Could you imagine an adult education classroom where students are just given worksheet after worksheet or book after book to read on their own? How dry and boring would that be, and, more importantly, how quickly would those classrooms be empty because students leave due to sheer boredom? Now imagine the exact opposite of that first situation: a fun, interactive, visually-stimulating classroom where all three types of learning styles are accommodated and everyone’s engaged. Doesn’t that sound a million (or more) times better?
What sometimes is assumed (and we all know what happens when you assume) is that an online class can’t or won’t have the same components as a successful, engaging, and fun face-to-face class. But yet, nothing can be further from the truth! By incorporating varying technologies, you can absolutely do virtually all of the amazing things online that you do in a classroom! Want to have small group activities so you can target certain learners needing certain skills? Yup – you can do that online! Want to have large group instruction so you can get the most “bang for the buck?” Yes – you can do that too! What about student study groups or peer tutoring sessions? Oh, that can certainly be accomplished! How about having guest speakers talk to your students about how the things they’re studying in class pertain to “real life” beyond the GED test? That’s easy to accomplish! And the list goes on & on…experiments or lab studies, field trips, games, videos, etc!
So what does it all boil down to when everything is said & done? Innovation, technology, and the willingness to try something new and different would be my answer.
Do you want to know more? Well, I can’t give away all of my “secrets” now, but if you come to the FLC conference and attend the session called “Florida Adult & Technical Distance Education Consortium: Making F2F Classes for Online Students a Reality” at 10am on Friday, May 11th, you’ll learn more!
