Step 4 - Find out if you taught them what they need to know.
FIND OUT WHAT THEY NEED TO KNOW
Keep in mind: (1) your time is limited in continuing education courses, and, (2) what participants
will absorb is limited!!
Do entry-level licensees really need to know how to appraise a house, or should they learn to accurately measure one and run a basic marketing analysis first?
Do they really need to know the history of race relations in the USA. or will an overview of the current
Fair Housing Laws give them what they need to do a good job now?
When instruction is limited to what the participants need to know to do a good job right now, the learner
is more highly motivated.
FIND OUT WHAT THEY KNOW
Do your licensees complain that your CE instructors teach the same thing all the time? Do they find that state of affairs boring? Perhaps your instructors are playing it safe and sticking strictly with the knowledge level of instruction. Perhaps they do this because that is what you have told them to do?
Most likely, however, they recite facts and figures because (1) you don’t get as many dangerous questions from the audience that way, (2) because there are many and varied levels of experience in the audience and they don’t want to lose the novices and (3) the old-timers don’t always know as much as they think they do.
While all of the above reasons for playing safe are valid, with a correct assessment of the knowledge
and experience levels of the audience, it is possible to structure a learning situation that will offer enrichment
to all.
TEACH THEM THE WAY THEY LEARN
"No matter how many times
we tell them how to do things, they still don’t get it!"
(What in the world is wrong with these people, anyway?)
If this is a frequently heard refrain in your organization, perhaps it’s time to present continuing education programs in a more learner-friendly format. Adult learners are different from younger learners in several ways:
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Adult learners have real, meaningful lives outside the classroom.
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Adult learners have greater life experiences, and can make legitimate contributions to their own training.
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Adult learners have shorter attention spans than younger learners.
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Adult learners cannot be forced to pay attention, they learn only when involved in the learning!
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Adult learners can vote with their feet and checkbooks.
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Adult learners do not go home and study for hours after continuing education programs.
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Adult learners must perceive the information as useful to them if it is to be retained.
Adults learn more effectively when the instruction is situational in context, and when the learning environment is as close as possible to the actual work situation.
Why “information dumps” don’t work.
(After all, didn’t we learn that way in college?)
Because adult learners don’t go home and study for hours after continuing education presentations, it is essential that the amount of information presented be limited to the amount an average individual can process in the time allotted for the class.
It is also essential that this amount of information not include what they already know! Adult learners are there to acquire new information, not indulge in the time-honored custom among younger learners of burning class time.
The instructor who begins a fair housing presentation with thirty minutes of the history of the development and evolution of fair housing legislation starts with a large portion of the class asleep. The instructor who begins the same fair housing presentation with illustrations of risk-reducing licensee behaviors starts with an involved class!
Adults must perceive the knowledge as useful to them if it is to be retained.
"Our CE faculty are all subject matter specialists.
We don’t expect them to know teaching methods."
Yes, you need an appraiser to teach valuation and an experienced licensee to teach listing techniques and an attorney to teach license law updates. And, no, you don’t have to choose between subject matter expertise and effective teaching methods. Subject matter experts are usually persons who genuinely want to share their knowledge and experience with others, but who rarely have been trained in teaching methods appropriate for adult learners.
A curriculum design specialist can work with your organization to develop instructional designs customized to the needs of your organization. These instructional designs can be used by your subject matter experts to combine their knowledge with highly effective instructional methods. Professionally designed curricula standardize the quality of instruction offered to your learners over a period of time and improve job performance!
FIND OUT IF YOU TAUGHT THEM
WHAT THEY NEED TO KNOW
It is not necessary to invoke the dreaded "T" word (test, of course). There are many methods for reviewing material during and at the end of a presentation to determine the level of comprehension and understanding of the participants. If presented as games and/or contests, they are particularly well-received by real estate licensees.
Of course, if you can test, the margin for error is reduced by an objective evaluation tool that is unambiguous and unbiased. It is well to note that test item writing and overall test design are tasks that are best left to experts.
IF ALL THIS GIVES YOU A HEADACHE, CONTACT ME IMMEDIATELY
RELIEF IS ONLY A PHONE CALL OR E-MAIL AWAY!
Phone: (225) 753-9337
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