A Handful of Tips 44 –

                       Helping Adults Learn

Five of the best tips to help adults learn new tasks

As we age our hearing, sight and physical reactions decline. Learning can be slower so allow extra time when teaching new tasks to adults. There is no lessening of the ability to learn as we age.

1. Get people involved in planning their own training needs 

List topics and let them help select what they need to learn and which topics are the most urgently needed.

2. People learn best when they need new skills 

Arouse interest to encourage people to want to learn new skills. 

Structure training around tasks relevant to work needs, to problem-solving, or life situations.

3. Make training challenging and enjoyable

Lecturing is one of the most ineffective way to train, so keep talks to a minimum. 

People enjoy training games and challenging competitions. Set up teams and let the teams compete for solutions to problems or new ways to work. 

4. Use a variety of training methods 

People will learn more quickly if you use different training ways. Use group discussion, role playing etc. with plenty of good visual aids. See source books for dozens of training ideas.  

5. Short bouts of learning are better than one long session

Short repetitive training sessions can help reinforce learning.  

– Geoffrey

“People learn best when they are enjoying their training.”

Source:“Training Secrets – Helping adults learn”. Available from Moss Associates Ltd, New Zealand & Cengage Learning Asia. Also available as an e-book from Amazon.com.