FIVE resources (books, blogs, YouTube videos, websites, articles) you’d recommend for educators who teach adults.
Book: 50 Strategies to Boost Cognitive Engagement by Rebecca Stobaugh
I recently purchased this book and am happy that I did. Although written for those who teach secular subjects, the book gives examples of various learning activities that could be used in a Bible study. I like how it walks through steps of carrying out the learning activity. We hear that it is good to include learning activities for our learners. This book lets you see examples of what that would look like.
Blog: https://www.globallearningpartners.com/blog/
This blog has a plethora of articles that can assist you in teaching adults and designing learning activities that fit the adult learner. I was able to attend the Foundations of Dialogue Education course offered by this group. It was helpful in understanding how adults learn and in actively putting into practice the designing of learning activities. It might be something to consider if you have continuing education funds available.
Book: Presentation Zen 3 by Garr Reynolds
This book has helped me to see how poorly I’ve done PowerPoint in the past and how not to do it and has truly impacted my designing and using PowerPoint slides. It’s a little pricey, but I thought it was worth it. When you sit in a presentation with PowerPoint after reading this book, you’ll appreciate the author’s suggestions on how to improve. I recently sat in a presentation in my city where the use of PowerPoint was terrible . . . and the presenters were educators. They need to read this book.
Book: Taking Learning to Task by Jane Vella
It can be a challenge to come up with learning tasks. I like that this book helps in understanding how to design learning tasks.
Website: Teach the Word e-newsletter items from back issues at https://online.nph.net/teach-the-word.
I’m thankful that all the resources of Teach the Word are in one spot. Looking to review? Looking to learn something new or deepen your knowledge about teaching adults? Looking for something to incorporate into your Bible study design? There are lots of suggestions here.
Book: Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel
Here’s a bonus suggestion. I haven’t read it yet, but I have heard good things about it and am about to read it. The Martin Luther College (MLC) faculty just read this book together and had author Peter Brown speak to them. My son Philip, a tutor at MLC, said he enjoyed the book and thought it helpful.
FOUR individuals who were instrumental in your development as an educator and why.
Pres. Rich Gurgel/Prof. Mark Zarling – Youth Discipleship
These two taught a youth discipleship summer quarter course at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary that used learning activities designed for the way an adult learns. This pushed me to want to understand more about brain-based learning and designing Bible studies the way adults learn.
Dr. Ed Jones
Ed taught the course Train-the-Trainer at Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH. I was able to attend this four-day course. Ed was truly a master at teaching adults and training others on how to teach adults. The materials I received in the course have been helpful in writing my Bible studies. Although it doesn’t appear Ed is teaching the course any longer, it is still offered at Xavier. Train-the-Trainer Certificate Program
Prof. Tom Kock
I was able to attend the Foundations of Dialogue Education course with Tom. He’s one who suggested I attend the Ed Jones course at Xavier. Tom and I have worked together on Teach the Word and he has had great suggestions on what to include or improve.
Pastor Randy Hunter
Randy has led three of the four marriage retreats I’ve attended. Seeing him put adult learning principles into the marriage studies, and taking part in the studies as a participant, helped me in understanding the importance of designing lessons with the adult learner in mind.
THREE of the most interesting/rewarding/fun Bible study topics you’ve covered in the last few years. (And would you be willing to share them?)
Hidden Heroes of the Bible
This was an all-ages family VBS. For three nights in the summer we looked at the relatively unknown Bible characters Apollos, Barnabas, and Deborah. It was a good challenge to design the lessons so that younger children and adults could participate at their levels. A Dropbox folder with the lessons and materials (but not a leader’s guide, sorry) can be found at: Hidden Heroes of the Bible
Digging Deeper: God So Loved the World
This course is from Professor Lyle Lange when he taught Doctrine 1 and 2 at Martin Luther College. It uses the doctrine book God So Loved the World by Professor Lange. He gave me his student lessons and said they could be shared with anyone. Two of my brothers and I put together a leader’s guide/answer key and PowerPoint slides. It’s a higher-level course with homework done ahead of time. But those who took the course loved it. Here are links to Dropbox folders with my materials for the courses:
Reformation: Grace, Faith, Scripture
I wrote this study for Northwestern Publishing House and it is for sale here. If someone is looking for a Reformation-themed Bible study for the fall or the month of October, this flexible study could help. Although it has 12 lessons, it is divided into 3 parts (4 lessons in each part), if someone would like a shorter study or to break it up. The study has brief videos, uses learning activities to engage with the Scriptures and quotes from Martin Luther, and gives a suggestion of what the learners can put into practice during the week. And, no, I don’t get royalties if you purchase this!
TWO things that you do differently in Bible Study design/prep now as opposed to when your ministry began.
I look back at my first Bible studies and see that I had many more questions in the study than I do today. I can’t imagine teaching one of those studies today in the same amount of time. Today’s studies have far fewer questions to give the learners time to chew on the discussion. Now it is about a total of 8-10 questions and learning activities.
APSBAT (All Participants Shall Be Able To . . .). Completing this sentence and having this in mind when designing a Bible study has helped me to be more focused on what I’d like a lesson to accomplish. It takes time to develop what this will be for each lesson and narrow it down, but it is so helpful in guiding the learning activities of the lesson.
ONE technique educators could implement in their next adult Bible Study to better engage learners with the content.
I like to check at the end of the lesson if they got it. Give them an option to 1) come up with three hashtags they would use if they were tweeting about the study and what they learned; 2) have them do 3-2-1: share three things we talked about today; two things that will stick with them; and one question that they still have; or 3) draw a picture that could illustrate the main point of the lesson. These were in a recent Teach the Word and I thought they were great ideas.