- Adult learners are a really powerful but sometimes forgotten group of students who may have a fear of technology, how can you as a TA or instructor help adult learners adapt to technology?
One of the ways we as TAs and instructors can help this group is by providing clear instructions on how to use and navigate the technology used in the course. For example, if a student is not familiar with Canvas, then they what is presented to them on the course home page when they open Canvas can have a huge impact on their experience. A welcoming home page that clearly describes where to find various course components will certainly reduce the barrier to entry for those who are not familiar with this technology.
- AI may scare some students but also may tempt others, how can you use the power of AI in your classroom? Any thoughts on a potential assignment?
The speed at which AI is advancing makes it unreasonable to have a static opinion about it. For example. ChatGPT has only been around since the end of 2022. Until then, the average person could probably never imagine that such a powerful tool would become available to us this quickly. That is why I think as instructors, we should maintain our reservation about the role of AI in education, but also be willing to incorporate AI tools that could improve the quality of education that students receive.
One idea I have as a potential assignment is to assign an essay question as an assignment and have my students ask ChatGPT to write the essay for them. Then the task of the students is to read that essay and “grade” it. Basically the students become the teacher and ChatGPT becomes the student. As of today, ChatGPT still has major flaws in its response to scientific questions. So it would be a great learning opportunity for students to see and evaluate, first-hand, this reality about this AI tool.
- How might bias, literacy, fear, and experience impact adult learners with technology?
Bias goes both ways in this case. Adult learners tend to be biased against use of technology, and course designers may be biased against wanting to make their course more accessible to only encourage “skilled” students to sign up for their course. I believe that, at the end of the day, it is the role of the instructor to address and ameliorate both these biases. There is power and creativity in diversity. As instructors, we should want to have a diverse classroom – people of different races, backgrounds, and ages. This will result in a greater classroom experience for students as they will get to hear from students who may have opposing views to them. These can lead to healthy conversation where both sides end up learning something new or gaining a new perspective. One way to address this is to clearly spell out in your syllabus that if a student has concerns or is struggling with the technology used in the class, they are most welcome to reach out to the instructor for help.
Adult learners may have past classroom experience with minimal technology. Only a decade ago, most classes used a physical textbook. These days, many textbooks are available as e-books. Adult learners may be reluctant to use an e-book given their past experience. Therefore, as instructors we must try our best to provide resources to students to make it easier for them to find both printed and electronic versions of textbooks used in the course.
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