Adult educators include academics teaching in higher education and volunteers working with the homeless to acquire basic literacy skills. They are lecturers and facilitators, counselors and role models. They are a diverse group of educators teaching a diverse group of learners in diverse settings. That has always been the case.
However, the most dominant insight I have gained regarding the different roles of the adult educator is that, first and foremost, the adult educator must also be an adult learner.
While the foundational principles of education may be well defined, the strategies, methods and technologies that are available are evolving at an exponential pace. Educators can no longer settle for being a content expert and decent lecturer. Educators must now also be bloggers and ‘facebook’ers, twitter’ers and YouTube’rs, multimedia developers and savvy Second Life’ers. They must understand the pros and cons of blended learning and flipped classrooms, and they must be able to execute these instructional methods effectively. Just looking through the list of apps I currently have on my iPad alone attest to the revolution of technology in adult learning: iTunes U and Khan Academy, Medscape and Skyscape, GoToMeeting, Weebly, Prezi, Evernote, SimpleMinds, Omnio, and Feedly. To communicate with students in clinical I also have sms, imessage, and WhatsApp. All tools to facilitate teaching and learning in one form or another. And it is not just sorting out all these tools and downloading them, one must learn how to use them competently, and then figure out how to use them (or not, as the case may be) in the learning environment. Oh yes, and not to forget my new Second Life Avatar, through which I will explore the learning resources and opportunities offered by organizations such as the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE and the Discovery Educator Network (DEN). Not only am I needing to learn to be a techy, I need to be constantly staying on top of what is coming next. Click Read More to learn about how to avoid becoming one of Eric Mazur's obsolete dinosaurs, and about Salman Khan and the Flipped Classroom.
One major trends impacting education in general, including the role of the adult educator, is the concept of the Flipped Classroom. My learning partner Rhonda and I chose to explore this further. Essentially ‘flipping the classroom’ reverses traditional teaching. Rather than the teacher taking class time to deliver content through lectures, and then assigning homework to consolidate that information, the students watch videos, podcasts and other online content at home, so that class time can then be devoted to activities, encouraging teacher and peer interactions, and instilling a deeper level of learning. As first described by J. W. Baker, the teacher’s role moves from that of “the sage on the stage” to “the guide on the side” (Ropchan and Stutt, 2013, P. 2). Eric Manzur Dean of Applied Physics at Harvard University was interview by the learning website ‘EvoLLLution’. When asked about what impact the Flipped Classroom would have on the role of teachers in higher education who were using the lecture-based approach, he said “Well, I think that anybody who insists on continuing to teach [using the lecture model] is in danger of losing his or her job.” (Mazur, 2013). Now that is a wake-up call.
One of the most well known recent proponents of the Flipped Classroom is Salman Khan, founder of the Khan Academy, and made famous by his 2011 TedTalk “Lets Use Video to Reinvent Education” (Khan, 2011). The Khan Academy not only provides over 4,100 video tutorials, but the organization has gone on to develop into an integrated knowledge network, with individualized self-paced learning plans for students, interactive challenges and assessments, and sophisticated tracking of individual progress (CBS, 2012). For the teacher there is a ‘coach dashboard’ (hint: note the terminology), where individual students and the entire groups progress can be tracked with graphs and statistics, allowing teachers to focus their time on those students who may be struggling a bit grasping a particular concept, while allowing those who ‘get it’ to move on ahead at their one pace. It is no longer ‘one size fits all’ according to Salman Khan. The role of the teacher in the Khan Academy classroom is one of coach, mentor and guide. Having been freed up from delivering content, the teacher now has time to personally interact with the students, to provide guidance, to engage students in a deeper level of learning involving collaborative activities and interactions (Khan Academy, 2013).
Reflecting on the variety of roles that adult educators play, particularly the new ones driven by the vast world of ‘EdTech’ is a bit daunting. I hope by taking this Provincial Instructors Diploma Program I will be able to keep abreast of current educational practices and not become one of Eric Mazur’s obsolete dinosaurs.
References:
Khan Academy (2013). The role of the teacher. Retrieved from the Khan Academy:
https://www.khanacademy.org/coach-res/for-teachers/what-is-a-ka-classroom/a/the-role-of-the-teacher
CBS (2012). Khan Academy: The Future of Education. Retrieved from 60 Minutes:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57394905/khan-academy-the-future-of-education/
Khan, S. (2011). TED 2011 Salman Khan. Retrieved from the Khan Academy:
https://www.khanacademy.org/talks-and-interviews/key-media-pieces/v/salman-khan-talk-at-ted-2011--from-ted-com
Mazur, E. (2013, March 13). The flipped classroom will redefine the role of educator’s (Audio interview transcription). Retrieved from The EvoLLLution: Illuminating the Life Long Learning Movement:
http://www.evolllution.com/distance_online_learning/audio-flipped-classroom-redefine-role-educators-10-years/
Ropchan, K. and Stutt, G. (2013). Flipped classroom. Retrieved from ETEC510 Design Wiki - Technology-Enhanced Learning Environments: http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/Flipped_Classroom