How to Engage Adult Learners

Leah Kyaio

Engagement is the first component of true learning. It’s about getting students to the table as willing participants in learning. It’s also about building relationships. When looking at the two concepts of engagement and relationships, we recognize that they overlap. Engagement is required to have a meaningful relationship.  A meaningful relationship keeps us engaged.  I don't know about you, but I learn best from the people I like and with whom I feel a connection.

Think about your own educational experience. What are the things that jump out at you? What grabbed you? Encouraged you to work harder, do more, be more? It’s unlikely there was some life changing content. It was probably about a person and a relationship.

It’s true for adult learners as well. They need to connect with us in order to be willing to take the risks involved in learning and trying new things.

Here are some quick tools that you can begin to use in your classroom. Hopefully, the list sparks your imagination and you come up with even more!

10 Techniques to Engage Adult Learners

  1. Learn their names. How to pronounce them. What their nicknames or name preferences might be.
  2. Take a few minutes to check in at the beginning of the training, after breaks, and after lunch. make sure they are feeling good about what's been going on and are ready to move forward. It might even be good to add a relevant (clean) joke or anecdote. 
  3. Do inventories. Learning style, conflict style, communication style, what dog breed are you most like… We all love to learn more about ourselves and the information is GREAT feedback and relevant to all kinds of training content. Keep them short and simple.
  4. Use multi-modal ways to present information. Think outside the box. Is there a visual or tactile way to present the content in addition to the aural and linguistic methods? Is there something weird you can do or present that will help learners remember better? What about different smells and linking those to what's being learned – Citrus smell to connect to the orange button on the new software. This is an opportunity to be creative!
  5. Create predictable structure that’s fun. Use dice or playing cards to create learning pairs of small groups or as a way to establish roles at tables or the order small groups will report out. Again, be creative.
  6. Periodically draw a question card from the content. Have silly prizes that they win when they get it right. Be sure to randomize how you ask for the answer.
  1. Add movement (check out my blog “25 Simple Ways to Add Movement to your Classroom” YES, classroom techniques work with adults with minor adaptation).
  2. Create opportunities for participants to teach each other in pairs, small groups, or even to the whole class.
  3. Give authentic praise and respectful criticism.
  4. Be yourself all the time.
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