A positive learning environment for adults

What kind of learning environment would I like to create? As a teacher I would like to develop a climate which is conducive to student learning. This means an engaging, stimulating and enriching environment in where students can grow. Research has indicated that a positive learning environment has a positive influence on student outcomes in cognitive, motivational, emotional and behavioral domains.1 The question is under which conditions people, either children either adults, can learn. We can determine these conditions only if we understand the process of learning, which is very good defined by Priesnitz (2009)2: Learning is a process of figuring things out, asking questions, making connections, getting ideas and testing them, taking risks, making mistakes, without fear of ridicule or embarrassment, trying again and eventually experiencing the satisfaction of accomplishment.

Facilitating adults learning

There I teach young adults,its important to have a better understanding how adults learn and how this learning can be facilitated. In a globalizing world in which knowledge and technology change rapidly the concept of life-long learning has take on a new meaning. 4 . The need for highly skilled workforce increased5 and as Billington6 said: It is clear that we adults have a choice: We either continue to learn throughout our lives, or we allow our skills and knowledge to quickly slide into obsolescence.

Adapted from:Virginia Department of education. Brief #7 - Performance Standard 5: Learning Environment http://www.apsva.us/cms/lib2/VA01000586/Centricity/Domain/25/Brief%207%20Performance%20Standard%205%20Learning%20Environment.pdf .Web retrieved 14 Apr.2014 2 Adapted from Coursera, course 2, Foundations of Teaching for Learning, week 3 thinkpiece 3 Conditions for learning 3 Adapted from The Doodle Revolution http://sunnibrown.com/doodlerevolution/showcase/facilitating-adult-learning/ Web retrieved 15 Apr.2014 4 Darlene McDonough (2013). Paper: Similarities and Differences between Adult and Child Learners as Participants in the Natural Learning Process http://file.scirp.org/Html/29266.html.Web retrieved 14 Apr.2014
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Coursera, course 1, Foundations of Teaching for Learning, week 4. Townsend. Paper on change :Thinking and acting both Locally and Globally: New Issues for School Development Planning 5 p 6 Billington, D. (2007). Seven characteristics of adult education/adult learning.. http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/lifelonglearning/workplace/articles/characteristics/index.html Web retrieved 14 Apr.2014

In her study she found seven key factors which best facilitate adult growth and development: 1. An environment where students feel safe and supported, where individual needs and uniqueness are honored, where abilities and life achievements are acknowledged and respected. 2. An environment that fosters intellectual freedom and encourages experimentation and creativity. 3. An environment where faculty treats adult students as peers--accepted and respected as intelligent experienced adults whose opinions are listened to, honored, appreciated . Such faculty members often comment that they learn as much from their students as the students learn from them. 4. Self-directed learning, where students take responsibility for their own learning. They work with faculty to design individual learning programs which address what each person needs and wants to learn in order to function optimally in their profession. 5. Pacing, or intellectual challenge. Optimal pacing is challenging people just beyond their present level of ability. If challenged too far beyond, people give up. If challenged too little, they become bored and learn little. Pacing can be compared to playing tennis with a slightly better player; your game tends to improve. But if the other player is far better and it's impossible to return a ball, you give up, overwhelmed. If the other player is less experienced and can return none of your balls, you learn little. Those adults who reported experiencing high levels of intellectual stimulation--to the point of feeling discomfort--grew more. 6. Active involvement in learning, as opposed to passively listening to lectures. Where students and instructors interact and dialogue, where students try out new ideas in the workplace, where exercises and experiences are used to bolster facts and theory, adults grow more. 7. Regular feedback mechanisms for students to tell faculty what works best for them and what they want and need to learn--and faculty who hear and make changes based on student input. 7 Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) As above mentioned the world changes rapidly and the meaning of knowing has shifted from being able to remember and repeat information to being able to find and use it. 8 With this knowledge I would like to enrich my lessons with Inquiry Based Learning; It is not only a student-centered approach, but also focused on questioning, critical thinking and problem solving, with the teacher as a facilitator of the learning process. The attributes which are necessary to pass and transmit knowledge effectively are also the essentials of effective inquiry learning.9 What does inquiry mean? Inquiry implies involvement that leads to understanding. Furthermore, involvement in learning implies possessing skills and attitudes that permit you to seek resolutions to questions and issues while you construct new knowledge.10
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Illustration developed by Joe Exline

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Billington, D. (2007). Seven characteristics of adult education/adult learning.. http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/lifelonglearning/workplace/articles/characteristics/index.html Web retrieved 14 Apr.2014

National Research Council (2007) adapted from Stephenson. Introduction to Inquiry Based Learning. http://www.teachinquiry.com/index/Introduction.html Web retrieved 15 Apr.2014 9 Joe Exline : Workshop: Inquiry based learning . Concept to Classroom. http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/index.html Web retrieved 15 Apr. 2014 10 Joe Exline : Workshop: Inquiry based learning . Concept to Classroom. http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/index.html Web retrieved 15 Apr. 2014 11 Illustrationadapted from: Joe Exline : Workshop: Inquiry based learning . Concept to Classroom. http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/index.html Web retrieved 15 Apr. 2014

The use of Inquiry Based Learning in second language lessons for adults One of the IBL approaches is problem-based learning as this type of learning combines cognitive and metacognitive teaching.12 The interactions in problem-based teaching have to be found more meaningful and authentic then activities as role plays or dialogues.13 It can give adult learners a change to grow and develop their personal identities in an environment relatively free of risk14, to become more autonomous and give them more responsibility for their own learning. They will be intellectual challenged by choosing problems directly related to their daily life and will give them a greater motivation to learn. These are all key factors to facilitate adults learning as confirmed by above mentioned study of Billington. Over the years I found a way to involve my students actively, in my second language lessons, by task-based activities related to real-life situations like role plays and dialogues, which are essential for students engagement and to enhance different communication skills15.However implementing Inquired Based Learning to my lessons, the learning environment of my students will get a whole new positive dimension.

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Neufeld & Barrows, 1974. The McMaster philosophy: An approach to medical education. Journal of Medical Education, 49(11):10401050. Adapted from: http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/problembased.html Web retrieved 16 Apr.2014 13 Mackey, 1999; Nakahama, Tyler, & Van Lier, 2001. Mackey, A. (1999). Input, interaction, and second language development: An empirical study of question formation in ESL. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 21(4), 557587. Adapted from: http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/problembased.html Web retrieved 16 Apr.2014 14 Joe Exline : Workshop: Inquiry based learning . Concept to Classroom. http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/index.html Web retrieved 15 Apr. 2014 15 own assessment 02 Apr. 2014 http://karenpetersportfolio.weebly.com/assessment-one.html