"Motivating Adult Learners to Persist" online course

In late summer 2015, we are excited to offer a new online course, Motivating Adult Learners to Persist, developed through the Improving Teacher Effectiveness project.  Once the course is live, we will let everyone know and provide additional information about how to access it through the LINCS Learning Portal.

 

Comments

Our program's strength is minimizing access barriers.  For instance, our classes are free or charge to students, materials are provided (or extremely affordable), child care is provided on site, and professors are encouraged to apply pedagogic strategies for increased engagement and retention. Building a collaborative environment adds value to their learning experience.    

In the video one specific student interactions I observed showed one student tell the other:  " You are missing a topic sentence" and the listening student was receptive and willing to admit that there had to be a change in her writing. This illustrates that students are capable of assessing each others' work, and that it can be less intimidating for the students to receive feedback from a peer than from a teacher.

I think the teachers ideas were effective by having other students review their work and to not agree or rush through the process, yet, in additions to this practice, it is always effective to find and comment on what they have done well.  This is also very motivating.  

This video demonstrated that with the right preparation collaborative learning can be very beneficial as a tool in the learning process. She prepared the students well by  getting them acquainted and comfortable with working together, teaching them the background knowledge beforehand, having helps available along the way, and observing and guiding the process while it was happening. Well done.

 

My center runs pretty much on an individual basis.  In other words, I may have only one student at a time.  If I have more than one student, they will most likely be working in different areas depending on their pretest results; we are mandated as to which area (math, reading, science, etc.) to teach.  Rarely do I have a class.  In this setting, I would say that setting appropriate goals and assisting learners in managing errors are the most important in my practice.  Finding value and getting students to buy into this value and encouraging collaboration and cooperation are the most challenging to implement.  I would love to make use of the latter strategy more but usually do not have a "class."  When I have had the opportunity to use the latter, it worked very well and was received by the students as a rewarding experience.

Hello every one,

My name is Benny Williams, and I teach a GED in Spanish class at a community college in the Dallas, TX area. In my classes, I encourage my students to ask me questions about the lesson so they can get clarifications for their misunderstanding or lack of understanding of any parts of the lesson. They also work in pairs or groups in solving math problems. I have brought coffee to class and the students have brought some snacks to share. I try to motivate them to improve their self-efficacy by pointing out their small successes in class. I have noticed that when they feel that there is value in coming to class, they keep coming back. 

Hello Benny and others,

This may seem like an obvious question, but perhaps your answers will not be, and might give us all some food for thought:

Teachers, what do your students value in coming to class?

This might be a good conversation question for your class. It might be interpreted in different ways, for example, what do they see as the value in coming to class compared with the value of online learning? A variation on the question might be to ask what your learners hope to be able to do at the end of the class or course that they cannot do now. GED students, such as yours Benny, will of course say "pass the GED"; if so, I hope you might push them to think about what they hope to do with a GED certificate that they cannot do now: go to college, enter a job training program, proudly show their certificate or diploma to their family members or friends, get a better job, get a promotion, and/or something else?

For ESOL/ESL teachers, your students will undoubtedly say "learn English", so you may also need to pursue this by asking for what purpose(s):

  • Listening to: TV, movies, YouTube videos, questions people ask them in English? What else?
  • Speaking with: fellow workers; customers, hotel guests, patients and other clients; English-speaking neighbors? Participating in community activities (such as....)? Talking with children's teachers or school administrators?  What else?
  • Reading: job application forms; apartment rental leases; notes and emails from children's teachers;  children's books out loud to their children? helping children with homework? What else?
  • Writing: job applications, writing notes to children's teachers, text messaging in English? What else?

I eagerly await your responses, and hope to learn from how you -- and your adult learners -- answer this question.

David J. Rosen

 

 

 

Teacher gives the rubric for evaluating essays to her students and pair them up to assess the level of adherence of each other's essay to the rubric.

The students agree about the strengths and weaknesses of their essays in accordance with the essay rubric given by the teacher. ​

The teacher does not identify the mistakes but the students do. They self-correct and allow the peers to review them. They become responsible for their learning.

They find value in the collaborative and cooperative activity at different station on different indicators of proficiency in the rubric. They analyze and reason together and help each other.

 

Finding out areas of specific interest in students (student-centered instruction) in reading classes can be facilitated by a personal interest inventory, in which students list specific topics of interest within academic areas, occupational areas, food, music, culture, how-to, and music. The lists can be passed out, filled out, then shared within a group activity context. They can then be turned in to the teacher, who can generate readings from these topics and allow students, groups or the entire class to vote on which of these they will use to work on for a portion of the class time. This ice-breaker builds student self-efficacy and autonomy, and creates collaborative learning as students explain why they made the suggestions and choices they made to each other. This interaction of different viewpoints in sharing also facilitates a supportive class culture, and gives the teacher insight into the types of examples that will be useful with this particular group of students for teacher planning in the future. 

I thought the most interesting aspect of the collaboration and assessment of student essays by their fellow students was the use of a large open space that allowed for "essay component stations" of each of the elements the instructor was assessing. From topic sentences and supporting material to summary statements and paragraph transitions, the student not only got a global sense of how well they had done, but more importantly had learning broken down into short-term goals that could be understood and assessed individually, allowing students to recognize both strengths (e.g., their introductions) but also weaknesses (e.g., not enough evidence or supporting material). The most clever part of this was how the teach was able to walk from station to station and student to student, working one on one, but also allow other students to work together without interrupting or intimidating them. I thought it was a great activity. the color-coded stations and components of essay writing provided a common "language" for all the corrections to be made by one student to the work of another, making it easier to understand exactly what the problem was with their paper. I thought it was an excellent activity for advanced adult students for teachers with the room and resources to make it happen.

My program has a Welcome Class for all new students the week before each term begins. We started this in Jan. 2019. We discuss a lot of things, but the emphasis is on growth mindset techniques for the classroom. I introduce what Growth Mindset is and we do few related activities (based on The Growth Mindset Coach book). We end with a written reflection on how students could use growth mindset in class. We encourage teachers to also apply this knowledge and language in the classroom to reinforce. 

I teach HSE Mathematics for a community college, but at an extention site.  When I am teaching, there are no other HSE teachers in the building, and there seldom are any teachers at all when my night class ends -- I'm the last one to leave.  So, it is difficult to discuss motivational issues in person with other teachers. 

However, I do know other Mathematics teachers in the programs and when I encounter students who need motivation that I cannot provide, I contact these strong instructors and ask their advice. This typically leads to extended discussions about what each of us do to motivate students who are overcome by the course material, or by their personal circumstances.  From that standpoint, we do collaborate on this addressing this issue. 

Adult educators at my college also meet twice a year as a group.  Often the agenda is quite full, but it does provide an opportunity to discuss the health of our respective classrooms, including the levels of motivation.

I am relatively new to working with adult learners, however, at my former workplace, many adult learners were coming to class and they were unable to focus in class and there were some behavioural issues. Several staff members and the head of the specific department were able to get funding for a breakfast program that was offered to learners each morning before class. After several weeks, staff noticed that the learners were able to focus better and behavioural concerns lessened.

 

When I worked at that college, many of the learners that I taught had various learning challenges, medical issues, and behavioural concerns. As I got to know the students better, it was obvious that they were not eating properly and struggled to get healthy food. Luckily, the college had an on-campus food bank where they could get the food items that they needed, and if they were having financial issues, I referred them to the financial aid office.

We are a small program, and so building relationships with individual students helps us find out student obstacles, hopes, and interests. Transportation is a big problem in a rural area, plus we have students who don't always have food, so we have given 7-Eleven and Subway cards, both as rewards and at need. We also have tried to have flexible schedules to accommodate student schedules, but while that has helped some students who are already highly motivated, it seems to have made it too easy for less motivated students to stop coming altogether. (I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but if a student knows they can make up at another time, they miss class but then forget to make it -- or maybe the flexibility just makes what we are doing seem less valuable. We haven't quite figured out why it doesn't work, but it clearly does not work.)

 

Our team makes sure to offer each student an orientation.  During our orientation, we make sure that students are committed to taking on the demands of adult ed.  Once we have gained a commitment from the student, we make sure to offer them various course times and assistance whenever and wherever needed.

Having the students assess each other is a good way to help their relationships and build on their confidence in a way that perhaps they cannot get from their instructor. I believe it gives the student a level of confidence where they are in the same level with the other student at the moment. I can see how it can be a motivational practice for the learner. I can see the students in the video displayed a level of confidence when they were communicating with their peers. It seemed very positive and as she mentioned the students become better writers. 

We very much have a team approach. Teachers are the primary point of reference, as they develop relationships with students most directly. However, the Student Navigator can help with removing barriers and the Computer Lab instructor builds confidence with using technology. Students can find a study-buddy to work with before or after class. Most students also have a one-on-one tutor besides the classroom instruction. Even the Receptionist is involved--she is everyone's cheerleader!

As a result of the Coronavirus, all of our instructors are providing instructions online, which is a bit of a struggle, because a lot of our ELL students don't have internet service, no home computers, little or no computer skills.  Keeping our students motivated during this particular time is overwhelming if not impossible.

In what ways have teachers in your program worked together to boost learner motivation and persistence?

In past semesters, there were only two HSE instructors in our program, and we shared student progress and status info, but did not address motivation in a formal way. We just tried what we thought would work. It's great to have access to the information and resources in this course based on research and evidence. 

Our HSE program is headed for a hybrid format with about 75% learning in class, and 25% online (100% online right now, of course). Here is an article from Elearning Industry, titled How to Motivate Students Online... . You will notice similarities to what is presented in this course (mastery vs performance goals, short-term goal achievement and progress tracking, intrinsic motivation by enjoying the process of learning) probably because some of the same research is referenced.

Application Activity 5

1. What is one “specific, concrete, and descriptive” observation you would share with the teacher? 

I would point out the vicarious learning taking place through collaboration. At 4:29 in the video, a student describes how he noticed that his classmate was missing an introduction [paragraph], so he went and checked his own essay to ensure he had one.

2. How would your overall observation notes and feedback to Alicia have been different if you had focused your attention only on her and not the students?

I would not have gained as much, because at that point, the student groups were on auto-pilot, with minimal supervision from her. I probably would have mistakenly thought that she was neglecting groups for too long as she was busy assisting others.

Creating a community environment in our AEL class is vital to our student's motivation. It is interesting to see how students interact on their own. Exchanging information and making plans to see each other out of class are two examples that we see in our program where students are definitely connecting with each other. Our students have mutual respectful for each other and help each other outside of class. 

One strategy that has worked for me is to go through a SMART goal lesson that causes the students to consider why they are in my class. This puts the responsibility on them to set those goals, a way to meet those goals and a way to know when they have met those goals. 

I like the ideas of giving students choices and freedom to choose the direction they would like to take. I will also plan my classes so that the students can work in pairs to encourage connections. The class list was also a good idea to allow students to keep in contact with each other.

I was impressed with the way the students were involved in correcting themselves and others. This is a very effective way for students to interact with each other and discover their strengths and areas they needed to improve in. The activity was one of discovery and enlightenment.

Joanna's situation mirrors mine exactly! Her approach of making each lesson similar in structure is a good one. I think it also builds students' confidence when things are predictable. I like the collaborative idea of asking students to be partners for attendance purposes. That way I'm not the one doing the nagging, plus it gives them an opportunity to help each other. Starting the class with a paired activity seems good too, since it could provide time for the teacher to catch students up who have been absent. However, my students also don't show up at the same time, so I'm not sure that would work.

I love, love, love this exercise and hope I can get a chance to use it in the classroom. It may be able to be adapted using Zoom breakout rooms as the stations, especially if I can find a way to "name" the breakout rooms.

In terms of the observation:

Modeling literacy and learning strategies: The only scant evidence I saw of this (since we didn't see much of her interaction with students) was that she cautioned them not to just initial the evaluation form but to really make sure they evaluated. This is not really modeling, though.

Assisting learners in managing errors: The fact that their peers were with them was an automatic assist. It took off the psychological burden of the teacher/student correction. Also, when both members of the pair had similar errors, it demonstrated to those students that errors are part of learning, thus helping to manage them. They willingly received the feedback from their friends and their friends offered it in a spirit of collegiality.

Providing choice and autonomy: The exercise itself is an example of that. They are doing their own learning, moving through the exercise at their own pace. 

Encouraging collaboration and cooperation: Five stars! "I learn from their mistakes." "My friend is teaching me." The students seemed truly engaged in offering each other " They willingly received the feedback from their friends and their friends offered it in a spirit of collegiality. (I'm repeating this sentence because it fits both places).

  

I love this course.  I  always work really  to think of ways to keep my students motivated and persist.  I have found that creating relationships with my students motivate them to be persist.  The strategies used in this course are wonderful. 

I use Peer review in my own class as a teacher so I really liked the way she had it incorporated in her class.The students can share their creative work with peers for constructive feedback and then use this feedback to revise and improve their work. For the writing process, revision is as important as drafting, but students often feel they cannot let go of their original words.

 To motivate persistence and success, instructors need to help learners break down their learning goals into short-term and long-term literacy goals. If learners set near-term goals, not just distant ones, they are much more likely to experience success, which enhances self-efficacy. Supporting learners’ awareness of progress week-by-week can motivate persistence, as learners reach their near-term goals and recognize that these are the path to reaching long-term goals.

Motivating adult learners to continue forward and accomplish their goals seems to be a consistent problem across all facets of educational arenas. The current position I have, even with instructing incarcerated adults has attendance issues. 

The teacher could ask the regular attenders leading Qs to facilitate those students to "teach" the lesson to the newbies or stragglers.  However, this could cause ill-will between some students.

Perhaps this could be alleviated by minimizing student input and the teacher "hamming up" the revelations and putting important concepts on the board.  "Old" and "new" students could be asked to create examples of whatever the focus is.

The teacher could ask the regular attenders leading Qs to facilitate those students to "teach" the lesson to the newbies or stragglers.  However, this could cause ill-will between some students.

Perhaps this could be alleviated by minimizing student input and the teacher "hamming up" the revelations and putting important concepts on the board.  "Old" and "new" students could be asked to create examples of whatever the focus is.

Video 12

I loved how you set up each work station with checklists and examples.  Also, how students had to find another student to initial their correction before moving to another station.  Perhaps some had to reconsider their correction.  Hopefully, if they needed to, they were willing.

The students were very engaged and everyone benefitted.  Great!  

I watched the video on "Stories from our Classes" and downloaded the transcript so that I could highlight certain sections. The scenarios and examples given could apply to any classroom. As teachers, we sometimes need to be reminded of strategies to keep our students attending and focused. Too often barriers-child care, transportation, lack of family support, etc. cause our students to miss valuable time out of class. I like the strategies given that included giving the students a syllabus or agenda, collaborative learning, and trying to eliminate or reduce barriers that present students from attending class. I will share these strategies with my others in my district.

Really enjoying working through this powerpoint. Group activities where beginning learners are paired with advanced learning is so helpful in my experience. Syllabus with an outline of activities is a great way to keep everything organized, knowing what to expect/what to catch up on if absent. This is similar to my experience teaching other post-secondary courses. I'm so happy to see that a lot of my past experience is applicable to the ESL learning environment.

Some people never are motivated to learn throughout life, and others attempt to learn all the way to Ph.D. and Professional levels in the education system.  Motivation is sometimes self-motivated and other times externally motivated.  Some people have learned drive and others have someone to encourage them to continue and pursue their education in their life.  I have never had motivation issues in education.  I know some people that do and with basic counseling and tutoring usually, are encouraged to continue education on and on.  Most people that lack motivation are either unaware that it is needed for life and work, or they do not have resources and help in order to get an education when they are stuck.  Motivation is needed in life, I hope that teachers that read this don't give up on motivating themselves and their students if they have the ability to help even with low pay and some mistreatment sometimes in the career.  Education is important in the world it is sad there is so much lack of motivation in the field.  Also, the lack of motivation to solve the problems that occur in education in this country without having schools closed from all the school strikes in America?

Thank you Sean and Sallie for your insights. What motivates differs from person to person. Sometimes when students begin to realize their successes - even if they are small milestones - it can be motivating. Especially, if we can be there to celebrate their achievements and provide support. 

I think everyone could use words of encouragement. I try to make sure that all my students get a healthy dose of positive feedback to keep their emotional "tanks" full. Talking about a growth mindset is also helpful