{"id":62487,"date":"2012-08-10T08:23:57","date_gmt":"2012-08-10T12:23:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=62487"},"modified":"2023-09-17T14:45:21","modified_gmt":"2023-09-17T18:45:21","slug":"preparing-to-teach-adult-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2012\/08\/preparing-to-teach-adult-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning to Teach Adult Students"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A pair of adult learners engaged in a lesson. (iStock Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bonnie Edelen Ph.D. \u201909 teaches her nursing students to write about how their new experiences relate to their prior experience and knowledge. She says the practice, known as reflective journaling, helps them better retain information, score higher on tests, and make better clinical decisions.<\/p>\n

Reflective journaling is a strategy she explored in her Ph.D. dissertation, which earned her not only a doctoral degree in adult learning from the Neag School of Education but also an award for Excellence in Nursing Research from the Connecticut Nursing Research Alliance. Now she\u2019s passing on what she learned to her students at Capital Community College.<\/p>\n

\u201cI use the skills I learned at UConn every day,\u201d said Edelen, \u201cand I get really excited when I start talking about it. The critical thinking and reasoning skills I learned in the Adult Learning program, and am now able to pass on to the students I teach, have led to increased test scores and enhanced abilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cFellow teachers say that strategies like reflective journaling, which I learned at UConn and then passed on to them, have also changed the way they teach \u2013 and, more importantly, the way students learn,\u201d she adds. \u201cTest scores are higher, our nursing students practice medicine better, and the ultimate result of that is better patient care. That\u2019s exciting!\u201d<\/p>\n

Learning from faculty, learning from each other<\/strong><\/p>\n

At any given time, approximately 30 graduate students \u2013 most of them full-time working professionals \u2013 are enrolled in Neag\u2019s Adult Learning program.<\/p>\n

Students can earn a graduate certificate, master\u2019s degree, or doctoral degree in the program, which provides both the proven principles and practical experience needed to more effectively create learning programs and teach other adult learners in their respective disciplines.<\/p>\n

Approximately one-third of students are healthcare professionals like Edelen. Each class, however, is made up of a diverse range of mid- to senior-level personnel from a variety of fields. A manufacturing executive may sit next to a human resources trainer, or a physician next to a technology specialist or agricultural educator.<\/p>\n

Students attend classes at UConn\u2019s Storrs campus, within the Neag School of Education\u2019s Department of Educational Leadership, where they work together to learn the theories and best practices needed to:<\/p>\n