From posting assignments on the blackboard with chalk to posting discussion topics on the electronic blackboard with a keyboard, adult education instructors are having to adjust to teaching methods and venues that are changing rapidly and drastically in the 21st century.
An increasing number of adult education courses are now being taught online, creating challenges for instructors and students who may not be as familiar with the new technology as the “traditional” (i.e., young) student may be. It has long been taken for granted that adult students should be familiar with word processing programs and perhaps even spreadsheet and presentation programs. Now those adult students must learn new technology, as must their instructors.
Today, most classroom based instructors use whiteboards or electronic boards. They hook up a computer to a projector and use PowerPoint or some other presentation software package to illustrate their points. Electronic boards allow instructors to write lessons, assignments, and notes, and save and even print them for later reference.
Online classes are a growing trend, for courses ranging from adult basic skills in community colleges to graduate and post-graduate programs in universities. Many schools are moving toward online classes to reduce costs and in an attempt to reach more students, who may not be able to travel to a physical campus.
Adult education instructors teaching basic literacy to beginners who have few computer skills are challenged by having to communicate with students with no visual or verbal contact. It is extremely difficult to guide a new adult student, who may be taking adult education classes to improve job-hunting opportunities, after a layoff from a factory job for example, when that student has had little to no previous exposure to computer usage and online interactions. Phone conversations or in-person tutorials are, ironically, often necessary to enable students and instructors to communicate in the new world of online technology.
For those adult students who are able to maneuver through the technology, many options are available for the instructor. An online adult education instructor might use an electronic package such as Blackboard to post discussion topics, assignments, a course syllabus, and to receive assignments from students in the digital dropbox. For visual communication, videos can be posted online and webcams can be used to host “real time” conferences and discussion groups.
E-mail is absolutely essential for adult education instructors today. Many adult students do their homework whenever they can find the time, which is usually at the end of a very long day after job and family obligations have been met. E-mail allows instructors and students to communicate effectively and at times that work for each of them.
Technologies such as Twitter are also available, but not widely used by adult education instructors . . . yet. “One step at a time” is the best method for working with adult students, many of whom must be eased into the transition from typewriters to laptops and from chalk and erasers to the virtual Blackboard.