Planning a Workshop That Works

Through the Learning Resources this week, you have learned that the place to begin planning a learning experience is actually at the end-by defining what you want your adult learners to know, do, and/or appreciate as learning outcomes. Although the orientation of many of the resources is toward designing a college-level course, the process and components described also apply to developing a class, session, roundtable, or workshop-whatever the specific adult education setting requires.

Imagine you are planning a 3-hour workshop in the same area of the early childhood field as the professional adult educator who you interviewed in Week 2. You have some ideas for the "bones" of the workshop: You want to include a panel of experts sharing their experiences and views. You want to incorporate opportunities for the experts and adult learners to interact. And you want to structure this learning experience so that adult learners are engaged in higher-level thinking for as much of the 3 hours as possible.

Recall interview details to help you envision the setting, the adult learners, and the content that could be the focus of this workshop.

Then, consider the following:

What would you identify as specific learning outcomes from this workshop?

What specific strategies or techniques will help deliver those outcomes?

How well do the "bones" of this workshop encourage active learning? What could you add to make it more dynamic?

Also consider workshops that you have attended as an adult learner. What makes a workshop an effective learning experience?

Incorporate your own experiences into your workshop design.

Post a response that includes the following:

A brief plan of your workshop design that includes

The setting and topic of your workshop

The learning outcomes that are your priorities for this workshop

How you would structure the "bones" of the workshop to effectively meet the outcomes, including at least three strategies or techniques that you would incorporate into your workshop design

Your experiences, insights, and reflections on effective learning experiences that guided your thinking about the workshop