Some years ago, in the seventies maybe, an education writer devised a type of training material which he intended for 'the mixed experience situation.' Mixed experience refers to students who are often absent from class. It occurs to me that some of the classes I teach might be described as mixed experience classes, since students are called away to meetings or to carry out urgent repairs, and therefore they miss parts of the training course.
Does anyone know how the 'mixed experience' teaching material worked, or does anyone know any books or articles that describe it? I am curious to see whether the system can be adapted to short training courses with unpredictable attendance.
2 Responses
Course design
Sounds like a nightmare but with careful course design it's quite an easy one to do.
I would design the course so that at least 70% is self study, either in the room or before and after. No reason why this can't be practical with some carefully designed workbooks.
The purpose of the Trainer would be to Assess, Test, Review in the limited time he/she has with the attendees.
This is a totally unstructured approach but as you have a totally unstructured training environment it's all you have. If you find yourself with an unexpected full class you can play catch-up and show them all the things you haven't been able to.
If you carry on "accommodating" the absentees you will not really fulfill any of the class needs including those who are there 100%
The "Mixed Experience Education" sounds like Government initiative that came and went with all the other initiatives in the 70's 80's and 90's…
Agree with Steve
.. self-study is the way to go and you can also enhance the learning experience using Social Media to keep the learners connected. There's actually a great, recent articel on TZ about that very thing, check it out here:
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/feature/technology/social-media-enhance-course-learning/188222