Summary | Lesson Plan / Student Workbook | Presentations and Activities
Distance/Online Education Samples
Summary
I have gathered several different samples of classroom lesson plans, workbooks, presentations and activities I use in my practice. Although not comprehensive, it shows a cross-section of the strategies I use in classroom settings.
Lesson Plan / Student Workbook
A good example of a step-by-step lesson plan/ student workbook, single-day adult instructor course is a recent Instructor Development program I developed. It can be downloaded by clicking on the link and used freely without restriction. It needs to be noted that it is a first draft, it is designed to be implemented by a skilled facilitator as active learning strategies and facilitator-group summative discussions are built in, and it must be followed up with a mentorship program to fully apply and appreciate the course material.
Class Presentations and Activities
When I am required to conduct presentations, I avoid what many will call death by PowerPoint through using other presentation media such as the Avalanche presentation (created in Flash for a National Ski Patrol course) and the VideoScribe presentation on Informal Learning in the Workplace (created in my dorm room on an iPad for an in-class assignment at the Foundations Institute for my Master's program at St. Francis Xavier University thus limiting the quality) located below. Interactive materials are used to follow up presentations to internalize reinforce learning. An outline of activities for the Informal Learning in the Workplace are detailed below.
Activity: Brainstorm Carousel
Each of the questions below (taken from the main objectives of the article) are posted on flip charts around the class. Participants are grouped in pairs and circulate around the flip charts, discussing the questions and adding one possible answer to each while reading answers by others.
- What is the Nature of Learning from Experience?
- What is informal learning (Explain each in relation to Implicit, Reactive and Deliberate)
- What is learning from the workplace?
- What is being learned from learning in the workplace?
- How is learning from the workplace being learned?
- What factors affect the level and directions of learning efforts?
- How does learning from the workplace contribute to the practice of adult education?
Upon completion, the facilitator reviews the answers on each flip chart, filling in the gaps and then summarizes the content. Advantages of using this method are:
- Participants view a short but engaging presentation thus avoiding death by PowerPoint.
- Participants interact with the materials
- Participants work together in a peer-driven active learning activity
- Current level of knowledge of participants is recognized
- Gaps in knowledge are identified and addressed
- Process is participant centred, not facilitator centred