Motivating my adult learners
I tried something new today. I have completed sessions in various different types of etiquette individually with 4 adults and in a group of six adults. The objective of this merging of all these clients was so that they could find common associations, make new friends, voice their opinions freely and find similar reasons for doing the course. When I spoke to my clients earlier everyone hesitated. Some said due to lack of time, some felt that it wasn’t important and some lacked confidence.
To motivate them I explained how it would help them to meet others and how interesting it would be to learn other peoples reasons why they are doing personality development and should they have same skills, how they plan to build upon them in future. It would be an exercise to satisfy a curious mind. Eventually much to my delight everyone agreed.
When all the people gathered we didn’t introduce one another. I felt it would take up too much time and hence I straight away delved into a quiz. A sort of rapid fire where there was total participation. The quiz was based on previous topics that they all had done.
The quiz results showed that they were able to recall a lot of what they had learnt.
The interaction also improved. We then did a brainstorming session. I made a list of names and I wrote the reasons behind why they chose the course. It was amazing to see the common points. 3 said they wanted to achieve a higher promotion. 2 said they wanted to adapt to a new culture abroad . 3 said they wanted to impress others. 2 said they wanted to secure a good life partner / marriage alliance etc
I then grouped / paired up the people according to their common reasons. It was at this point having found common ground that they introduced themselves and chatted. I used this as the ice-breaker.
We concluded with a few activities and a discussion. At the end I found they had formed new acquaintances.
What I learnt was that my group of adults needed motivation but they needed a reason for learning something new . According to me the best motivators are benefit and interest.
Whatever they learn must have a connection to real life . They should be able to see the way in which this new learning will help them. My group saw the benefit of learning and hence were self-motivated later on .
They learnt in an open , low stress environment where the lesson content had high importance .
Most adults had tested what they had learnt and had turned it into experiential learning. They shared funny incidents with each other.
I think the best way to motivate adult learners is to encourage them towards being self-motivated .
To motivate them I explained how it would help them to meet others and how interesting it would be to learn other peoples reasons why they are doing personality development and should they have same skills, how they plan to build upon them in future. It would be an exercise to satisfy a curious mind. Eventually much to my delight everyone agreed.
When all the people gathered we didn’t introduce one another. I felt it would take up too much time and hence I straight away delved into a quiz. A sort of rapid fire where there was total participation. The quiz was based on previous topics that they all had done.
The quiz results showed that they were able to recall a lot of what they had learnt.
The interaction also improved. We then did a brainstorming session. I made a list of names and I wrote the reasons behind why they chose the course. It was amazing to see the common points. 3 said they wanted to achieve a higher promotion. 2 said they wanted to adapt to a new culture abroad . 3 said they wanted to impress others. 2 said they wanted to secure a good life partner / marriage alliance etc
I then grouped / paired up the people according to their common reasons. It was at this point having found common ground that they introduced themselves and chatted. I used this as the ice-breaker.
We concluded with a few activities and a discussion. At the end I found they had formed new acquaintances.
What I learnt was that my group of adults needed motivation but they needed a reason for learning something new . According to me the best motivators are benefit and interest.
Whatever they learn must have a connection to real life . They should be able to see the way in which this new learning will help them. My group saw the benefit of learning and hence were self-motivated later on .
They learnt in an open , low stress environment where the lesson content had high importance .
Most adults had tested what they had learnt and had turned it into experiential learning. They shared funny incidents with each other.
I think the best way to motivate adult learners is to encourage them towards being self-motivated .
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