How to engage adult learners

Stay focussed and keep it relevant

In most cases, adults generally have opted to study, their time is precious so you need to make sure to stay on track. When planning your lessons ensure to give context to the information you’re providing so your students can relate and apply it to their own situations. Adults will be expecting high quality, valuable and relevant information that is easily digestible. 

Assess your audience’s skillset 

Adults have a wealth of experience under their belt already, so knowing what keeps them engaged will benefit not only your lesson planning but their learning experiences. Get to know your students, ask them questions about their roles and their past experiences; additionally, this will help when adding context to your lessons. 

Encourage exploration

To ensure you have covered all the information and your students understand, provide an array of resources and encourage your students to explore outside of lesson time. We all know that practice makes perfect so give them the opportunity to implement these new skills in real world situations. 

Create deliverables, share resources and offer feedback

Create clear and concise deliverables that can be completed and offer immediate feedback which will help reinforce your students learning. Offer up useful resources that they can take away and develop on. This will allow your students to learn much quicker and be able to improve their development areas quickly.