Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking International Consortium (RWCT IC) is preparing to deliver the first Grundtvig & Comenius course of a series of nine, entitled Motivating adult learners’ participation and persistence in lifelong learning – strategies & practical tips. The course, which is an outcome of RWCT IC’s Create-Motivate-Learn project, aims to equip adult educators, teachers and trainers, as well as representatives of adult education providers with strategies to motivate adult learners to participate and persist in lifelong learning, and to facilitate the sharing of such teaching and learning strategies among the participants. The location of the first workshop, to take place on 3-7 September 2012, is Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The other locations where the course will be delivered in 2013-2014 are Palermo, Vienna, Vilnius, Bratislava, Berlin and Riga.
One of the innovative aspects of the course is that in anticipation of learning, as a lead-in activity prior to the face-to-face meeting, the registered participants will be engaged in online-café style discussions about motivation-related issues in teaching and learning. The outcomes of these discussions will be summarised in the beginning of the course as a reflection of the foundations that the learners are going to build on.
By the end of the course, the participants are expected to demonstrate clear understanding of what motivation for learning is and what learning conditions favour its emergence; describe and explain the practical use of at least five newly learnt strategies to motivate adults for learning. The learners will develop plans to transfer their new learning to their work, and to cooperate with other organizations involved in adult education that are interested in motivating their learners.
The course will focus on motivation not only in terms of the topics it addresses, but also by using motivational training strategies. The participants will directly experience a set of training/ learning strategies in workshops where – by building on what they already know – they will be engaged in learning by observing the trainers use such strategies, then by reflecting on the strategies and their motivational value, and by planning how to transfer the strategies to their own training contexts. In the analysis of the motivation strategies that the participants will experience first-hand, metacognitive learning will be stressed.
As a follow-up to the course, the participants and the trainers will stay connected on-line to communicate about their experiences in authentic work situation, to provide each other feedback, and to evaluate the impact of the course.
The course takes an inclusive approach to learning: the organizers are prepared to accommodate cultural diversity, the participants’ previous learning experiences, and their diverse learning needs.
For more information about the course, please visit http://www.rwctic.org/home/viewpage/id/52 or write to office@rwctic.org.
RWCT IC promotes and implements critical thinking across the educational spectrum around the world.
