Teaching Adult Learner Characteristics and Facilitation Strategies Through Simulation-Based Practice

This article relates a project in which a curriculum module was developed to help graduate students more effectively manage behaviors of adults in facilitation sessions. The module was piloted in the project and later included in a graduate level course in the Creative Studies Department of SUNY Buffalo State. The curriculum identified characteristics of adult learners and behaviors that manifest from those characteristics and helped Creative Studies graduate students develop strategies to manage such behaviors in facilitation sessions. The module included practice sessions for facilitation using TeachLivE™, a mixed reality simulation that offers education students practice in classroom management with avatars to enhance their teaching skills. Results indicated that students felt they were more capable of managing adult learner behaviors and more confident and effective in facilitations as a result of the module and TeachLivE™ simulation.