This facilitated online course provides an overview of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework and guidelines as well as suggestions for applying UDL principles to the adult education context. UDL is a set of principles for designing curriculum that provides all students, regardless of ability, disability, age, gender, or cultural and linguistic background, with equal opportunities to learn.
This facilitated online course provides an overview of student-centered learning as well as strategies for moving toward student-centeredness in adult classrooms. Student-centered learning is an instructional approach that focuses on student needs, allowing students to influence the content, activities, materials, and pace of learning according to their interests and needs. In student-centered instruction, the student is placed at the center of the teaching/learning dynamic so that information transmission is secondary to students’ needs, abilities, interests, and learning preferences.
Strategy instruction is a student-centered and research-based approach to teaching students how to learn. One of the most effective instructional approaches for adults with learning disabilities, strategy instruction centers on helping students acquire the tools and techniques that efficient learners use to understand and learn new material or skills, integrate this new information with what they already know, and recall the information or skill later, even in a different situation or place.
This facilitated online course will explore strategies for encouraging students to self-regulate their learning and applying those strategies to the adult education context. Self-regulated learning refers to one's ability to understand and control one's learning behaviors. For a learner to do this, he or she must set goals, select strategies to achieve the goals, and monitor progress toward the goals. In monitoring his or her progress, a learner can determine whether a particular learning strategy is not working and can modify the approach to mastering a skill.
This facilitated online course explores formative assessments, the formal and informal processes that teachers and students use collaboratively to gather evidence of student learning for the purpose of improving learning. Formative assessment is an assessment FOR learning that occurs while the learning is taking place as opposed to a summative assessment, which is an assessment OF learning that typically occurs at the end of a learning unit or course.
In this facilitated online course, participants will learn techniques to make the most of planning time and maximize collaboration with peers. Planning is critical in identifying appropriate action steps to help one effectively reach a goal. Lesson plans help instructors set learning objectives, and they provide a road map by which instructors can organize content, materials, time, instructional strategies, and assistance in the classroom. They also represent a way to communicate to learners what they will learn and how they will be assessed.
Differentiated instruction is an approach that enables math instructors to plan strategically to meet the needs of every learner. The approach encompasses the planning and delivery of instruction, classroom management techniques, and expectations of learners’ performance that take into consideration learners’ diversity and varied levels of readiness, interests, and learning profiles.
This facilitated online course focuses on both teacher questioning and student self-questioning, exploring questioning as a powerful teaching approach. When math teachers ask higher-order questions and give students opportunities to think critically and to develop deep explanations, learning is enhanced. Equally important as teacher questions are student self-questions. Self-questioning can guide learning and help students monitor their progress.
An infographic is a visual image, such as a chart or diagram, used to represent information or data. Understanding infographics and data visualization is an increasingly important skill in the 21st century. This workshop is designed to increase adult education practitioners’ comfort and skill with introducing data and statistics to learners. Participants will be introduced to infographics and how to evaluate infographics using a critical mindset based on a foundational knowledge of data and statistics.
This training supports participants in gaining instructional strategies that build on conceptual understanding and strengthen the mathematical foundation that adult learners will need to succeed in higher-level mathematics. The training builds upon content introduced in the First Steps in Preparing for College-Level Math: Using Soft Skills for Success training.