Learners as Decision Makers

The next principle that is being addressed is Learners as Decision Makers.  This chapter takes place with Vella using a case study of her time in Nepal training other trainers for the Save the Children organization.  Her previous chapters also discussed working with Save the Children.  This principle that Vella talks about deals with in cooperating your students into their own learning plans.   I work in corporate education so I do not have this luxury, but Vella gets to work in adult education in its purest form.  The learners have a vested interest in attending her classes, and they can help determine their own learning plans.  All of her students or most of them are volunteers.  The majority of her actual students are other trainers that she is training, so they can train the actual individuals.  But, this principle does apply and cascades down from the trainer’s she’s training, too the participants the trainers are training.  All of them have chosen to attend the training and contribute to their own learning, and a major stakeholder in the process.

Brad

Praxis

The next chapter I read in the book is about the principle praxis.  According to Vella, praxis is a Greek work that means” action with reflection.”  This is a principle that I really appreciated because I firmly believe that learners need to do something, and some time to think about what they did. In my classes I always tell them have a rem-cycle to really let the material sink in.  But Vella explains that it is more than that.  Her example was working in the Maldives.  During their training session they broke up the ten days of training with a day of rest for reflection.  A nice byproduct of letting the information sink in with the learners was the ability for the trainers to tweak the training to meet the unique demands of the class.  I have done this myself, training a pilot class, my break was the weekend, but it allowed me time to change up the training to accommodate the class.

Brad

Sequence and Reinforcement

This last chapter that I read was about sequence and reinforcement.  Vella explains these principles by using a case study of her time working with migrant Haitian workers in North Carolina.  Vella was asked to help develop a program teaching other teachers how teach English to these workers.  Vella explained that she would first need to go and teach English to them herself before she would be able to develop a program for others to use.  She explains how she didn’t follow good sequence and quantum thinking.  She should have understood more about their culture prior to trying to teach them English.   One of my favorite parts of this chapter was when Vella states, “I have always taught: no laughing, no learning.”  I find this to be very true myself.  If the students are not enjoying their time in class it can make the learning process a lot more difficult.

Brad

Sound Relationships

In this chapter Vella talks about a relationship she had with a student from Indonesia.   Vella explains how the relationship changed.  Her student was a Doctor who had come over on a type of fellowship or internship to work with Vella and learn new skills that she would teach to people back in Indonesia when she went home.  One of the first things that Vella assigned was a reading list.  Vella explains that she was no longer the teacher as her and the student were  learning together and the author of the books was the teacher.  I found this chapter interesting, because it was called “Sound Relationships: Using the Power of Friendship” I was a little concerned that it would border line an inappropriate relationship.  I think it’s an interesting topic, making friends with your students.  And it is a very dangerous thing to engage in.  But, this chapter was not about that at all.  It talked more about defining the roles with the student, and redefining them as you and the student progress.  One thing that I really like in this chapter is it talks about the role distinction of the professor/student dissolving.  I always tell my classes we are all members of the class we just have different roles, and truly it is their class.  I believe my beliefs are right on target with Vella’s here. 

Brad

Safety

This last chapter that I read was about safety in adult education.  When Vella talks about safety she is talking about trust, and whether or not the members of the group feel safe to learn and express their opinions, thoughts, and questions.  This is a really important part of adult education, creating a safe environment where everyone can learn.  Vella explains the implications of what can happen if it is perceived as an unsafe environment.  That is something that isn’t said in the chapter but I firmly believe.  It doesn’t matter if the environment is truly safe or not, it’s totally based on the perception of the learners.  If the learners feel the environment is not safe, they will not able to fully engage in the learning process.  Vella used an example of teaching in Tanzania in churches.  Because they did not do enough discoveries of the culture and the norms, they were not successful in their program because they hired a local Muslim community leader to work with them in the Christian churches.  This created uneasiness with the learners, and ruined any trust Vella had worked to gain.  I think the case study clearly shows how much the perception of safety has on a class, and it can ultimately determine your success or failure.

 Brad