Engaging learners

Sketchbooks

A sketchbook is a variation on the old journal-keeping theme. It has a much wider framework and this version comes complete with a website for further inspiration and a set of 'sketchbook challenges". Try your hand at "don't think like a domino" and others. This method is being used extensively in the UK. The possibilities are unlimited.

Link - www.accessart.org.uk/whykeepasketchbook.pdf

Adult Learning Theories

A fact sheet on adult learning theories developed by the California adult literacy professional development project (CALPRO) which outlines self directed and transformational learning and ideas for their transformation. It also defines androgogy.

Link - www.calpro-online.org/documents/AdultLearningTheoriesFinal.pdf

The Benefits of PLAR in Canadian Universities

This is a short clip (3 min. 25 sec.) discussing PLAR - Prior Learning Assessment Recognition - in Canadian universities and their method of a digital "Meeting of Minds"

Building Art out of Lego

A YouTube clip (3.34 min) about a man who was a lawyer and is now a full-time LEGO artist, selling his work for thousands of dollars. There’s some life lessons here! Also check out his own website at http://brickartist.com

Weird, or just different?

This is a short TED talk (3 minutes) about perception, and having an open mind in order to learn.

Education today and tomorrow

A light, but thought-provoking clip (2mins 30secs) designed to make learners think about what they want from learning, and to emphasise the fact that learning is a life-long activity, unrestrained by boundaries.

Engaging Older People - SeniorNet

This week we would like to highlight learning for older people by sharing the SeniorNet.org.nz site with you. Go to the webpage and click on the video at the right of the screen to about how SeniorNet works and what the benefits are in learning in this way.

The Federation of New Zealand Senior Societies Incorporated brings together groups based on the work of a research project from the University of San Francisco in the late 1980s. New Zealand started its first programme, supported by Telecom, in Wellington in 1992, followed by a second centre in Nelson in 1993. Today there are 88 SeniorNet centres all around New Zealand. These popular places for older people to learn computer use, from absolute basics to very advanced.

The latest courses focus on iPod use. SeniorNet groups are more than just a place for courses – they are true community organisations, promoting and modelling collaboration, individual needs-based learning and social cohesion on a daily basis. Each SeniorNet is a local incorporated society and tutors are unpaid volunteers. Click here to learn more: www.seniornet.org.nz

Celebrating adult learners (Canada)

In these 2 clips we are reminded of why we MUST continue to teach adults, and why most of us feel so passionately about what we do. Yvonne Hippenstall and Shannon Bridger are the first and second place essay winners in a Canadian adult learning programme competition and here they read their winning essays to an appreciative audience.

Yvonne Hippenstall reads her essay about how, with the help of the kind folks at the Bedford Sackville Learning Network, she will succeed in achieving her goals (3mins 40secs)

Shannon Bridger reads from her essay about how attending the Adult Learning Program at the Nova Scotia Community College Waterfront Campus in Dartmouth gave her the confidence to work toward her dreams (2 mins 44secs)

Secrets of the middle-aged mind

Barbara Strauch has just published the book “The Secret Life of the Grown-up Brain” and this article proposes that there are 5 secrets of the middle-aged mind that we should all know. Barbara is deputy science editor at the New York Times and her ideas are research-based.

Link - www.wowowow.com/life/5-secrets-middle-aged-mind-barbara-strauch-466556

How Brains Make Meaning - Tom Wujec

This is a 6 minute TEDtalk by Tom Wujec, a Fellow at Autodesk, the makers of design software for engineers, filmmakers, and designers, about how we learn, specifically based on images and how our brain processes them. This is an interesting ideas-rich session for anyone interested in how we learn.

He outlines the 3 different ways in which our brains work and how these co-ordinate to make meaning. Tom helps companies work in the emerging field of business visualization, the art of using images, sketches and infographics to help teams solve complex problems as a group.

The EAGLE Toolkit for Intergenerational Activities

This invaluable resource has been compiled by the EAGLE project - European Approaches to inter-Generational Lifelong Learning.

The toolkit is presented as a .pdf file of 38 pages, containing a set of practical tools and approaches for practitioners and policymakers alike. The link also provides information on EAGLE initiatives in several countries.

Link - www.eagle-project.eu/welcome-to-eagle/the-eagle-toolkit-for-intergenerational-activities

This is Bad Enough

A short (2mins 17secs) poem highlighting the need for presenters of information to "Make it better - not worse". This is especially useful in terms of putting yourself in the shoes of those you seek to teach.

Engaging Learners through Dance (UK)

Dance United (UK) (www.yhyots.org.uk/yots/bradford/bradford.htm#dance_academy) is a dance-based Alternative Education Programme for young offenders and those at risk of offending. It is an intensive programme which develops young people’s ability to engage with literacy and numeracy in a non-confrontational setting. This is an amazing example of alternative ways to engage young people with an educationally sound learning process. The site has links and comments from people working in the area.

Leading on from the Dance United information is their partner, Kala Sangam (www.kalasangam.org), a leading South Asian Arts organisation promoting and providing greater understanding and appreciation of the cultural traditions from South Asia through innovative ways that aim to increase awareness of racial, cultural and social issues. Their Learning & Access department develops provides life long learning through innovative and inclusive artistic activities to address crime, education, employment as well as social issues such as crime and drug abuse. Activities particularly target people living in the most deprived districts, people who are at risk of marginalization.
 

Never stop learning

American inspirational message (3mins 45secs). This clip emphasises the ease with which learners today may access educational experiences.

The difference between students and learners

A fun roleplay. (1min 34secs)

Did you know?

This fascinating clip (8 min. 20 sec.) provides statistics and interesting facts about education and knowledge historically and in the future. It is an entertaining visual representation of a number of key ideas and facts that will engage people from many walks of life and on many levels. Put your feet up, click 'go' and enjoy!

Workers' Educational Association

Many New Zealand ACE practitioners may not know that ACE was brought to NZ initially by a British organisation - the WEA – Workers' Educational Association. This clip (4mins 16secs) is a fascinating example of the continuing role that the WEA still has in bringing educational opportunities to people whose first experience of the “system” may not have been positive. (Look out for a New Zealand connection!)

US Army prep school

An example of the possibilities for engaging people whose initial learning was unsuccessful. (1min 44secs).

This is an illustration of the US experience and may be similar to a new scheme being offered to year 13 students in New Zealand in a bid to encourage further structured learning. (Check out the NZ story at www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/599713)

Teaching Returning Adult Students: Beware of Returning Adult Student Experiences

This video gives ideas on how to work effectively with more mature learners - how what they already know can be a plus and a minus.

Newpark Adult Education Centre in Ireland

This video talks about the impact of the recession in Ireland on adult learning - both learners' experiences and their different priorities for learning, and how some highly skilled workers are giving back by sharing some of their knowledge.

Niacedc – NIACE (National Institute of Adult Continuing Education) Dysgu Cymru - Welsh adult learning

This inspirational video clip tells the story of Lucy from Wales and how ACE turned her life around – from being in prison to ‘now I have a plan for my life’. Lucy and her tutor both share their experiences.

Iridescent Learning's 'Families working together' page.

Iridescent Learning is a non-profit organisation whose mission is 'to foster curiosity and inspire self-confidence in young people with limited access—unlocking doors to their future and preparing them to help solve the world’s most pressing issues'.

To achieve their goal, Iridescent runs science programmes that not only engage children in learning, but reconnect their parents with education. Both children and parents find the programmes meaningful, purposeful and fun.
http://iridescentlearning.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17&Itemid=10

Other pages on the site give more examples of inspiring approaches, such as, working with volunteer engineers and engineering students, and running competitions - always with a focus on parental involvement.