Surprised at its simplicity 4/15/11 2:58AM

very interesting and insightful 4/14/11 3:41PM

This was an enjoyable little test,very informative I will keep it in mind while studying 4/7/11 2:32AM

The results I received are very much what I would have known now about myself this would have been much more informative to me in my 20 - 30's when i would not of been as aware of what I wanted. 4/21/11 4:37PM

At the beginning of the course the students filled in a questionnaire regarding their learning preferences and gave the teacher a list with topics that they would like to cover. As nearly all students opted for a mix of traditional lecture style lessons, self study and seminar/ workshop type activities, the teacher decided to teach them traditionally as a group for the first 2 hours and then to split them into 2 groups. The first group did self-study with exercises, reading materials or task based activities for 1 hour without teacher, while the second group did mainly task based speaking and listening activities with the teacher in a separate room. After one hour the groups changed place. The teacher took great care to select the students for the groups- either weaker and stronger students were paired off so that they could help each other, or a fairly homogenous group of students was created that was given tasks/ exercises appropriate for their level. The marking was done either by the teacher at home or in the following lesson in class, depending on the activity. Unfortunately given the size of the group it was quite impossible to organise one –to –one tutorials.

Outcomes:

Positive aspects:

1. The teacher knows what the students expect/need and can try to fulfil their expectations.
2. The students share the responsibility for their learning progress as they are actively involved in designing the course programme.
3. The teacher has more time to give individual attention and therefore it becomes easier to establish a personal contact and to create a good rapport with the students.
4. As the speaking/ listening groups are quite small even shy students that lack confidence manage to contribute as they can’t hide in a big anonymous group.
5. In such a set up it is relatively easy to teach mixed ability levels.

Aspects to consider:

1. The approach requires a lot of preparation and careful classroom management.
2. The course book needs to be supplemented depending on the learners needs and preferences.
3. Self study only works with very motivated, independent students.
4. A self study programme might be more difficult to set up in beginners classes.
5. 2 class rooms and ideally also a computer room are needed.

3/11/11 4:37PM

In relation to completing the test, it wasn't obvious where exactly to click on the first page where it said, "Please click here - Step 1 of 5". In the final question, it was not immediately obvious that there were effectively two answers required. 4/22/11 3:51AM

If my experience of adult learning can help others in deciding to return to education then I am happy and willing to assist and/or advise 4/21/11 13:04PM

I didn't fully understand the purpose of the test 4/21/11 2:07AM

The Mistral Test of the EKWALS Project is worth doing and I feel it would be very useful to test among a large group of people, precisely because it can be done quickly. It will therefore inform the most preferred learning solutions for the cohort of adults in the Ageing Knowledge Worker sector. This is turn will inform provision of educational opportunities for this sector of the population. Well done and thanks for the opportunity to participate. 4/5/11 6:12AM

It was not something that I had thought I had a choice about. I didn’t know that other less structured study/learning methods would be accepted in University. Nice to see education developing and changing to suit societies changes…4/4/11 4:33PM

Very unclear how it came up with the results. e.g. I said I prefered 75% group classes, yet face2face came up as my fourth option, after e-learning, which I would hate, because of the isolation it would entail. 3/30/11 3:28AM