Interview Assignment

Adult Educator Interview Assignment

100 Points

 

Objectives and Alignment:

1. Students will identify an experienced adult educator.

2. Students will discuss the considerations and practices of an experienced adult educator.

3. Student will reflect on what it means to be an adult educator in practice and compare the differences between being an adult educator in theory and one in practice.

These assignment objectives align with Course Objectives A, C, and D.

Purpose:

The purpose of this assignment is for you to get a better picture of what it means to be an adult educator in practice.  Different educators have different conceptions of their role depending on their background, experiences, and context. You will explore these conceptions and reflect on what how this experience will impact your potential adult teaching practice.

Assignment:  

To accomplish this, you will need to identify and contact an experienced adult educator and request an interview. You will ask them a few questions (see below) in-person, via phone, or email. Record their responses on paper. Be sure to provide descriptive information such as gender, age, race/ethnicity, occupation, profession/role, and years of schooling.

Please record demographic information, questions you asked, and their verbatim responses on no more than a single page with one-inch margins and single-spaced for the interview. Please use the following questions:

 

1. What do you think of when you hear the words, “Adult Educator?”

2. How, what, and where do you teach adults?

3. How and why did you get into this role?

4. Please provide an example of a topic, lesson, experience, etc. that you teach and explain how you approach teaching it to your adult learners. How do you come up with the concept/topic? How do you decide how to teach it?

5. What are some issues that you face in providing instruction/learning to your adult learners?

6. Do you consider yourself an adult learner? Why or why not?

Then develop at least three more questions of your own (feel free to change the order of the questions above along with your own). Include these questions in your summary at the end of your paper.  Type the interview responses single-spaced and attach as an appendix to your paper.

 

Finally, as part of any good intellectual exercise, I ask that you write at least a three-page reflective piece on your experiences. How do their responses coincide or differ from your expectations? What surprised you? What were the common themes? What techniques and/or ideas did they use that were particularly well suited for adult learners? What makes these so effective? What will you take from this interview that will inform your teaching practice moving forward? Finally, define adult educator for me again (you did this in Discussion 1, Week 2). What has changed in this definition as a result of the readings and this experience? Why is that important? What does this exercise tell you about what it means to be both an adult educator and an adult learner? Connect your reflection to our readings or outside scholarly or trade publications; please be sure to do so using APA Style Manual, 7th Edition. Use one-inch margins, double-spaced, and Times New Roman font, 12-point. Be sure to use section headings within your paper. This will help break up the paper.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Deliverable:

Adult Educator Interview Paper via the Blackboard Assignment tool which includes paper, list of questions, and transcription of the interview.

Grading:

Please use the following rubric for this assignment.

 

Components for the Assignment	Does Not Meet Expectations	Approaches Expectations	Meets Expectations	Exceeds Expectations
Nine Interview Questions provided: Six from above and three from the student. (40%)	Five questions or fewer asked or are asked incompletely (for example, if interviewee gives an incomplete response, and the interviewer does not follow-up to tease out more information). Responses summarized rather than verbatim. Fewer than five people asked.	Six questions asked or seven questions are asked incompletely (for example, if interviewee gives an incomplete response, and the interviewer does not follow-up to tease out more information). Responses typed verbatim.	Nine questions asked. Responses typed verbatim. May have minor formatting errors.	Nine questions asked. Responses typed verbatim. Five people asked. Interview is typed, single-spaced on a separate sheet of paper.
Reflection piece includes references to our readings and outside literature. Reflects on the similarities and differences among the interviews. (40%)	Less than three pages. Does not connect to readings or outside literature. Reflection does not address many of the questions asked in the prompt or they are woefully incomplete.	Three pages. Does not connect to readings or outside literature. Reflection addresses most of the questions asked in the prompt, but they may have differing levels of completeness.	Three pages. Connects to readings but not to outside literature. Reflection addresses all of the questions asked in the prompt, and they are complete. However, more detail may be needed in a few areas.	Three pages or more. Connects to readings and outside literature. Provides excellent detail and analysis in response to all aspects of the reflection prompt.
Formatting (15%)	Paper does not have one-inch margins OR is not double-spaced OR does not use Times New Roman OR is not 12-point font. Citations and References are not in APA Style	Paper has one-inch margins, is double-spaced, uses Times New Roman, and is 12-Point Font. Citations and References NOT in APA Style.	Paper has one-inch margins, is double-spaced, uses Times New Roman, and is 12-Point Font. Citations and References in APA Style. Section headings are used.	Paper has one-inch margins, is double-spaced, uses Times New Roman, and is 12-Point Font. Citations in APA Style. APA style title page is included. Page headers and numbers are correct APA style. Appropriate APA style section headings are used.
Grammar, spelling, syntax, etc. (5%)	Five or more errors.	Three or Four errors	One or Two errors.	No errors.

 

Resources:

 

Interviewing

E-how’s “How to Interview Someone for a Story” - http://www.ehow.com/how_2059751_interview-someone-story.html

MIT’s Guide to Interviewing - http://stringers.media.mit.edu/interview.htm

 

APA Style Formatting

Use the actual APA Style Reference Manual. These sources are only to be used as support. Refer to the book you purchased for the class as the ultimate resource.

Purdue’s Online Writing Lab APA Formatting Site - http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

APA’s Office Site - http://www.apastyle.org/

Easy Bib’s Site for APA Formatting - http://www.easybib.com/guides/students/writing-guide/iv-write/a-formatting/apa-paper-formatting/

Grammar Reference

Education First’s Grammar Site - http://www.ef.com/english-resources/english-grammar/