How much do you know about preparing a successful learning environment – for individuals, or for a group?

The Water Outreach Web site offers a Self-Assessment that you can use to determine how much you know about how to prepare a successful learning environment. Take a look at assessment items #4 and #5 (repeated below). These ask you to analyze a learning environment that you have established for individuals or for people in a group.

Consider

♦ What is the difference between these two lists?

♦ How are they complimentary?

♦ How would you use these criteria in your work?

Outreach Self-Assessment examples:

#4. Have you made specific choices for how to address the learning needs of your audience as individuals? For example, does the learning experience:

• Center on learner abilities, interests, needs?
• Promote active engagement?
• Build thinking and reasoning skills?
• Provide a nurturing context?

#5. If you will be working with a group, have you made specific choices in designing your learning experience to guarantee that each member of the group will get the most out of their involvement? For example, does the learning experience:

• Reflect use of a planning model?
• Build on content and delivery recommendations from the target audience?
• Engage quality instructors who have been trained in effective teaching methods?
• Build environmental literacy?

Save your analysis and questions for use later in Unit 5. 

For more ideas about learning and outreach, review Essential Best Education Practices described on the Water Outreach Web site.

NEXT

In Lesson 5.2 you will explore whose behavior to target, in more detail than in Unit 2, taking advantage of what we learned about the complexity of behavior change in Unit 4.