Presenting Workshops to Adults

Workshops are a popular method for disseminating new information and teaching new skills to adults. The term andragogy was coined by Knowles (1980) to describe the art and science of helping adults learn. Adults attend workshops for a variety of reasons, including being forced to attend by supervisors, seeking social interaction, or wanting to solve a specific problem. Workshop designers must identify these needs and find ways to address them. To meet this challenge, the workshop presenter must be prepared and have a flexible strategy that can adapt to the participants' needs. The six keys to teaching adults include explaining the purpose and objectives of the workshop, using task-based instruction, making the content relevant to the participants' jobs or lives, and focusing on the quality of a few experiences rather than the quantity of information. Instruction should also progress from concrete to abstract, and the learning objectives should be based on the participants' needs. Workshops should be designed with an understanding of some key principles of adult learning, including the importance of immediate relevance, the need for participants to apply the new knowledge, and the focus on a few quality learning experiences. The instruction should be task-based, and the participants should be given the opportunity to share their own experiences and apply the new knowledge in their daily lives. A workshop is a short-term, intensive learning experience that involves small group interaction, active involvement, and the application of new learning. The intended outcome of the session is a behavior change in the participants. Workshops should be tightly designed around very specific learning objectives, and the instruction should be focused on the quality of a few experiences rather than the quantity of information. Participant interaction is an essential component of a workshop, and participants should be engaged in active learning strategies that enable them to apply the new knowledge. The interaction should be a social experience for adults, and participants should have the opportunity to interact with the presenter, other participants, and the content of the workshop. Experiential learning is an important fundamental of adult learning, and it involves learning from concrete examples to abstract ideas. One teaching method that can be employed by workshop presenters to capitalize on this fundamental is experiential learning. This model begins with participants having direct contact with the experience, followed by reflection and conceptualization. If workshops are designed and used correctly, they can be powerful educational experiences that have a tremendous impact on learners. Extension personnel work as knowledge brokers, identifying needs, schedule, and present workshops, while content experts present during the sessions. The responsibility of the designer is to ensure that all the characteristics of a workshop are included in the learning experience and that the fundamentals of adult learning are maximized to make it a positive experience for both participant and presenter. References: Birkenholz, R. J. (1999). Effective adult learning. Danville, IL: Interstate Publishers, Inc. Brooks-Harris, J. E., & Stock-Ward, S. R. (1999). Workshop: Designing and facilitating experiential learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Knowles, M. S. (1980). The adult education movement in the United States. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc.