Course plan for guiding adults
A course plan portrays the intentions and topics related to a particular subject under study used by various educators to impart knowledge to their learners. An adult audience has an increased psychological process of gaining self-concepts (Knowles et al., 2014); this implies that the course plan for grownups follows self-direct learning where the students take the direct initiative of learning. The adult audience course plan follows the andragogy assumption. With their different life experiences, they encourage each of them to participate in groups and join collaborative groups (Cochran & Brown 2016). Such andragogy assists educators in encouraging them to enhance their talents.
Course plan outline
Assessing needs
Evaluates the sense of hearing of adult people, their hearing level, and their perspective to touch. From the survey conducted in the unit (III), it’s evident that most adult people have a low capacity to hear about 15%, while the level of understanding is very high at about 45% and .40% perception to touch.
Auditory: 15%
Visual: 45%
Tactile: 40%
Goals and objectives
The main objectives of this course plan are to encourage the adults on the importance of nurturing their talents, other objectives include.
- To know the benefits of being self-reliant
- To help learners develop their own potential
- To understand the importance of forming groups
- To know how to use talents to generate income
- To understand entrepreneurship
Learning Content
The learning period will cover the following learning contents,
- How to nurture talents
- Entrepreneurship
- Weekly examinations
- Being self-reliant
- Communication skills
- Group assignments
- Effective leadership qualities
- Final examinations
Learning duration
The course takes five weeks; each module stated in the learning contents will cover a maximum of one week, totaling five weeks. Each learner will be required to state whether the scheduled time does not affect them; an additional 30minutes will be allocated for discussion from the adult learners within their groups. The weekly examination takes 2 hours; group assignments are done in groups while the final examination takes 2hoours.
Written Reflection Part 1
In my course plan, several instances are illustrating the incorporation of my strengths as the teacher, my plan also supports the assumption of andragogy and encourages the adults to think for themselves as better people in society. In my plan, I have assimilated the Knowles (1984) definition of andragogy as the art and science of helping adults learn; this is apparent on the goals and objectives of the plan. Grownups have their life experiences whenever they are coming to learn; therefore, in my plan, they will be assisted in developing their talents effectively. Such an assumption of andragogy was indicated by (Knowles 1984) that adults enter their classes when they are ready to learn.
My plan addresses the features of effective teaching. For instance, an effective teacher should be organized, I have scheduled the durations for each course content, and I have also allowed the learners to discuss the course in their groups. Minor et al. (2002) stated that effective teaching should embrace consistency, in my plan I have embraced steadiness in all that I am planning to do for the course, for instance, I have scheduled all my lessons to follow each other so that all my adult learners can gain all the details of the course without fear of contradiction so that whenever they walk they feel self-reliant. In my plan, I have illustrated flexibility during lessons in the sense that I have given my learners a chance to either add more hours during the study to enable them to gain effectively.
As a teacher leader, I have integrated myself in this plan in such a way that it depicts governance. I am in charge of all the operation that occurs during the lessons. I have also stated that I will provide several examinations to the adult student that will be supervised by me.
Learners are given an opportunity to think for themselves in this plan. For instance, I have indicated that adults’ students are subjected to a weekly examination where they are examined on whatever they have learned. According to (“5 Ways to Teach Students to Think for Themselves”, 2020), for a student to think for themselves an educator should let the student to try new things, in my plan I have indicated that adults’ learners will be taught on how to nurture their talents, this is vital since the other adults who doesn’t feel the importance of participating in activities will be embarrassed and forced to join any related activity that they can practice effectively.
My plan also encourages the learners to think for themselves; for instance, I have developed group discussions where all the learners should participate. During the communication skills lesson, I have indicated that each adult student is given the opportunity to share their life experience, the other students in the class listen more and can ask questions whenever there is a point of controversy. Franke et al. (2009) indicated that when students in a class listen to each other, they listen keenly on how their fellow students argue, which increases their hearing concepts.
In conclusion, the assumptions provided by Knowles (1984) that adults are willing to learn by themselves and that the adults have life experience that pushes them to study alone when the teacher is not around assisted me in developing the course plan, also since most adults are interested in capturing ideas to enable them to nurture their talents for self-reliant played a vital role in developing a course plan that meets adults learning.
References
5 Ways to Teach Students to Think for Themselves. Getting Smart. (2020). https://www.gettingsmart.com/2016/10/5-ways-teach-students-to-think-for-themselves/.
Cochran, C., & Brown, S. (2016). Andragogy and the adult learner. In Supporting the success of adult and online students. CreateSpace.
Franke, M. L., Webb, N. M., Chan, A. G., Ing, M., Freund, D., & Battey, D. (2009). Teacher questioning to elicit students’ mathematical thinking in elementary school classrooms. Journal of Teacher Education, 60(4), 380-392.
Knowles, M. S. (1984). Introduction: The art and science of helping adults learn. Andragogy in action: Applying modern principles of adult learning, 1-21.
Knowles, M. S., Holton III, E. F., & Swanson, R. A. (2014). The adult learner: The definitive classic in adult education and human resource development. Routledge.
Minor, L. C., Onwuegbuzie, A. J., Witcher, A. E., & James, T. L. (2002). Preservice teachers’ educational beliefs and their perceptions of characteristics of effective teachers. The Journal of Educational Research, 96(2), 116-127.