Engaging adult learners

A little ago, JISC Regional Support Centre Yorkshire & Humber has published a case study on how Facebook can be used to engage learners and improve retention.  Many people tend to link Facebook, or technology in general to young people studying at colleges or universities, but Theresa Rowland from the Hull City Council Adult and Community Learning Service (Hull ACL) has shared her experience with us and said it was not necessary the case.

Technology is also part of adults’ lives

According to Theresa, technological tools such as Facebook and texting are really useful to help them stay in touch with their learners.  They use Facebook instant message function, in a specific timeslot in the evening, to support learners who are undertaking NVQ courses.  Most of these learners are in their 20s and 30s, they have their own Facebook profiles.  It is, therefore, easy for tutors to answer learners’ questions, discuss their learning progress, etc. outside the “normal learning hours”.  It’s really helpful for learners with family and other obligations, as it gives them timely support without them juggling to meet their tutors face-to-face. 

Is technology only for younger people?  Theresa does not think so: their learners, who are aged 60 or 70, also use tools such as Skype to keep in touch with their grandchildren in Australia or New Zealand.  Therefore technology does have a role to play to support learners in all ages, when the right tools are chosen – tools that can be easily accessed by learners. 

Adult learners’ access to technology

Accessibility is one of the key criteria for choosing “the right tools”.  As not all adult learners have time to sit in front of the computers, Theresa pointed out the potentials of mobile technology, as most of their learners use mobiles everyday.  Not only can learners access to internet via their mobiles (therefore contacting their tutors via Facebook, for example, is possible), they can also keep them informed and collect feedback through texting. 

Besides mobiles, she also believes that access to computers and internet service is no longer a problem, as learners can get access in their local libraries, BBC Learning Centre, or their children’s schools which make their facilities available.  To maximise the benefit of the reosurce sharing, Hull ACL also actively listens to learners’ need, e.g. to open their own learning facilities in the evenings besides normal day time opening hours, so that learners can drop-in and use their computers.

Listening to learners

Hull ACL’s experience once again reminds us the importance of listening to our learners – it’s wonderful to make e-learning and other technological facilities available; to truly benefit our learners, however, it’s essential to plan according to the learners’ needs.  We’ve to consider how they access to computers, when it fits their daily engagement the best, or which tools they find most user-friendly.  With the improvement of technology accessibility and our increasing awareness of learners’ needs, together with some creativity and flexibility, we can for sure harness technology and make better learning experience for our learners.

Reference: LSIS Excellence Gateway – Hull City Council Adult and Community Learning: Facebook your learners for engagement and retention
Special thanks to: Theresa Rowland, Learning Development Officer and e-CPD Advisor

Texting

At the beginning of this year, technologists around the world have predicted that Mobile Technology would be the next huge development.  As individuals, I’m sure you can also feel this leap – not only do we have more advanced mobiles and applications available, text messaging also becomes one of our major ways to keep in touch with family and friends, colleagues and other fellows.  According to the Mobile Data Association, we have sent a total of 78.9 billion sms in 2008!!  With this striking figure in our mind, we might wish to think about ways we can better engage our students, through a device we all carry around everyday.

Why texting?

Contacting students through texting service is not a new idea: Schools use that to keep parents informed, libraries message users about their loans and release of new books, colleges give out information and events to perspective students… Texting provides an efficient way to reach a large group of students, quickly and directly, anytime anywhere.  By deploying it effectively, it is particularly powerful in reaching work-based learners (such as apprentices), adult learners, part-time learners, etc. who are not on campus (or in front of a computer) all the time and cannot participate as much as they would wish to.

According to the feedbacks from front-line practitioners, texting is a means to uphold retention and give timely support for students!  It is not only efficient, but also easy to use.  More and more colleges now have their own texting system in place.  Service providers usually allow users to send messages out from their virtual learning environment (VLE, e.g. Moodle and Blackboard), via desktop software, linkage with existing email systems, or using website facilities (remote access is therefore possible). 

What to do with texting?

Primarily, texting allows us to disseminate information quickly.   So anything you wish your students to know can be passed on via text messages, or draw their attention to find out further details online:

• Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG)
• Social events
• Study tips
• Examination reminders
• Learner Rep meeting info
• Career information
• Call for campaign support
• Call for nomination and election

Student participation is by no means a one-way street, texting can also facilitate interaction as such.  Nowadays most service providers support two-way communication – students can send their questions, comments or other things back to designated “mobile numbers”, staff members can then check them out in their email/text inbox.  This not only opens one more channel to collect students’ feedback throughout the year, one can also send out simple questions on certain issues to students, when necessary.  By the same token, this interactive approach of engagement is becoming increasingly common in large meetings and conferences, through the support of “text walls” (with which one can see participants’ feedbacks quickly, all on one page).  Maybe we can also consider allowing polling through texting as well?

How to start texting?

It might sound obvious, but I have heard of situations in which people needed to send sms to students through their own mobiles (!), typing in a list of numbers one by one.  By seeking technical support from service providers, we can send out messages more efficiently; we can also manage and target particular groups of students with information relevant to them (e.g. apprentice induction day, change of evening class venue, etc.). 

If your college/organisation has already commissioned a texting service, you might wish to make use of the exisiting service by requesting for additional user accounts (so that you can have independent right to send/receive text messages) and purchasing extra credits through your budget.  By doing so, you can save up the start-up cost of putting the system in place.  If not, there are a number of large providers in the sector which can offer you technical support.  For instance, JANET txt provides services for colleges/organisations in the sector by waving the start-up fee.  Other companies such as edutxt and fastsms  also provide different packages you can choose from.

So what are you waiting for?  Let’s get your text going!