Contextualized Instruction: Real-World Problems and Tasks

When will I ever need to know this?

How many times have you listened to a lecture, read assigned materials, or done an assignment, and asked yourself, "When will I ever need to know this?" The same is true of the learners who will engage in the learning experience you are evaluating.

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Contextualized Learning Experiences: Adding Real-World Relevance

Experienced educators and instructional designers often say, "meet your learners where they are". What does this mean for you as the designer of instruction for adult basic education? It means including your adult learners' past and current experiences, as well as their future aspirations, within the contextualized learning experience you design. As we explored in our prior practice exercises, your learners are pursuing adult education to help them achieve major life goals (e.g., to get a job to provide for their children, to get a better job that pays a higher wage, to pursue their dreams of going to college, etc.), but they have skill and knowledge gaps that prevent them from achieving those goals.

As defined in the Creating a Support System for Contextualized Instruction A Toolkit for Program Managers Links to an external site., contextualized instruction includes:

"... instructional strategies designed to seamlessly link the learning of foundational skills and academic or occupational content by focusing on concrete applications in a real life context."

When designing contextualized instruction, your role is to create effective and engaging learning experiences for your adult learners that will (a) help them tackle the real-world problems or tasks they will encounter as they pursue their future aspirations, and (b) draw on their life experiences to make the learning experience relevant and engaging. In contrast to topic-based instruction that is devoid of real-world context, contextualized learning experiences embed the learner's skill and knowledge development within authentic problems and tasks the learners will encounter in life, which gives adult learners perspective on the relevance of what they learn in their adult education classes.

As described on the Center for Occupational Research and Development (CORD) website Links to an external site., contextualized instruction is based on the premise that:

"... most students' interest and achievement in math, science, and language improve dramatically when they are helped to make connections between new knowledge and experiences they have had, or with other knowledge they have already mastered. Students' engagement in their schoolwork increases significantly when they are taught why they are learning the concepts and how those concepts can be used in real-world contexts."

As we covered in Module 1, your learners are busy adults with a multitude of family and job responsibilities. It is important to remember that your learners have past experiences in formal education, some good and some bad. These experiences leave them with underlying perceptions about education. Maybe their family situations made it impossible to continue attending school, but they long to further their education. Maybe they were bored in school, and couldn't see the relevance of showing up every day. Maybe classes were too hard, and no one was there to help. Maybe they left school frustrated by the experience. Your learners are now deciding to sacrifice time and money to head back to school as a means to a better end, and your instruction needs to help them get there. This is a big responsibility that you shouldn't take lightly.

As defined in the Contextualized Adult Education Instruction to Career Pathways Manual Links to an external site., contextualized instruction is:

"... designed to link the learning of basic skills with academic or occupational content by focusing teaching and learning directly on concrete applications in a specific career context that is interesting to students ... [in addition] there are many forms of contextualization (to life skills, financial literacy, health literacy, academic subjects, career exploration, etc."

Unlike when designing a lesson for kids, your adult learners have a wealth of prior and current life experiences (e.g., renting an apartment, attempting to find a job, etc.) that you should draw on when you design your instruction.

For example ...

Please take a moment and watch this video (10:19 minutes) Links to an external site. of a grammar lesson for an English as a Second Language (ESL) traditional face-to-face classroom. Then, contemplate the instructional strategies taken by the instructor to contextualize the lesson for the adult learners (see discussion below).

Source: New American Horizons Foundation (CC BY SA) Links to an external site.

Notice how the instructor has identified a grammar problem or task (e.g., accurately using past and present tense) that often poses a challenge to ESL learners in their daily lives when speaking about their life experiences (e.g., during a job interview). She adds both real-world context and relevance to the lesson by introducing major events in her life on a timeline and engaging the students in a discussion about how to accurately describe events in her life and later in their lives.

Other examples of contextualized instruction are shared in the Creating a Support System for Contextualized Instruction A Toolkit for Program Managers Links to an external site., including adult education within:

  • GED preparation classes that contextualize instruction to the knowledge and skills required for high demand jobs in the area.
  • Occupational training programs to transition learners to new careers that contextualize instruction in problems or tasks associated with career opportunities in the area.
  • Workplace literacy programs that contextualize instruction to specific job tasks required at a company’s worksite for immigrant workers.
  • ESL programs that contextualize instruction around knowledge of employee rights in the workplace.

Problem-Centered Instruction

Let's explore the concept of contextualized instruction within the context of Merrill's First Principles of Instruction. A problem-centered instructional focus engages the learner in solving authentic real-world problems (or tasks). As defined by Merrill Links to an external site. (2002), a problem includes a range of whole-task activities that the learner will encounter in the world following instruction, and is contrasted to topic-centered instruction where a topic is taught in isolation.

Merrill's First Principles: Problem

Merrill highlights numerous instructional frameworks that include problem-centered learning. While beyond the scope of this course, the following are instructional frameworks that incorporate problem-centered learning:

  • Cognitive Apprenticeship,
  • Goal Based Scenarios,
  • Constructivist Learning Environments,
  • Problem-based Learning,
  • Novel Problem Solving,
  • Whole Task Practice in 4C/ID Model.

Citing research on instruction, Merrill (2007, p. 8) Links to an external site. suggests problem-centered instruction should:

  1. Involve authentic real-world problems or tasks.
  2. Show the learners the whole task they will be able to do, or the whole problem they will be able to solve as a result of completing the instruction.
  3. Teach the components of the problem or task and then help the learner use these components in solving the whole problem or doing the whole task.
  4. Involve a progression of problems, not just a single application.

Another example ...

Let's pause a moment and watch another video (8:38 minutes) Links to an external site. of a different instructor in an English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom. Again, contemplate the instructional strategies taken by the instructor to focus the lesson's content on real-world tasks and problems faced by the adult learners. Notice how the instructor has identified authentic problems or tasks (e.g., talking to their landlords about problems in their apartments) that often pose significant challenges to adults in their daily lives. Reflect on the strategies the instructor employs to embed the to-be-learned subject matter within authentic contexts and tasks that the adults face in their daily lives.

Source: New American Horizons Foundation (CC BY SA) Links to an external site.

Want more.pngWant to know more?

The concepts we covered in this section of the course fall under a broad heading of "contextualized" learning and instruction. We have gathered additional resources if you would like to learn more about how contextualized instruction is used in adult basic education. Please see Contextualized Instruction - Additional Information in section M2 in the Supplementary Readings & Exercises section of this course.

Design Checkbox.png Your Evaluation Decisions

A focus on the real-world problems or tasks that are relevant to your learners' experiences and aspirations will more effectively prepare your learners for their life goals, and engage them in their learning. As we saw within the personas we reviewed within Module 1:

  • Your learners have a lot of life experience and are savvy. They've seen a lot and done a lot. Draw on their experiences.
  • Your learners want to use your instruction as a means to an end. Don't waste their time in instruction that will not help them tackle the real-world problems and tasks they will face.
  • Your learners are wary of formal educational settings. Some have had troubled past relationships with instructors, and many have unsuccessful prior educational experiences that have made them question the future benefit of sitting in a classroom. Inspire your learners by designing learning experiences that are relevant to their lives and future goals.

As noted, you are able to evaluate and redesign any lesson from the roster of open educational resources in Designers for Learning's Adult Learning Zone group on the OER Commons website, either the lesson you considered in the Design Practice: First Impressions exercise or Reflect | M1 | Persona Discovery assignment in Module 1, or a different lesson within the Adult Learning Zone group if you have changed your desired focus. Think about the personas we reviewed within Module 1 and the lesson you want to evaluate. Complete a deeper review of the lesson plan and related instructional materials and reflect on the following:

  • What authentic real-world problems or tasks are the focus of the lesson you are evaluating?
  • To what extent has the instructional designer contextualized the learning experience within an authentic and real-world scenario that is relevant to your learner's future goals and aspirations?
  • What are some other relevant real-world problems or authentic tasks that you could incorporate into a redesign (or adaptation) of the lesson you are evaluating?