Respect, Individuality, Equality & Diversity, and Health & Safety in the informal adult learning classroom

I've recently started delivering an unaccredited course for WEA Cymru Workplace Department, which provides learners with a fun and hands-on introduction to using the Prezi presentation tool whilst at the same time building multiple and diverse digital literacies within each individuals. It's called "Introduction to Prezi Presentations" and you can view the course materials on our dedicated blended learning environment on the P2PU open source learning platform by clicking here.

In this post, I want to reflect upon the fist two sessions of the course as it has provided me with an insight into why it is important to create learning environment that supports values of respect,  individuality, equality & diversity and health & safety.

Respect

The "Introduction to Prezi Presentations" course is brand new - indeed I've created it especially for this first group of learners. It's also rather different to most workplace learning courses in that there is no accreditation available and it relies heavily on  digital technologies. Even though the learners had all chosen to pay for and attend the course in their own time, I wanted to set some ground rules for the course right at the outset. However, in order to respect the fact that I had a group comprising of professional people, I termed the task, "how can we make sure we're all happy on the course", which I illustrated with a smiley face (see below).

Part of my presentation for Session 1 of the "Introduction to Prezi Presentations" course

As a group, the learners all contributed the rules by which they wanted the course to proceed. This was very important, because some of the rules were slightly different to those you might expect. The group decided that because people may have childcare or work responsibilities to attend to, it is okay to keep our mobile phones on, answer messages and take calls when necessary, so long as that person leaves the room to talk. We also agreed to some of the more usual rules such as respecting others opinions and using appropriate language. I feel that this helped to ensure that everyone on the course would be comfortable and included in the learning ahead. Already, after two weeks, we've managed to create a lovely team spirit and sense of collective purpose amongst the group and I think this task helped me to achieve that.

From my perspective as a tutor, the most important rule we agreed to was to "not be afraid to ask silly questions", as these were probably not silly at all and would help everyone to learn and were also points that I'd neglected to include. As the sessions progressed, the "silly questions" posed by the learners have indeed become important points of clarification and elaboration.

This setting of group roles was a really important step in the process of building trust between the learners themselves and between the learners and me as the tutor - indeed, being right at the start of the course it served as a nice icebreaker for all involved. I've also made a conscious effort to model respect for others in all of my conversations and communications with the group as it is my experience that a good way to ensure appropriate behaviour from a group is to behave appropriately yourself.

Individuality 

This is my first teaching activity for WEA Cymru and the first time I've delivered a session on this topic to an external, fee-paying audience, therefore it was always going to be important for me to understand exactly what the learners wanted from the course. As it turned out, all of the learners on the course started at a similar level of experience with the Prezi tool itself - little or none - but had a range of different pre-existing skillets and digital literacies.

I established these individual learning right at the beginning of the course, both by chatting to the learners as they arrived at the venue and by posing the following questions to the group in relation to Prezi

• What do you know?
• What do you want to know?
• Why did you sign up to this course?
• What do you want to achieve?

The answers to these questions provided me both with confidence (as many of the points raise were to be addressed within the session or later in the course) as well as food-for-thought (as one or two, such as license types and using Prezi on a tablet device, had not been part of my original planning). I took a photograph of the flipchart that I used to record these needs with my iPhone and emailed it to myself - which is a neat little trick.  

Learner needs captured during Session 1 of the "Introduction to Prezi Presentations" course

In many ways, the non-accredited nature of the course can be seen to have aided me in identifying individual needs tailoring the course to meet them. The content of course can be easily tailored and adapted "on the fly", and the small group (originally 4, now 5 learners) allows for one-to-one tutor and peer support to take place throughout each session.

In week two of the course, I was delighted that a new learner joined our group but it posed a challenge; her needs at this stage could be significantly different from the 4 original learners). I was lucky enough to talk with the new learner in the days before the session and the conversation focused upon the computer equipment that she had at her disposal. This allowed me an insight into her existing digital skills, and when she arrived at the course I was able then to observed her setting up her equipment to get a better understanding of her existing digital literacies. However, it was only through chatting with her and giving her a little extra attention that I could ensure that she was up-to-speed. I also incorporated a "Troubleshooting & Catch-up" section at the start of the session in order to allow everyone, including our new learner, to ask questions that had arisen during the week between sessions.

Additional learner needs captured throughout Session 2 of "Introduction to Prezi Presentations"

All learners have their own preferred learning styles. I have endeavoured to use a combination of teaching methods that address different aspects of the VARK (Visual, Audio, Read-Write, Kinaesthetic) classification of learning styles by incorporating video and practical sessions alongside my direct instruction to the group. One important and innovative aspect of my differentiation strategy has been to introduce an optional "blended learning" environment to the course, which hosts the presentation for each session along with the "HomePlay" tasks for between session and gives the learners the ability to submit their work to me in order to gain recognition for their newly developed skills in the form of an Open Badge. This allows those learners who want to learn more and "dig deeper" into the theory behind our short, practical sessions, to do so without alienating those who do not wish to go so deep at this stage. This is an entirely new method for WEA Cymru, and I am conscious to ensure that all of the learners are able to access this on an equitable basis. As such, I will be providing further orientation to the group on how to use the resource and claim their badges.

Today, after reflecting upon the need to give more opportunities for the learners to express their individual needs throughout the course, I have also added a post to the discussion forum on the P2PU online blended learning resource inviting them to ask further questions and tell me as the tutor about any aspects of the course or the Prezi tool about which they'd like to know more. I also think that this is important in creating a supportive learning environment for the learners, as some may be less willing than others to speak up in class and may prefer an online communication where they have more time to formulate their questions.

Equality & Diversity

I am personally committed to and passionate about the promotion of Equality & Diversity in the classroom and in society more generally. Offering multiple modes of communication, such as adding the discussion section on the P2PU site, is one way of addressing the potentially diverse needs within the group, but there are many other things that we have taken into consideration to ensure that the course is equally accessible to people regardless of their age, disability, gender, gender identity, race, religion & belief, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, maternity and pregnancy. All of these protected characteristics are considered at the planning, delivery, assessment and evaluation stage of the course and reasonable adjustments have been made to ensure that we abide by the Equality Act and other relevant legislation.

The group rules that we established include treating people equally and with respect, listening to and valuing everyone's contributions to discussions and not using language others may find offensive. This has helped to ensure that nobody feels victimised or harassed on the course. And making the course as flexible as possible, for example by allowing new learners to start in week 2, has been an important way of ensuring that we do not indirectly discriminate against those who may have been put-off by a strict cut-off limit for starting. This is another area in with the unaccredited nature of the course has been to the direct benefit of learners.

In creating and organising the course, I've worked with my WEA Cymru Development Worker to find the right venue and arrange the course for a convenient time for this group. As we did not know who would be attending the course, we ensured that the venue was accessible for all and that a range of marketing materials were produced and displayed in a variety of settings, including online via Facebook and other social media. This is important as different groups in society access different media and we wanted to ensure we appealed to all.

As it happens, the group of learners on the course are all women but are of a different age groups and, as I've discovered through our informal chats over coffee breaks, have a range of different caring responsibilities outside of work. We had already made sure that the course was scheduled around the Easter school holidays and the sessions took place after normal working hours (6.00 start), ending at a reasonable time (8.00 finish). However, after my discussions with the group during the first session, the start and finish times were changed to 5.30 - 7.30 in order that we could all - tutor and learners - fit in with our varying childcare commitments. This is an example of how it is possible to make a reasonable adjustment to a course based on the diversity of learners in the group.

We have a diversity of Welsh language abilities within the group and at least two of the learners prefer to converse with one another in Welsh when not speaking to other members of the group. These are elements of diversity that I need to be aware of as the course progresses and make provision for in my planning and preparation. For instance, it may be necessary to include a section on "bilingual presentations" in one of the two final sessions of the course. Again, this is one of the advantages of the flexibility afforded to both tutors and learners when delivering non-accredited learning.

Health & Safety

I am keenly aware that all of the best planning and teaching methods can be quickly undone by not paying attention to issues of health and safety in the classroom. I've reflected in previous posts about the importance of risk assessing the classroom environment. As it happens, the room in which I am teaching the "Introduction to Prezi Presentations" course is the same room that the first part of my current "Award in Education & Training" course was set and all of the same risks remain for learners.

Trailing computer power cables has been an issue, as has getting the appropriate lighting to allow my background presentation to be clearly visible to all of the learners. The trip hazard has been mitigated  to a certain extent, but not eliminated, through the use of the power sockets embedded in the floor of the room, but I have ensured that learners are made aware of any remaining hazard. The lighting issue has been resolved through a process of "trial and error" whereby I have asked the learners to tell me if and when they are unable to see the presentation clearly.

I have ensured that housekeeping is an important part of the start of each session, including noting the location of toilet facilities and agreeing breaks. The ability to take comfort breaks and get refreshments throughout the session was also part of the group's ground rules established in Session 1.  This is important as it helps learner to feel comfortable and confident that they can use the facilities as and when they need without having to wait or ask permission.

In general I look to ensure that I have happy and contented learners in my group, and most importantly that I created an environment where they are supported and enabled to have fun.

And long may it continue....