Practicing active listening as a teacher in relation to students is generally a positive approach to your practice as a teacher and probably also an expected approach to his practice.
When we choose to focus on it in relation to an IT course for seniors, it is because many seniors will not necessarily be able to fully articulate what they could potentially benefit from learning because they do not necessarily know all the many positive opportunities the computer and the Internet will be able to offer them.
We learn best what matters most to us.
From studies, we know that seniors in particular are very functionally focused in terms of what they want to learn.
Few seniors want to learn how to use a computer. They would like to learn how to send an email or pay their bills via online banking etc.
To find out what, the individual student could also benefit from learning from the importance that the teacher is good at communicating with the students and gives himself time to communicate with the individual student. That the teacher is good at practicing what is called in the jargon; Active listening.
Tips to perform active listening!
- Listen to what is actually being said.
- Be patient and don’t interrupt – it can take time for others to articulate what they want to say.
- Hold back with your own interpretations and associations.
- Ask clarifying questions (what, who and why).
- Repeat what the person says with in-depth questions.
- Ask open questions (Open questions are questions that can not only be answered with yes/no – but that encourage the target person to elaborate and explain himself.
- Sum up what you understand – the person wants to learn.
