using rubrics.  I think it is a great way for teachers to get themselves organized before teaching a lesson.  It is a great "road map" for the students to follow as they move through a lesson.  It helps my adult learners know what they need to know and how they need to get there.  

My experience with contextualizing is that it stretches me as an instructor to show how the curriculum content applies in the real world. I want to teach the pure theory...not take time to "play around" with hands on components....but what I find that these "jetties" are what give my students the motivation to stay engaged in the course.

Fortunately our dean has been marinated in IET programs and is guiding the rest of the Adult Ed faculty on "how to" think, design and conduct contextualized courses.

Contact Steve.Mills@npc.edu  he runs an awesome construction program.

I was hoping to hear more concrete snippets from instructors who are actually involved in this process.

I'll scan through more of the thread and hope to find more of what I am looking for in regards to implementation and best practices.

I am Dawn Johnson and teach at Northland Pioneer College in Arizona.  I've been teaching for over 10 years and I have learned that I must keep learning to enhance my teaching skills for the betterment of my students. 

This course and others that I am currently completing provides me with strategies that keeps my skills current with the needs of students I work with. I have learned about the many online resources available to me to enhance instruction contextualizing students' everyday lives using knowledge they need. From past experiences, students really love hands-on learning and I try to contextualize their learning as often as possible.

I do not have much experience developing rubrics; however, I do use rubrics that as a group in our program have developed. Rubrics tend to give a better view of a student's performance and understanding.

The role of teachers in the video is a facilitator and instructor. The teachers seem rather excited about teaching contextually as they see how engaged the students are and how successful students complete their course. From what I could tell, the instruction is hands-on relating the material to what the students use in their lives or potentially will be using in their careers they are studying. The learners were surprised and excited as they found they are not only learning a math concept, but also applying that concept in the project they are currently working on. For example, one student wants to become an architect and is learning geometry which is essential for her career choice. She was glad that while learning architecture, she gained a clearer understanding of geometry in math. Another student was happy to learn that he was able to learn math concepts while also learning construction. He never thought he would ever understand math, but is excited that he actually is comprehending math.

The attitudes of the learners, I believe, come from the contextualized learning approach they are receiving in the classroom. They realize that they too can accomplish learning about things they struggled with in past learning experiences.

Having learned a more authoritarian type of teaching model as a child and now learning how to build a model for our students that will marry the career goal to the academic standards is teaching with a clear purpose and allows for more interactive confidence building activites!

Hello, my name is Scarlet. I am currently an ESOL instructor for a community college. I work in a men medium prison. I am currently working on creating bridging lesson plans between our ABE and ESOL classes and curriculum courses offered at the prison. I enjoy teaching contextualized instruction. My teaching style has allows been circled around real-life scenarios. I am currently working on learning how to communicate my contextualize instruction done in class into a lesson plan format. 

As a Transition Support Specialist, I do not teach math or reading, but foundation skills such as finding and locating resources.  My challenge is how to teach that skill so that it can relate to the learner's current role as a student or in a projected future role as an employee in their desired field.  

 

This course on contextulized instruction was helpful.  The links generated ideas as to how to contextualize learning.  The idea of connecting with employers to develop authentic instruction is interesting, but the challenge is developing materials that are global enough to assist all learners, not just those interested in a specific industry.  

 

I am a workshop facilitator with an Adult Education provider in Southeastern PA. I work in partnership with ABE and ESL teachers as well as our local CareerLink office to deliver workplace-readiness content targeted to populations including individuals with LEP and those who are incarcerated. I'm also a PA certified teacher in grades K-12, although not currently teaching that age group. I'm looking forward to developing more formalized lessons adding to the work I am doing in the classroom.

Hello, I'm Dennis Woodson, & have been teaching adult education (GED & ESL) in Roanoke, VA, for 7 years. We are currently in a very challenging situation now, with the restrictions brought on by the covid-19 pandemic. I am learning a lot through this course on Contextualized Instruction and can see how it can speed up instruction and enhance retention of learned material because it makes content more interesting & relevant to students. 

I found this information to be very interesting.  I teach a GED class and there is a lot of variation in student skill level and career interests.  The organization I work for also offers a CNA program so the career interest I see most frequently is nursing or health related.  Healthcare organizations are also some of the largest employers in the local area.  Right now, we can't teach in person classes because of Covid 19 but I think I will use the "off" time to gather up some examples of health related math problems and reading comprehension exercises that coincide with skills that my students will have to know to pass the GED exam.

  1. What is the role of the teachers in the program?

The role of the teachers is to make learning interactive, connect educational needs to job related skills, engage students in critical thinking and decision making skills.

  1. How would you describe the teacher’s attitudes toward teaching contextually?

A few teachers appear to be overwhelmed with the idea of real life contexts in their lessons. However, some of the teachers stated that they enjoyed teaching contextually. Although they had to learn themselves other ways of teaching specific lessons, the interaction with the students made teaching more enjoyable for them.

  1. What methods are used to deliver the instruction?

Using math, reading, writing, and language associated with the career pathway.

Hands on learning with the tools and equipment associated with the career pathway also aids in delivering interaction contextualized instruction.

  1. How would you describe the reactions of the learners to contextual teaching methods and strategies?  How do their comments compare with those of your learners?

The reactions of the learners to contextual teaching methods were enthusiastically positive. The learners showed great excitement, the desire to continue their education, and thankfulness they were part of the contextual career pathway. Many of the students expressed a sense of pride and accomplishament. My learners enjoy doing hands on learning. Many of my learners have expressed that without the contextual aspect of the lesson they would of never learned.

  1. To what do you attribute the attitudes of learners in the video?

I attribute the attitudes of learners in the video to the dedication of their teachers. Teachers have to learn how to teach all over again, compared to traditional instruction. Many teachers see the value of contextualized instruction, but most importantly, they see the positive impact it is making on their learners.

 

 

 

My name is Scarlet, I have worked as an ABE instructor for 11 years. I am currently working in a correctional institute as an ESL instructor. I have been working on lesson plans for classes to help with transitioning to the available curriculum courses at the location. For example the cooking class has been having issues with students coming to class and not understanding some of the basic vocabulary or math skills needed to be successful in the course. This issue has the instructor having to consistently change his class instruction. Together we have been working on creating contextualized instruction to be introduced in the ESL and ABE (GED/HISET) classes and use it as a bridge to enrolling in the cooking course. We have come up with a list of vocabulary words associated with kitchen utilities, used in recipes, etc.  At this time we have very limited, if any, connections to community resources. I hope one day we will be able to connect to the many bridges the community has to offer helping our students enter back into the workforce and become successful members of society. 

1. Introduce yourself.
    My name is Michael Bittner. I am an HSE instructor (mostly math) at Pikes Peak Library District in Colorado Springs, where I have been for over six years.

2. Share your tips and best practices for techniques, strategies and resources that help you refresh your knowledge and enhance your skills. Mine have been scattered, chaotic and learned the hard way (this is WAY different from teaching college!). That is why I am starting to take such an interest in the LINCS resources.

3. Share your experience developing and using rubrics to evaluate your students’ learning.
I have not developed rubrics and only used them very little for evaluating GED extended responses for Language Arts. Until now, I have not liked them much as I viewed them as more of a qualitative tool, and I like quantitative, but things I am learning from LINCS may change my mind.

4. After watching the two videos on contextualize teaching and learning, consider and respond to the following:

  • What is the role of the teachers in the program?
    It was more of a guide and facilitator than lecturer.
     
  • How would you describe the teachers’ attitudes toward teaching contextually?
    They seemed to feel it was more engaging to the students, more effective for learning and they enjoyed collaborating together as colleagues.
     
  • What methods are used to deliver the instruction?
    A lot of hands-on experiences are used. One student said, "It's not boring stuff out of a book."
     
  • How would you describe the reactions of the learners to contextual teaching methods and strategies? How do their comments compare with those of your learners?
    The learners seemed to enjoy it, with some experiencing breakthroughs in learning that they previously considered insurmountable. My learners look like comatose cavemen by comparison.
     
  • To what do you attribute the attitudes of learners in the video?
    I have seen people act like that when they were high on ecstacy - oh! Really, they were experiencing the principle of adult learning that interest is highest in learning subjects that have immediate relevance and impact to the student's job or personal life.

5. Share your lesson plans, courses, activities and curricula that contain ABE or ESL content, as well as content related to a specific career pathway.
I have been going mostly by our textbook, but I can share the few videos on my YouTube channel ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9piUGIYlKY9DOI1U8P14kg ) and some math slideshows if interested (Example). If so, my email is mbittner@ppld.org. 

6. Discuss your newly acquired knowledge and learn about others’ experiences in designing contextualized instruction to enhance their ACP programs.
I am happy we recently got an education supervisor who has significant experience and will be incorporating contextualized instruction in our program starting next semester.

Success to you all!

Hello, I'm Suzanne from Cecil College's Adult Education program. Due to the move to online classes in April, I'm teaching once again, after being away for a few years. I'm interested in learning how to contextualize while teaching online.

My name is Janet Wright and I am Transition Specialist and ABE instructor.  

The answer to the questions from the videos are as follows:

1. The role of teachers in the video were to be a facilitator who constantly looked for ways to engage students to achieve their educational goals.

2. The teachers' attitude towards teaching contextually was very supportive and they were willing to look at themselves first before assuming problems lie with students.  They also were willing participate learning communities to share lessons and concerns with other teachers and get feedback.

3. The methods used to deliver instruction were hands-on activities using tools of the trade,  group work that  allowed them to interact with other students, traditional lectures, and feedback.

4. The learners were highly motivated, they felt like they were supported in their learning experiences, they could relate to the lessons inside and outside the classroom, and they looked forward to transitioning to the either their specific trades, college level classes, and they realized learning could be fun.

5. The comments compared to those my learners were the same kind of appreciation.

6.  What attributed to the attitudes of learners included learning information that felt was relevant  and using different teaching strategies that turned the "light bulb" on in their heads, which encouraged them to want to learn more.

Teachers are concerned that their students are learning. Learners are motivated, yet teachers long to help their learners progress even more.

Teachers' attitudes toward contextualized learning are positive. There is increased interaction, students are more engaged, and learning occurs faster. Learners use the math and language of the trade that they are studying as they create projects. The fact that knowledge is being applied as they work with tools on projects is exciting and interesting. Learners keep coming back each day, and are eager to continue. They help one another, learn faster, and score higher on tests. They realize that they are also learning methods that will always be present while learning the trade.

Learners attitudes are positive, because they are accomplishing goals and enjoying learning while working with their hands. Our students also have these same attitudes. 

I hardly ever use rubrics for my classes. I will try to create rubrics for my topics so that learners and I will be able to develop goals and chart progress.

Some careers will be difficult to contextualize in a completely online world without specially designed virtual reality programs. Others, such as financial literacy will not have those challenges. i can imagine a virtual reality course for obtaining a CDL license, but nothing will substitute for hands on practice.

The role of the teacher of the program is to find ways to conncect with students to help them acquire knowledge.  Rather than accuse students of havin a lack of interest, they need to look at themselves first and determine what they can do differently to help students.

Teachers have great attitudes toward teaching contextually because they realize students can learn at a faster pace and they seem motivated.

The methods that are used to deliver instruction include, hands-on interactive, team grouping, project completions.

The reaction of students initially were a bit anxious; however, as the lessons progressed, they became excited and motivated because they able to open up, trust their teachers and classmates.  They became excited for being able to learn in a welcoming non-judgemental environment.  Eventually, they put into groups and they learned help one another and share and tutor each other.  

I attritubute the learning environment, the teachers abilities to connect with the students,  the students engagements with one another, and to understand what they learned in class could apply outside of the class attributed to the students learning in the video.

 

 

My name is Ruhi Khan and I am creating professional development for K-12 educators.  Teachers often don't feel like a specific strategy is relevant to them.  I often hear...

"I am a high school teacher, this is not relevant." or "How am I going to get kindergarten students to..."

Hi, 

I'm interested in completing this course but I'm confused about how to access it. Do I need to register for it in order to access the course materials? 

I'm an instructor at TECC (Taos Education and Career Center)/UNM-Taos. I'd like to learn more about how to make my science and IET classes more career-contextualized, while still preparing students for the science HiSET test, which tests students' understanding of the scientific process and experimentation. One of our overarching goals as a program (at TECC) is to provide career contextualization; it feels like we're still trying to figure out the best way to do that! 

Thanks, 

Nina