Our April Summary

I commented on Group 1, 2  and 4

James and Aaron will do the same after others have submitted their monthly summaries. Thank you.

This month has been the most overwhelming, yet the most rewarding for Wilisha. There were family surgeries, children ill, MAJOR work deadlines and ministry events. It pushed her to the limit and left her with many nights 4:00 AM bedtimes but again… REWARDING! The final project demonstration and papers gave her a chance to review and remembrance the many learning concepts introduced early in the course. It also offered a chance to value the flow of the assignments and the process of creating the final project. The program finally came together in April, and Wilisha admits, it took that long for it time fully come together for her as well. The vision of Aaron and the work that he and James have brought to the table came alive and it was very exciting for Wilisha. She appreciates the vision and leadership of her partners, Aaron Bean and James Brunson.

For James, reading assignments were significant. Ch. 13, Cognitive Development in Adulthood; Ch. 14, Intelligence and Aging; Ch. 15, Memory, Cognition, and the Brain were especially as important to him. The information received was immediately useful in his classrooms as he has students that are well into their 50s this semester. James and his wife are both 60 and so the information also had a great deal of personal relevance.

Aaron, like his partners, has had a tremendously overwhelming month (semester). It is truly the life of an adult (spouse, parent, grandparent, full-time workers, students, and so many other life commitments). He has been working on a huge term papers along with the demands of this course… He only has a few more classes before he is finshed with his program (and we are SO proud of him as he represents us as adult learners YAY!), but the end of a program means weighted classes and assignments. KEEP PUSHING, AARON!

Continuing our education is clearly very important to us all but there were many times when the class workload simply had to take a back seat to things more important, things more urgent. We pushed through TOGETHER and had each other’s back to ensure that we would not stray too far from the mark. We all agree that we were challenged to do a lot of reflecting this month. We were to write a summary of our project demonstration, which gave some “reflection” after the demonstration itself certainly reflected on the process and progress of the term. Then, we were to read classmates' program designs and reflect upon them, we were to reflect generally upon the course, and we are to be writing our Reflection paper, which is due May 3. Reflection is good, but might there have been too much of this good thing? LOL!J

One of the downsides to online classes seems to be that instructors are expected to give much more work. It seems this ensure that online students are spending as much time (or more) than those in traditional class structures. This may not be true, but it is something that Wilisha has wondered about, and if so, she has wondered if that is consistent with the considerations of adult learners.

PROGRAM DESIGN WORK – It was gratifying to read about how well our Reminiscence program design was received by our evaluators. We each are encouraged by how well our program was received. We also believe we hit a home run with our program demonstration. Ours was substantive, realistic, and doable. Given comments we received, our classmates apparently agree.

All in all, we have learned a lot about adult education and adult learners; we have learned a lot about ourselves and about others in our class. 

We are excite about the insights and have already begun to apply them to our work and/or daily lives. Although grateful for this learning opportunity, we are ready to move forward… yes, into bigger, better, and deeper things… into greater knowledge… OK, we are just really ready for SUMMER!J

Good luck to all!!!