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Adult Education Teaching Styles

Teaching styles can be described with many different terms: authoritarian, demonstrator, delegator, and facilitator. The authoritarian style dominated the old Medieval style university, where lectures climaxed in a test or a final paper, the students passive recipients of wisdom. The demonstrator works best when the students have hands-on material to learn, such as web design. The delegator transfers responsibility to individuals and groups, allowing them to help decide how the course will be taken. The facilitator emphasizes active learning, with many activities designed to engage the student in educational growth (Shaw Corporation, 2005).

Facilitator
When I am teaching computer science at Glendale Community College, I emphasize activities rather than passive listening, which is especially deadly with an unmotivated class taking a required course. Instead of using the PowerPoint slides, beautifully designed to go with the text, I engage the class in a Socratic dialogue about computer use, from the home computer to the marketplace (airline tickets, checking out at Wal-Mart), to the job market. The most fun a class had took place when I taught them web design with Word and gave the class freedom to create their own personal websites (college appropriate). They had to learn the basics of the Web, follow directions in saving the right files to the right web folder, and link their computer science homework within the web pages.
A facilitator assumes that the class genuinely wants to learn, in spite of contrary evidence. In fact, no group of adults, young or old, will appreciate sitting and listening for long periods. Their best use of time and talent involves actively learning. The more practical the course, the more they need to work the keyboard rather than listen to theories and definitions. This method is especially important since computer science ages so quickly. The students need to extirpate their fears with trial and error, not learn the terminology of Windows 3.1. I was tested on Windows 3.1 when I passed the A+ test but I have never worked with that ancient operating system.

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Translation to Distance Learning
The authoritarian style does not translate well to Distance Education. The facilitator role works well because online education has a passive component. No matter how spiffy the courseware graphics might be, people are still sitting at a computer and responding to visual material. A facilitator can make up for this by letting the class have the equivalent of running to the board to carry out a group activity (Felder, 1993.).

Some ways to make the online classroom more active in learning include:
· Posting occasional graphics to add some humor to the class. A blushing face to illustrate the instructor’s error always works well.
· Showing students how to do good research. The instructor can help students reach new levels of research and writing by showing them how. In this way, the facilitator can also be an effective demonstrator.
· Helping with student attitudes and background education through extra material. The instructor has no limits in providing extra material for the students to use. The main folder or course materials folder can be used for supplementary material on writing, research, APA, time management, and case study method.
All students want to be valued and stimulated in a delivery mode, which can be passive and cold (University of Idaho, 2005).

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The online classroom necessarily includes many different cultures from around the world, many different economic levels, and widely variant political and religious perspectives. When I teach online world religion, one of the most divisive courses in potential, I encourage diversity in the following ways:

1. Posting a message on mutual respect the first day of class. I welcome people expressing themselves but caution them against attacking the beliefs of others.
2. Asking various religious groups to explain their culture. When people feel free to discuss their own religion, I let them serve as the experts in that religion for the class. Everyone benefits from this approach.
3. Warning students who make others defensive. For instance, one student began making fun of Latter Day Saints, and feigned innocence when he continued the attacks. “I am just quoting former Mormons.” A private message and a note in the classroom showed that would not be allowed to continue.
This particular course has taught me how many different variations there are to consider in Adult Education.

Conclusion
The role of the facilitator works best in Distance Education because online work requires additional stimulation to overcome the passive nature of the computer. Facilitating also works well in dealing with the global nature of the classroom today and its cultural diversity.

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References

Felder, R. M. (1993.). Reaching the second tier:Learning and teaching styles in college science education. Journal of College Science Education, 23, 286-90. Retrieved November 27, 2005, from http://www.ncsu.edu/felder-public/Papers/Secondtier.html

Shaw Corporation, (2005). Teaching styles. Retrieved November 27, 2005. from http://members.shaw.ca/mdde615/tchstyles.htmUniversity of Idaho, (2005).

Online education. Retrieved November 27, 2005., from http://www.uidaho.edu/eo/dist2.html