Pre-Conference Events

Engaging to Learn:

Interpreter Education through Dynamic Learning

with Dr. Len Roberson
1 PM – 4 PM

Undoubtedly, the goal of all interpreter educators and interpreter trainers is for their students and participants to leave a class or session having actually learned something. Teachers want what they present to be understood, to be remembered, and to be eventually used by their students (Sousa, 2001). The challenge is designing our instruction in ways that create the most optimal learning opportunities for everyone involved. All to often those who teach focus so much on the important content that they overlook a critical piece to the learning puzzle – the learner. Content, outside of the human context (i.e., the learner) means very little (Allen, 2001). Active, engaged learning is key to ensuring your students experience the most success in the learning process. Research shows that “people who do the most talking, thinking, reflecting or moving do the most learning.” (Jensen, 2003). Often, interpreter educators, much like many faculty in higher education, come from their professional field as experts in what they do, but often without a great deal of training and preparation in teaching and education. They design instruction, most often, based on how they were taught. Much research has been conducted in recent years on how the brain learns and the correlation between a person’s external behaviors and the internal processes of the brain (Jensen, 2003). Everything faculty and trainers do and how they conduct their classes and trainings influence the brains of their learners.

Understanding the role of dynamic engagement and having the tools and strategies necessary to design instruction in a way that promotes active learning will empower interpreter educators to lead their students to not only understand what is taught, but to remember what they learned and use it.

This workshop, through hands-on demonstrations, modeling, and discussions, will actively present proven tools of engaging learners. The facilitators will not only present key findings related to brain-based learning and active learning, but will relate the tools and strategies to successful application in interpreter education. Participants will learn how to lead their own “students” into new learning states and will learn what to do to help their students to be more
engaged and successful in the learning process. During the workshop, participants will practice many of the tools presented and work through a specific action plan for integrating the strategies and information presented into their own teaching and training.

The desired learning outcomes will be for participants to:

Identify key elements of active, engaged learning;
Explain the tools of engagement presented;
Connect the strategies for engagement to specific interpreter training constructs;
Formulate specific applications of the tools of engagement for their own teaching

References

Allen , R. (2001). Train smart: Perfect trainings every time. San Diego, CA. The Brain Store, Inc.
Jensen, E. (2003). Tools for engagement: Managing emotional states for learner success. Thousand Oaks, CA. Corwin Press.
Sousa, D. (2001). How the brain learns (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA. Corwin Press.

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