subject: Therapy Continuing Education - Teaching Adults [print this page] As part of your therapy continuing education growth, you may eventually decide you want to develop materials for, or perhaps teach, a class yourself. Moving into the instruction side of things cannot only be rewarding on its own merits, it can provide one of the best opportunities possible for you to learn. No one knows the material better, after all, than the instructor. When you're put in the position to convey that information to other professionals, you will need to know it backwards and forwards. At the conclusion of a class, you will. However, there are some things you should know before teaching a class full of adults.
Though any college class is nominally full of "adults," you're usually talking about students who are, by and large, only a few months out of high school. In therapy continuing education courses, you'll be dealing with individuals who left high school and college far behind and have begun their careers in the real world. Many of them may be married and have families of their own at home, in addition to their own prospering careers. If you go into the class with the mindset of your typical high school or college instructor, you're unlike to make much progress. Remember who your audience is and treat them with the respect they've earned.
However, just because it is a class full of adults doesn't mean you need to be any less strict when it comes to the deadlines and work that needs to be done. In fact, you have the option of being even stricter. These are professionals who should have no reason to fall behind in the work or treat the class with anything less than the seriousness it deserves. A therapy continuing education class should rarely be as demanding as a typical college course, but there's no reason to excuse anything less than a student's best efforts.
If you're developing material for a therapy continuing education course, don't fall into the trap of repeating the basics. This isn't an introductory level course. Though some refreshers may be in order, you don't want to develop a program that is a rehash of Psych 101. Each course provides an opportunity to delve deeply into a specific subgenre of the field. Instead of developing material that covers a broad spectrum, you'll want to concentrate on furthering your students' understanding of more specific concepts that they can take back and apply in their own work.
Finally, consider taking advantage of the flexibility of the internet. These are busy professionals and so are you. Putting material online can cut down on class time and it will be appreciated by anyone who is juggling career, family, and course work.
