What are some effective ways to assess the prior knowledge and experience of your learners?

Do you need to assess them? If you are a Facilitator of Andragogy you will use the principles of Andragogy to design your interactions and one of the main principles of Andragogy is to acknowledge and allow the adults to ‘draw on their life experience’ - that doesn’t mean you need to be fully aware of or even assess them.

évaluer les connaissances préalables permet de mieux adapter le contenu aux besoins des apprenants, d’enrichir les discussions grace à leur expérience, et de corriger les idées fausses. Cela favorise un apprentissage pertinent et engageant tout en facilitant le transfert des connaissances.

An example that I currently use, are activity based workbooks. These workbooks are 15-20 pages in length and contain information, statistics and activities. All of the knowledge that one would need to successfully complete the workbook is listed for them. An individual who learns through seeings and doing will pick up on this. Not only does the workbook give leaders insight to the team members skillset, it also helps to establish the predominant learning style!

I'm a big fan of a blended learning approach wherein the learners are assigned basic pre-work, participate in the live session, then have applied tasks to put the info to work in the real world. The pre-work can set the stage for the live session and make sure everyone comes in at the same level to build upon. You can also assign pre-work that acts as a skills check to simply assess the knowledge and ability level of the group. In either case, the facilitator is now better prepared to tailor the learning experience to suit every participant and maximize everyone's ROE -- Return on Effort.

Utilisez des outils comme : Sondages pour comprendre attentes et besoins. Pré-tests pour mesurer les compétences existantes. Entretiens ou discussions de groupe pour recueillir des données qualitatives sur leurs expériences. Ces méthodes permettent d’identifier lacunes et idées précon?ues pour ajuster la formation.

When practicing Andragogy do you need to assess prior knowledge or surface and acknowledge prior knowledge or previous experience? Isn’t it better to remain neutral and clean as a facilitator of Andragogy whilst respecting that adults have a wealth of their own skills, knowledge and experiences?

Assessing learners' prior knowledge is crucial for tailoring training effectively. Methods include observations, quizzes, and discussions. Observations allow you to see how learners engage and identify gaps. Quizzes can test recall and comprehension, revealing areas needing more focus. Discussions provide insights into learners' perspectives and help relate new information to their experiences. In my experience, starting Scrum training with a brief quiz and open discussion about past projects has been highly effective. It helps gauge their understanding and sets the stage for targeted learning. This approach ensures the training is relevant and impactful, fostering better engagement and retention.

When designing workshops and learning experiences for corporate contexts and leaders, I prefer to begin the session with a quick set of questions, a self report survey, or a facilitated discussion to better understand the audience and current knowledge in the room. Then, I (and my co-facilitators) will adapt accordingly to ensure we are considering the range of learners in the room. This approach typically works best with smaller groups - e.g., 20 or less - otherwise, it becomes difficult to truly adapt a session to fit the audience’s needs.

Observations : Surveillez la participation et les comportements pour ajuster en temps réel. Quiz ou activités pratiques : Testez la compréhension et l’application des concepts enseignés. Discussions ou réflexions : Encouragez les apprenants à relier les nouvelles connaissances à leurs expériences pour consolider l’apprentissage.

Analysez les données recueillies pour : Ajuster le contenu (ajouter, simplifier ou approfondir selon les besoins). Différencier pour des niveaux variés (exemples adaptés, explications supplémentaires). Varier les méthodes (rythme, séquences ou activités interactives). Cette adaptation garantit une formation plus efficace et engageante, alignée avec les objectifs et les attentes des apprenants.

A facilitator can use that information to structure group activities (ex: make sure each group has an even distribution of experienced vs. novice), identify topics that need more or less focus, and to build everyone's confidence. Set the context for the learners in a way that speaks to everyone; make sure they all know the ultimate objectives of the training, and also share specifically how that will apply to someone who is on day 1 vs. year 20, for example. Throughout the training, make sure you continue to call back to that context and keep pointing out the outcome/benefit to everyone in the room and how they can apply the info, based on their experience level to keep them engaged.

In my experience as a Facilitator of Andragogy there’s no need to assess prior knowledge as long as your design allows each adult to set their own relevant learning agenda and to find their own individualised route through the learning. For me it’s more important that the Facilitator of Andragogy remains neutral while having a fully inclusive and intentional design.