While it may be difficult to identify the variety of learning styles in your class, some measures can be taken to facilitate and encourage all types of learners. Consideration of the variety of learning styles highlights the need for order, structure, creativity, group work, and practical exercises

In essence, the message for tutors is to incorporate as much variety as possible into courses. However, exercises/discussions, which are introduced, should have a purpose and serve to develop understanding and knowledge, rather than merely being included to add a different dimension.

As adult students come from varied educational backgrounds, it is necessary to state clearly  if there are any prerequisites for taking a course.  Are students expected to have any particular skills or abilities?  What prior knowledge is assumed?

Outlining the necessary prerequisites eliminates the possibility of having to spend early sessions revising material which you might have assumed to be fundamental background knowledge.

Learning outcomes, which have been negotiated and agreed by tutor and students, ensure that everybody is working towards the same goal.

When learners agree a target with a tutor they feel more involved in the learning process. This helps focus attention and promotes a unified sense of purpose.

 Learning is easier when content and procedures or skills to be learned are organized into meaningful sequences  Learners will understand and remember material longer when it is logically structured and carefully sequenced

 the rate of information to be presented should be determined in terms of the complexity and difficulty of content. Thus the learner can be helped to better synthesize and integrate the knowledge to be learned. You need to provide the signposts that will help learners to perceive the structure.

 Learning that involves the emotions and personal feelings, as well as the intellect, is influential and lasting.  Learners also have positive and negative emotional attitudes that can interfere with learning or can increase motivation.  A moderate amount of anxiety or challenge activates most learners and increases learning; however, excessive anxiety interferes with learning.

 Exams cause great anxiety. Essay writing or project writing can also be very stressful. This is particularly so when students are unsure what is being asked of them, or if they feel they have no guidelines/criteria with which to work.

In order for learning to take place, a person must internalize the information; merely seeing or hearing is not enough. Therefore learning requires activity. Participation means engaging in mental or physical activity that will help the learner to understand and retain the information presented.

Learning is increased when individuals are periodically informed of progress in their learning. Knowledge of successful results, a good performance, or the need for certain improvement will contribute to continued motivation for learning. Doing and feedback contribute to successful learning.

It is important for learners to receive reinforcement. Learning motivated by success is rewarding; it builds confidence, and it will affect subsequent behavior in positive ways.

Learners will learn and remember information better if they have many associations with it; the learning of isolated information is more difficult and less permanent than the learning of information that is related to prior knowledge.

Rarely is anything new learned effectively with only one exposure. Provision should be made for frequent practice and repetition, often in different contexts, for long-term retention to be encouraged.

Complete understanding has taken place only when the learner is able to apply or transfer the learning to new problems or situations

First, the learner must have been helped to recognize or discover generalizations (concepts, principles, rules) relating to the topic or task. Then opportunities must be provided for the learner to apply the generalizations or procedures to a variety of new, realistic problems or tasks.

Providing an opportunity for students to apply what they learn in the classroom to real-life experiences has proven to be an effective way of both disseminating and integrating knowledge.

The case method is an instructional strategy that engages students in active discussion about issues and problems inherent in practical application.

It can highlight fundamental dilemmas or critical issues and provide a format for role playing ambiguous or controversial scenarios.

Cooperative Learning is a systematic pedagogical strategy that encourages small groups of students to work together for the achievement of a common goal.

Understanding how to form groups, ensure positive interdependence, maintain individual accountability, resolve group conflict, develop appropriate assignments and grading criteria, and manage active learning environments are critical to the achievement of a successful cooperative learning experience

Today, educators realize that computer literacy is an important part of a student's education. Integrating technology into a course curriculum when appropriate is proving to be valuable for enhancing and extending the learning experience for faculty and students.

Many faculties have found electronic mail to be a useful way to promote student/student or faculty/student communication between class meetings. Others use list serves or on-line notes to extend topic discussions and explore critical issues with students and colleagues, or discipline- specific software to increase student understanding of difficult concepts.

Distance learning is not a new concept. We have all experienced learning outside of a structured classroom setting through television, correspondence courses, etc. Distance learning or distance education as a teaching pedagogy, however, is an important topic of discussion on college campuses today.

Distance learning is defined as 'any form of teaching and learning in which the teacher and learner are not in the same place at the same time' (Gilbert, 1995).

1.Fit the lecture to the audience 2. Focus your topic - remember you cannot cover everything in one lecture 3. Prepare an outline that includes 5-9 major points you want to cover in one lecture 4. Organize your points for clarity 5. Select appropriate examples or illustrations

6. Present more than one side of an issue and be sensitive to other perspectives 7. Repeat points when necessary 8. Be aware of your audience - notice their feedback 9. Be enthusiastic - you don’t have to be an entertainer but you should be excited by your topic.

 Learner Centred Methodologies Written by Rhonda Wynne, Ireland  George University, Mason Writing Center