2. Whom do you teach?
Who are your learners? Please tell us what you
know about your students.
Gina Bennett for COTR International
3. Non-traditional learners
A non-traditional learner is any student whose
learning needs are different from what you (or
your institution) is used to dealing with.
Gina Bennett for COTR International
4. Traditional learners
When we are developing curriculum
for a traditional group of learners,
we tend to focus on the content that
we will be delivering.Content
Gina Bennett for COTR International
5. Content is not enough!
Content
Learner
Audience
Learning
Environment
Gina Bennett for COTR International
6. Sometimes more focus on one or another
Content
Learner
Audience
Learning
Environment
Content
Learner
Audience
Learning
Environment
Gina Bennett for COTR International
7. Adult Learner Groups vary by Life-stage
Sub-groups Characteristics relevant to training
Youth Often fresh out of school with school expectations. Usually fully- or
partially text literate; often technologically literate as well. May lack clear
motivation for training. Often unemployed or partially employed. Often
more adaptable to cultural diversity.
Mid-Adult Schooling may have been completed some time ago. Usually at least
partially text literate. Technological literacy may vary widely. Often fully-
or partially employed. Usually has a clear motivation for training. Cultural
factors may influence training.
Senior Schooling may have been completed a long time ago (or not at all). Level
of text literacy may vary widely. Often lacking technological literacy. Often
partially- or unemployed. Cultural factors may strongly influence training.
Physical factors of the training environment (lighting, acoustics,
temperature) may need adaptation.
Multi-
generational
High-quality training for multi-generational groups of learners requires
considerable trainer expertise. Multiple trainers and small-group activities
may be necessary.
Gina Bennett for COTR International
8. Adult Learner Groups vary by gender
composition
Sub-groups Characteristics relevant to training
Primarily male Often at least partially-literate and employed.
Scheduling may need to be adapted to employment.
Cultural factors may strongly influence training. A male
trainer may be preferred.
Primarily
female
Accommodation for young children may need to be
provided. Scheduling may need to be adapted to
school and family care needs. Older women may lack
text literacy. Cultural factors may strongly influence
training. A female trainer may be preferred.
Mixed gender Cultural factors may strongly influence how men and
women participate in the training. Training involving
couples may increase transfer of learning and training
success (especially for women).
Gina Bennett for COTR International
9. Adult Learner Groups vary by Literacy
level
Sub-groups Characteristics relevant to training
Non- or partially
(text) literate
Curriculum must rely on resources other than books, presentation of
text. Videos, images, audio provide better resources. Demonstrations,
role-plays, discussions are more suitable teaching strategies.
Assessment must be non-text based.
Fully (text) literate Curriculum can include books and presentation of text. Homework and
self-study may be expected. Some assessment may be text based.
Professional group Learners may have fairly consistent levels of literacy, prior learning
related to the subject, and motivation for the training. Training
expectations may be quite high.
Multi-level (text)
literacies
High-quality training for multi-level literacy groups requires considerable
trainer expertise. Content should be delivered in more than one way.
Groups and activities which involve both strongly- and weakly-literate
individuals may work well.
Non-technologically
literate
Learners may lack confidence in using digital tools, or they may
completely lack exposure. Trainers may use computers and digital
resources with caution, utilizing (or beginning with) more traditional
learning resources until learners are ready to try the new tools.
Gina Bennett for COTR International
10. Adult Learner Groups vary by
Employment status
Sub-groups Characteristics relevant to training
Non- or
sporadically-
employed
Training may be more flexibly scheduled. Motivation for
training of youth and mid-adult learners may be very
strongly employment-related. Some upgrading of basic
literacies may be necessary. Learners retired from the
workforce may have widely varying literacy levels,
interests and motivations for training.
Employed full- or
part-time
Training must accommodate work schedules. If most
learners are employed by the same employer, some
employer buy-in will be invaluable for the success of the
training.
Self-employed Training must respect participants’ time commitments,
including seasonal and daily patterns of entrepreneurial
activity.
Gina Bennett for COTR International
11. Adult Learner Groups vary by Cultural
factors
Sub-groups Characteristics relevant to training
Unilingual
and/or
unicultural
Learner groups who share a common language or culture
may still vary widely in terms of most other factors. If the
trainer is from outside the culture, s/he will benefit from
direct knowledge about how members of the cultural group
prefer to learn and work together. A translator may be
necessary.
Multilingual
and/or
multicultural
Learners who come together to learn in a multicultural
group often share a common language. However, those
who can speak a language may not be able to read or write
it (and vice versa). If the trainer is from outside the
multicultural milieu, s/he will benefit from direct knowledge
about intercultural differences which could affect the
learning experience.
Gina Bennett for COTR International
12. Adult Learner Groups vary by need for
Special Accommodations
Sub-groups Characteristics relevant to training
Learners with
disabilities
Learners with mental, physical, or emotional disabilities
may need special accommodations for a successful
learning experience. The nature of the accommodation will
vary with the type and degree of disability.
Post-Conflict Prolonged conflict situations can have profound impacts on
learners’ health (physical, emotional, mental), motivation,
gender and intercultural dynamics, and formal education
history. Educators need accurate field knowledge to design
training for these special learner audiences.
Other?
Have we forgotten anybody????
Gina Bennett for COTR International
13. Other topics in this series
Content
Learner
Audience
Learning
Environment
Learner Audience
Analysis
Adapting Curriculum
for Gender inclusion
Adapting Content for
Readability
Gina Bennett for COTR International
Learning Environment
Analysis
Adapting Delivery for
Learning Styles
Hinweis der Redaktion
This is just to get some discussion going.
Start by asking: Who is currently working directly with students? If not everybody has their hand up, ask ‘who has worked directly with students in the past?’
Then: “I want you to tell me about your students, either your current students or the ones you most recently worked with”.
It’s important that we DON’T provide too much direction on the answers! We’ll be expecting answers like “my students are mostly young adults, mostly male.” “They are not overly motivated academically” or “they are very focussed on getting a good job” or “mostly they are in class because their parents want them to be”.
While they are offering descriptions, you can write down bullet points on a whiteboard or flipchart. We will be looking for commonalities & differences in the answers.
When they are done, can the group summarize anything about the results? Can we identify a group of ‘traditional’ learners from these results?
For the most part, “school” is still considered a place and an activity for the young. Children who successfully complete secondary school may then enter a college, training institute, or university. In most cases, young adults comprise the “traditional” student in post-secondary education.
Because these “traditional” learners are the more-or-less expected learner audience for higher education, most learning environments and training strategies are designed with them in mind. Curriculum development consequently becomes centred on the choice of content for the curriculum. Curriculum developers ask “What should we teach? What learning objectives must be met? What textbook should we use?”
Adult learners may vary a great deal in their educational backgrounds, training motivations and expectations, background knowledge, literacy level, etc. etc. Remember: Any individual who does not conform to the usual training expectations of the trainer or the training institution can be considered a “non-traditional learner.” When designing curriculum or training programs for non-traditional learners, it is a serious mistake to consider content choices alone!
Good training design must take into account three integrated factors:
• Content (what you will teach)
• Learner(s) (who you will teach)
• Environment (where you will teach)
When you are developing curriculum, these three factors may not be weighted evenly. For example, if your training program is directed towards a unique learner group; e.g. mostly older unemployed women in a post-conflict zone, your program design may need to be highly adapted for the learners. If your training program must take place in an isolated mountain community without electricity, your most serious adaptions may involve the learning environment.
Nevertheless, all 3 are very important. Conducting a Learner Analysis will help you to take into account and plan adaptations that will better meet the needs of a unique group of learners. Conducting an Environmental Analysis will help you plan training that will fit a unique training environment. And Content, of course, still has to be considered as well as many sub-factors (choice of trainer, activities, resources, etc.).
Conducting the Learner Analysis (which we’ll look at in a future workshop) helps you discover detailed information about the characteristics of the learners, & this is a good place to start.
Let’s begin with some characteristics that apply to groups of learners rather than individuals. A summary of learner audience characteristics should reference life-stage, gender, literacy level, and cultural factors; as well as employment and special accommodations when relevant. Of course, training planned for a group of learners may still require customization during the training session to accommodate individual variations in learning styles and needs.
Let’s think about the variety of learner audiences and group characteristics that can affect training. First of all, adult learner audiences can vary according to Life-stage.
[we can either post the table & talk about it, or just post the sub-group column & ask participants to fill in the details – characteristics relevant to training)
[Again: we can either post the table & talk about it, or just post the sub-group column & ask participants to fill in the details – characteristics relevant to training)
Can you think of other learner sub-groups?
Conducting a Learner Analysis will help you to take into account and plan adaptations that will better meet the needs of a unique group of learners. Conducting an Environmental Analysis will help you plan training that will fit a unique training environment.
Content, of course, still has to be considered as well as many sub-factors (choice of trainer, activities, resources, etc.). We hope that the Workshops and discussions we have planned will get us all to think of some new ideas & help you plan a unique, effective educational program for a non-traditional training situation.
