Reflective Writing #3 – 3230
Objective
When I first started teaching, late assignment policies were something that I just went along with. Whether it was a zero tolerance policy, a sliding scale or they were just accepted without any repercussions. I never really understood who set the policies. Was it the institution, the program chair or the individual instructors? After teaching a couple of different programs with a few different instructors, I came to learn that this was a fairly individual choice amongst instructors. Some were adamant that late assignments should not be accepted, some had different deductions applied to the assignments, -10% per day, X amount of marks being removed or simply dropping a letter grade. Others still, didn’t penalize the learners at all. The one common thread I noticed was that every instructor had an opinion about how to treat late assignments and they all felt that their way was the best. These differing opinions about late assignment policies are what caught my attention with this subject. Which one is correct for my courses and my individual learners?
Reflective
Currently I am deducting 25% per day off assignments, up until the assignment has been reviewed, or marks and feedback have been posted. At that point it is a 0. I chose to go with this model as a bit of a combination of a few. I do feel like late assignments are a behavioral aspect, but as an instructor, I am supposed to be getting them “industry ready”. To me, meeting deadlines is part of that preparation and the consequences can be a part of learning. I chose 25% because I felt like at 10% the students still were not understanding the severity of potentially missing deadlines. Most of my assignments are short answer or restricted essay type questions so I decided to put a cap on when I would accept late assignments. If I hand back the assignments with feedback and marks, I would rather remove the possible temptation of students copying down the correct answers from others just to get their assignment submitted. I’m not sure if this is the right method to be using for evaluation of learners. That is why I have chosen this idea to reflect on.
Interpretive
“Although it’s important for kids to learn how to manage deadlines, do you really want an A in your course to primarily reflect the ability to follow instructions?” (Gonzalez, 2019, para. 7). My struggle with accepting late assignments is that I want learners to understand the importance of deadlines. If they cannot meet the deadlines I have set before them, how are they going to fare in the industry when customers are placing numerous deadlines at their feet on a daily basis? Gonzalez has a good point here though. What do my grades represent? Are my grades based on academic growth or do they lean more towards compliance? I would like my grading to be representative of the learners’ mastery of content and not their work habits.
“While it is true that professional practice includes a need to learn how to budget time, as well as an ability to plan ahead and meet clear deadlines, it is less clear that merely enforcing hard deadlines in every class actually achieves the goal of students learning these things.” (Becker, 2006, p. 2)
Becker is saying that there isn’t much research supporting the idea that these arbitrary deadlines are actually teaching students how to meet expectations. On top of that there is the argument of homework being a social justice issue. “Do students have a stable family life? Or does the return home in the afternoon bring an increase of stress and anxiety about their family’s well-being?” (Richardson, 2015, para. 2). If students don’t have the support at home, a quite place to work or a computer, then its no wonder that they are stuggling to meet certain deadlines. They may be working 40 hours a week just to support themselves while they are in school. Does enforcing those deadline really help them grow as learners or does it negatively effect their view on education. Potentially hindering their chance of becoming life long learners.
On the other hand, Gilkey argues for not accepting any late work. From the very first lecture on, he lets students know that late assignments will be given a 0. Any students with extenuating circumstances (disabled children, elderly parents, military service, and so on) can see him so they can co-create accomodations that support them (Gilkey, 2007). He goes on to mention that every single assignment that was asked of his students was turned in on time and concludes his report by stating that “Students will adapt accordingly…” (Gilkey, 2007, para. 11).
These two scenarios are at the extreme ends of the spectrum. Abolish deadlines or have a concrete, zero-late-assignments policy. I feel like there may still be better ways.
Decisional
Extremes rarely produce the best results. Two of the models that I have read about during my research have intrige me though. Both leave the students mark related strictly to the content of the assignment. They do not deduct marks based on lateness.
The first is accepting the late assignment, but not providing feedback. “Feedback…on artifacts of learning send students clear messages about what they produce (their learning), and then…grades send a message about the totality of their accomplishments as students.” (Thomas, 2016). One huge value of homework and assignments is the feedback that learners receive. The students that submit their assignmetns on time will get the benefit of feedback. The students that hand in late assignments, get the benefits of completeing the assignment and still, their marks reflect the contenct of the course.
The second model is that of a separate work habits grade. By attributing another grade to the students work habits, instructors are able to keep assignment grades in line with the content while still keeping learners accountable to deadlines. My only concern with a work habits grade is that it could be difficult to objectively evaluate that grade in a transparent way. I think I am going to adopt a no feedback for late assignments policy for my next semester. It will reward those that completed their work before the deadline, keep grades as closely aligned to course content as possible and allow me to get marks and feedback back to the learners in a timely manner.
References
Becker, K. (2006). Death to Deadlines: A 21st Century Look at the Use of Deadlines and Late Penalties in Programming Assignments. Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca/bitstream/handle/1880/46725/Death-to-Deadlines.pdf?sequence=1
Gilkey, C. (2007, May 27). The Value of Not Accepting Late Work. Retrieved from Productive Flourishing : https://www.productiveflourishing.com/late-work/
Gonzalez, J. (2019, August 4). A Few Ideas for Dealing with Late Work. Retrieved from Cult of Pedagogy: https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/late-work/
Richardson, W. (2015, May 19). Homework is a Social Justice Issue. Retrieved from Modern Learners: https://modernlearners.com/homework-is-a-social-justice-issue/
Thomas, P. L. (2016, January 18). More Thoughts on Feedback, Grades and Late Work. Retrieved from Radical Eyes for Equity: https://radicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/more-thoughts-on-feedback-grades-and-late-work/
Reflective Writing #2 – 3230
Objective
“Only by thinking of evaluation as more than grades can learning and teaching become positive and enriching experiences.” (Fenwick & Parsons, 2009, p. 134). By using self-assessment, learners can ultimately grow as a more well-rounded individual. Merriam and Bierema said “…learning is how people make sense of their experience – learning is the construction of meaning from experience.”. (2014, p. 36)
Reflective
Self-assessments interest me. “Sometimes adults are wary of sharing their most honest self-assessments with supervisors or instructors who, they may believe with some justification, may use self-assessment information against them.” (Fenwick & Parsons, 2009, p. 111). I still feel this way when I am asked to provide a self-assessment of what I have learned or how well I feel I did on an assignment. I am not sure where this comes from, whether its from a stance of wanting to be modest or that, mixed with the possibility of my grades being affected due to how I rated myself instead of something concrete like a summative instrument. I do use self-assessment techniques in my classroom and some examples, like an ORID reflective essay, I do find useful. This internal back and forth with self-assessments is what I find intriguing. I suppose Fenwick and Parsons put it well by pointing out that self-assessment is not appropriate for all situations, learners or instructional context. (2009).
Interpretive
Research shows that constant self-assessment creates a more self-directed learner. Learners need to be able to look back on what the lesson was and to interpret what they got out of it. What experiences in their lives can they link the lesson to? Going back and evaluating what you have done or what you have absorbed can help strengthen that neuro pathway. The more learners actively reflect and self-assess, the more proficient they become. This leads to numerous benefits for the learner, inside and outside the classroom.
Exercises in self-assessment can raise students’ awareness of task requirements, hone their ability to recognize the qualities of good as well as poor work, and teach them how to monitor their own progress toward learning goals. (Ambrose, Bridges, DiPietro, Lovett, & Norman, 2010, p. 209).
The problem with self-assessments, and the one that I personally ran into when I first started teaching and being asked to reflect on tasks, was the lack of immediate or quantitative results. “Some find self-assessment tough at first, because there is no immediate pay-off for the effort.” (Fenwick & Parsons, 2009, p. 115). Reflection after classes was the first time that a self-assessment really seemed to work me. Leaving lessons, I always think back to what went well, what went poorly, what can be improved upon. As a new instructor these reflections are what helped me grow my first year. It was this process that helped me realize how helpful self-assessments can be. Up until that point I had always assumed that self-assessments had to be along the same vein as the typical student self-evaluation. After a task or an assignment, students would have to give themselves a grade or follow a rubric and determine how they had done. Whenever I was given one of those self-evaluations, I never gained anything from it besides a mark. It didn’t cause me to reflect on what I had done or how I can improve. “Learners become less dependant on external approval and begin to assume responsibility for their own progress.” (Fenwick & Parsons, 2009, p. 121). Its this realization of responsibility and practice at reflecting that has helped me as an instructor. “Requiring reflection or annotation helps students become more conscious of their own thought processes and work strategies and can lead them to make more appropriate adjustments.” (Ambrose et al., 2010, p. 209).
Decisional
I feel that self-assessment can be beneficial to learners. The key to it is practice. Learners must know what to reflect on, when to reflect and what questions to ask themselves. In my classroom I have stations set up in the shop. Each station is a different vehicle with a fault. Every three days the student groups rotate to a different station. Before moving on to the next vehicle, I have been having my students reflect on what went well and what didn’t, how can they improve for next time and what hurdles or difficulties did they face and how can those be avoided. This reflection-on-action has been helpful to the students in reinforcing procedural aspects as well as theory. “In evaluating these experiences, you may decide to do something similar or different in your future “practice”.” (Merriam & Bierema, 2014, p. 115). At first the students were hesitant to reflect, and I don’t think they gained all that much from it initially. But by the end of the semester, the discussions around their reflections started to become larger and more engaging, the learners were not making the same mistakes on subsequent vehicles, and they seemed to be quicker and take more pride in their diagnosis of the vehicles. It took some time, and some push back from the learners who didn’t feel comfortable sharing, but overall, I did see an increase in motivation and application from this class versus previous classes. “Self-assessment returns the ownership of knowledge, and the accountability for working and learning, back to the learner where it belongs.” (Fenwick & Parsons, 2009, p. 121).
References
Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M. C., & Norman, M. K. (2010). How Learning Works: 7 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching (1st ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Fenwick, T. J., & Parsons, J. (2009). The Art of Evaluation: A Resource for Educators and Trainers (2nd ed.). Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
Merriam, S. B., & Bierema, L. L. (2014). Adult Learning: Linking Theory and Practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Reflective Writing #1 – 3230
Objective
My first reflective journal entry will be decompressing the Four Traps in Evaluation (Fenwick & Parsons, 2009). These four traps; measuring what’s easy, understanding the learning embedded in evaluation, unexamined power and reductionism are some common examples of where instructors fail to use evaluation techniques to their full potential. This section within the chapter caught my eye because I feel that I may have fallen victim to these traps myself.
Reflective
The idea of these four traps that we need to navigate around is one that I think, as instructors we need to be constantly reminding ourselves of. When I first started teaching, I was given an already developed course. Objectives, assessments, lesson plans and all. The first year I taught the course I just went through the paces, tried to get a “feel” for the course and what was expected of both the learners and me as the instructor. One of the biggest issues that I saw was with the instruments. At the time I just thought that the items were too “easy”. They all just seemed to be memory recall type multiple-choice questions. The course that I had inherited was Hybrid and Electric Vehicles and by the end of it, learners were expected to be able to quickly, efficiently and safely diagnose and repair the vehicles. Asking whether or not they can correctly choose the numerical difference between intermediate and high voltages on a test seemed off to me. “What are the most important things learners should know and do at the end of the program?” (Fenwick & Parsons, 2009, p. 15). The questions on these tests had been written exactly in line with the first trap: measuring what’s easiest to measure.
Interpretive
I don’t think I was able to get a good grasp on what was bothering me about the tests until I read this chapter. As I mentioned, I’d always just assumed that the instruments were easy or at a lower level of thinking. I hadn’t taken a critical look at them and come up with the fact that they weren’t just easy for the student, they were easy for the instructor. To write and to mark. When speaking of higher level thinking in accordance with Bloom’s Taxonomy, “MC items do indeed have the potential to assess these skills, but that lower level MC items are simply over-represented.” (Scully, 2017, p. 4). This style of item can fall victim to both measuring what’s easiest and reductionism. In the case of my Hybrid and Electric Vehicle course, if a learner becomes accustomed to tests only asking recall type questions, then they may stop evaluating facts and coming up with diagnostic conclusions and just resort to memorizing definitions and data.
One of the other assessments that was incorporated into the course was some research and short answer assignments. These assignments did not have a key available so in my first year, I marked them all individually. Without a rubric, as the previous instructor had done. I learned quickly the value of feedback and consistency on these assignments as I noticed that the students didn’t improve or continued to make the same mistakes without constructive feedback. In reflecting on these assignments I realize the other two traps of evaluation. The first being that students missed out on the chance to grow and learn from their evaluations and the second being the position of power that I had not realized I held over the students. “…because students’ feeling of self-efficacy are involved, however, even well-intentioned feedback can be very destructive if the student reads the script in an unintended way.” (Brookhart, 2016, p. 46).
Decisional
From reading these chapters and reflecting on the evaluations that I have previously used, I realized that I have fallen into all four of these traps. Measuring what’s easiest to measure is a simple one to trip up on, I need to constantly ask myself if this is one of the most important things that a learner needs to gain from this course before I evaluate them on it. Underestimating the learning embedded in evaluation can be mitigated by providing feedback, reviewing assessments and asking well-structured items to help heighten a student’s understanding of the subject. Unexamined power is one that I need to be constantly aware of. I, like most adults struggle with evaluations. It can be hard to put yourself out there and potentially show your faults in what seems like a public arena. Numerous smaller quizzes, I feel, could help relieve some of the stresses of this. Learners will become a little more accustomed to being evaluated and learn from mistakes made at a level that doesn’t affect their final grade as drastically. Reductionism is something that cannot be taken lightly. If I get into the habit of asking simple recall questions, then learners may start getting into the habit of strictly memorizing information instead of critically thinking about and analyzing it. This can turn into a hurdle for all other learning situations going forward.
References
Brookhart, S. M. (2016). Feedback That Fits. In E. Essentials, & M. Scherer (Ed.), On Formative Assessment: Readings from Educational Leadership (p. 136). Alexandria, VA, USA: ASCD.
Fenwick, T. J., & Parsons, J. (2009). The Art of Evaluation: A Resource for Educators and Trainers (2nd ed.). Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
Scully, D. (2017, May). Constructing Multiple-Choice Items to Measure Higher-Order Thinking. Practicle Assessment, Research and Evaluation, 22(4). Retrieved from http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=22&n=4
Reflective Writing #1 – 3210
Objective
My first reflective journal entry will be evaluating the quote “When asked, many instructors are uneasy about “teaching” a set of values to their students. They might insist that education is “neutral” or that it is not the business of education to change students’ values and behaviors.” (Vancouver Community College, 2019) This quote is signalling that many teachers and instructors don’t feel that they should be teaching an implicit curriculum. That it is not “fair” to the students and everything that they are being marked on, should be transparent and within the course outline. The quote caught my eye because of a few different ideas it touched on. While the article goes on to state an example of how nursing students need to be taught ethics of their careers to help with job prospects as well as professional success, I found that it really resonated with me and teaching my automotive students about the ethics within our trade. I also find myself agreeing on some aspects of the quote, particularly how education should be “neutral”. I feel like students need to learn about ethics within their careers, but not necessarily be marked or graded on that.
Reflective
This quote stuck with me because of some experiences I’ve had teaching both a hybrid and electric vehicle course as well as teaching a diesel engine course. Both classes have similar hurdles that I need to face when teaching them in Alberta. The perception of a lot of my students is that hybrid and electric vehicles just aren’t “cool”, and they tend to believe an extraordinary amount of misinformation that they read on the internet. In the diesel course, I spend a fair amount of time talking about emissions and related components of the vehicle that are there to reduce these harmful chemicals. Some students think that the components are just there to rob power and can be taken off with little to no repercussions. Neither of these courses have objectives written like “describe the environmental impact of deleting emission related components” or “demonstrate how the power curve of a hybrid vehicle is more efficient than that of a conventional vehicle” but both objectives I end up teaching. Not directly, but through ethical discussions about removing components and questioning the students’ values and beliefs about oil and gas.
Interpretative
This quote made me see not only is the hidden curriculum prevalent in everything that I teach, but that it’s not necessarily a bad thing. “…in addition to the knowledge and skills we intend to convey, we also transmit to the learner a vast array of behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes we never intended to share, nor even recognized we were imparting.” (Gofton & Regehr, 2006) I was aware that I was trying in impart my views on hybrid vehicles to my students. I wasn’t aware however that my views on environmentalism and possibly even some political views were imparted to my class at the same time. This does bother me. I want my students to be informed about the vehicles they’re working on and able to answer any questions that customers may ask them, but I also want them to come up with their own conclusions and beliefs. “The literature on teaching controversial issues provides conflicting advice for teachers, though many authors advocate the adoption of a neutral or balanced approach.” (Cotton, 2007)
Decisional
Regardless of what we teach there is always an explicit and an implicit curriculum being delivered. Although many teachers try to keep a balanced approach, Cotton concludes “The analysis suggests that teachers have to choose between explicitly or implicitly expressing their attitudes.” (2007) There is no getting away from me inadvertently delivering some of my beliefs through the hidden curriculum. It is good practice in my opinion to realise this and to understand what implicit curriculum you are delivering and what the repercussions may be. In some instances, these are good outcomes but that is not always the case. To me this goes beyond even course design and outcomes and is something that I will need to be cognizant of in all facets of instruction. From informal conversations with students through to assignment objectives, lectures and classroom discussions.
References
Cotton, D. R. (2007, February 17). Teaching Controversial Enviromental Issues: Neutrality and Balance in the Reality of the Classroom. Educational Research, 48(2), 223-241. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/00131880600732306
Gofton, W., & Regehr, G. (2006). What We Don’t Know We Are Teaching: Unveiling the Hidden Curriculum. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, 449, 20-27.
Vancouver Community College. (2019). Explicit and Implicit Curriculum Development. Retrieved from Vancouver Community College Moodle: https://moodle.vcc.ca/pluginfile.php/1103764/mod_resource/content/3/Explicit%20and%20Implicit%20Curriculum%20Development.pdf
Reflective Writing #2 – 3100
Objective
My second reflective journal entry will be evaluating the quote “…tests and grades are anathema to andragogy, which assumes adults are capable of self-evaluating their own learning.” (Merriam & Bierema, 2014, pp. 57-58). The foremost thought to summarize this quote is that adults are problem-centered in their learning. They tend to take formal courses or informal and nonformal forms of education to solve problems they may have, or had in their past experiences. Their measure of success at learning this new information is not based off a letter grade but whether or not they have come away from the course with the knowledge to fix whatever problem they initially encountered. This quote caught my attention based with how I face my own education. My measuring stick for if I have gained knowledge is much more rooted in solving problems I have encountered as opposed to my final mark.
Reflection
While marks still matter as a way of seeing hard evidence of growth, I tend to feel as though I’ve gained more from a course if I can see a measureable difference in how I deal with situations outside of the classroom. If I’m taking a course or trying to learn something new that I can’t see relevance to in my life, then I am hard pressed to retain the information. But if the course addresses a problem I have, or if I can foresee one becoming a hurdle then I am much more inclined to absorb the information. I will judge my success of that knowledge based on whether or not I can see progress in my situation instead of the grades I get.
Interpretive
Merriam and Bierema mention that “…adult learning more often than not is problem-centered with a desire for immediate application.” (Merriam & Bierema, 2014, p. 53). This thought lends itself nicely to the quote that this writing is focusing on. The desire for immediate application and the effects of that are how adults tend to measure the course’s effectiveness. They’re less inclined to care about the grade than a child is. Test marks and grades can actually have a negative effect on adults. Grades can cause an adult to revert back to the feelings of a traditional classroom like when they were children, giving them a sense of being patronized. Knowles states that “Nothing makes an adult feel more childlike that being judged by another adult; it is the ultimate sign of disrespect and dependency…” (1980, p. 49). Adults are past the point of dependence and external validation that children feel. Being treated as such gives them a sense that they are no longer independent and making their own choices. Kelsey wrote that “The theory and practice of adult education is to emancipate learners from external rewards so that lifelong learning can become a habit.” (2006, p. 30). In theory I feel like this is the ultimate goal but is having a grade-less course in a formal environment practical?
Decisional
While tests and marks are not a great way for adult learners to be evaluated, and may actually hinder their participation in courses, they are still a valid way to critique the class and show a measurable gain in the knowledge of the learner. Edwards conducted a study in his classroom in which his students self-graded their homework assignments and tests. “Students liked self-grading because they identified their own mistakes, it reinforced what they learned, and they received immediate feedback…Self-grading may also reduce student-teacher conflict and student anxiety.” (2007, pp. 72-76). I feel that this could be a good compromise that I will try in my classroom. Students will grade their own assignments and in doing so they will see exactly where they may have gone wrong in the assignments and see how to solve the problems immediately. This seems like a much more efficient method to address the issue of the immediate application that adult learners crave. It will also reduce the patronizing feeling they may get from another adult handing them a grade.
References
Edwards, N.M. (2007, August). Student Self-Grading in Social Statistics. College Teaching, 55(2), pp. 72-76
Kelsey, K.D, (2006, September). Do Grades Matter? A Case Study of the Effects of Grade Neutrality on Adult Learners. North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Journal, 50(3), p. 30
Knowles, M. S. (1980). The Modern Practice of Adult Education: From Pedagogy to Andragogy. Wilton, Conn.: Association Press
Merriam, S. B, Bierema, L. L, (2014). Adult Learning: Linking Theory and Practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Reflective Writing #1 – 3100
Objective
My first reflective journal entry will be analyzing the quote “adults are problem-centered, not subject-centered, and desire immediate, not postponed application of the knowledge learned.” (Merriam & Bierema, 2014, p. 53). This quote caught my attention due to the very nature in which I myself learn as well as my students. The idea of the quote is that adult learners generally need a “why” before they are willing to buy in and invest their time. Its not enough to teach them the curriculum, they need to feel that they will gain something from this other than just a grade.
Reflective
This quote resonates with me. If I do not feel that there is something meaningful to be gained from some knowledge, then I find it hard to retain. But if there is a problem I have or an obstacle that I’m trying to overcome then I tend to spend much more time and energy on the research behind the solution. I have found this with my students in my automotive air-conditioning course. Some of my fourth-year apprentices are slower on the uptake of knowledge and seem to fight the idea of learning about air-conditioning. Their argument is that they’ve been in the trade for four years and have never needed this knowledge. To them, just because the course is a required subject is not enough to put the effort into the class. They need to feel that they will gain something from the class, something more than just a passing mark. They need to see why the subject is important to add to their knowledge base and how it will help them in their own careers going forward.
Interpretive
Litt states that “When you have an adult population, they don’t want to do something because they have to. They want to understand why it’s important and how it relates to them as adult learners.” (as cited in Motivating Adult Online Learners, 2015, para. 2). To teach adult learners and above that, to engage those learners you need to be able to relate the subject matter to a problem they need to solve or how it will benefit them in their lives. This is evident in the way in which adults progress through a program in relation to how children naturally progress through. “Children are usually motivated by external pressures and the consequences of failure. Children are also usually told what they need to do in order to work their way up to the next level. Adult learners are more likely to be learning because of a desire for a better quality of life, self-actualisation, self-confidence, recognition and much more. They will set their own goals in regards to their learning and they will work toward achieving these goals for their own self-improvement, not because they are required to pass a grade.” (Your Adult Self Doesn’t Learn the Same as When you Were a Child, 2015, para. 4). The students in my air-conditioning class made this apparent for me. They needed to pass the course in order to get their Journeyman certificate, but many found it difficult to put in the same effort that they did for say the engines course. Where as if you look at children in school, they will follow along with most courses presented to them for fear of getting a bad grade or in trouble with their parents. Children don’t need to know the “why” of a course as self-motivated adults do.
Decisional
To engage and motivate adult learners can be challenging. If they do not see a reason to apply themselves then they will not work to the standard that they are capable of. To motivate students in courses that they cannot see relevance in I try to pose questions to them that will draw upon past experiences or show how knowing about these certain subjects can be beneficial. In a hybrid and electric vehicle course for example, I may show projections of new hybrid sales figures for the coming years. The students themselves may not be interested in owning those vehicles but now they can see many more will be on the roads soon and that all those vehicles will need to be repaired. They start to see that their own futures will involve these vehicles in one way or another and that by investing their time in this course that they are better suited to work on the vehicles and be more productive on the job. As in the case study of my air-conditioning students, I had to show them just how vast the subject is and how many things that they need to be aware of, even if they themselves are not the ones doing all the air-conditioning work in the shop. Once I was able to get across to them how all systems are interconnected and that by even doing some general work on the vehicles, they may be misdiagnosing faults. All because they don’t have a good understanding of the air-conditioning system. Once these facts were placing in front of the students they then started to apply themselves to the subject. They had found their “why”.
References
Kelly, R. (February 24, 2015). Motivating Adult Online Learners. Faculty Focus. Retrieved from https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/motivating-adult-online-learners/
Merriam, S. B, Bierema, L. L, (2014). Adult Learning: Linking Theory and Practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
O’Hara, S. (June 17, 2015). Your Adult Self Doesn’t Learn the Same as When you Were a Child. Future School. Retrieved from https://www.futureschool.com/blog/adult-vs-child-learning/
Foundations of Adult Education 