Comparison of Learning Programs

Comparison of Two Adult Education Programs

Dan W. Royer

Ball State University

                The purpose of this paper is to investigate two programs which are used in the instruction of adults.  The first is a program that has been used where I work in an effort to coach faculty and staff toward a constructive change.  This program was prepared and presented by The Pacific Institute, instructs organizations dealing with change.  The second program is a class which is used, also where I work, called Strategies for Success.  This second educational experience is for adult learners who are entering college, generally for the first time.  They are typically non-traditional students who may not have developed skills in learning how to learn, or other soft skills which may be taken for granted by more traditional students.

                The first program, which was developed by The Pacific Institute and is called “PX2” or “Path to eXtreme Success” (Tice, PX2 Facilitator Manual, 2007) and is described as a tool to “build your understanding of how your mind works, with a simple, structured process” (Tice, PX2 Facilitator Manual, 2007).  The program is a seminar in which a series of videos are presented to the learners by a facilitator.  The participants then go through a series of exercises and activities presented through a 12 session course.  It is designed to be a small group environment, in which members are able to interact with each other, and should be restricted to a maximum size of 15 to 20 (Tice, PX2 Facilitator Manual, 2007) participants.

                The Pacific Institute was formed in 1971 by Lou and Diane Tice as they began to develop and present concepts which were based on cognitive psychology, but which were used to teach principles of managing change and dealing with emotional stressors.  The growth of these programs resulted from the broad application of these principles in business, education, athletics and other areas (Tice, The Pacific Institute: Education, 2012).

                I will evaluate the program by reviewing the facilitator manual, along with the lesson plans, activities and supplemental materials which allow the facilitator/instructor to adapt the program to several different optional environments.

                This program begins with the participants exploring the concept of beginning to think beyond limitations traditionally accepted.  It deals with the anxiety and emotional distress occurring when an individual begins thinking beyond what are traditionally accepted.  This introduces the concept that a person’s mind has been made up not by the truth, but through their perceptions and the way they have talked to themselves (Tice, PX2 Facilitator Manual, 2007).

                Activities in this beginning phase focus on perceptions:  reading and perceiving elements of a sentence, viewing cards with designs and understanding that there is more than one possible image hidden in the card.  The purpose is to explore the beliefs the participants have accepted without question.

                The program moves ahead with objectives focusing on selectivity in filtering out messages received, believed and acted upon.   This begins to focus on the concepts of positive mental attitude, and some critical thinking.  The point here is to be skeptical about the messages that are received and decide which ones should be listened to. The concept of intrapersonal communication is introduced which deals with self-talk, the messages a person sends and receives internally.  Time is provided for personal reflection while the group is introduced to the discussion cycle (Tice, PX2 Facilitator Manual, 2007).

                The discussion cycle consists of the facilitator asking questions or for participants to respond with their personal opinion.  The facilitator thanks the participant for the input and repeats the question to get other responses.  Sometimes, it may be necessary to redirect the question in other ways, write down unresolved questions, and perhaps hold questions for future discussion.

                The program then turns to the way the thought process works.  This means that the focus is on acting on the truth as we perceive it to be and additional exercises in dealing with perceptions are introduced. (Tice, PX2 Facilitator Manual, 2007)

The program shifts to goal setting and knowing how a person self regulates their own effectiveness by accepting responsibility for their own attitudes and habits.  This topic explores attitudes, habits and emotional history.  Emotional history describes events that produce emotional responses and to which we develop responses and attitudes.  This program covers using past experience to interpret present situations and future consequences, and introduces the process of self-affirmations to change the participant’s interpretation and the resulting response and attitude.

Once these understandings are developed the program turns to the way beliefs are formed which are described as “an accumulation of thoughts” (Tice, PX2 Facilitator Manual, 2007).  This accumulation of thought is called ‘self-talk’ because it is a series of messages sent to self as a result of the interpretation of external events.  This accumulation of internal messages builds to form beliefs.  The program seeks to control these internal messages in such a way they become positive and affirming.  This accumulation of positive messages and thoughts help the individual to begin accumulating thoughts toward a future belief, which is more positive.

The program continues with a focus on building self-esteem because for most people it is easier to be self-critical rather than self-affirming.  It also deals with the difficulty that many people have in accepting compliments.  As pointed out in the program this is an area most people struggle with having a good, positive response.  The text suggests a simple thank you as a response, or a thank you, plus giving credit to team members who helped with the project (Tice, PX2 Facilitator Manual, 2007).

The program moves on from this point by exploring stretching comfort zones, which deals with the anxiety of change and being able to cope with change.  This includes practicing envisioning the way a person wants their future to look.  This preview is used to help the participants change their comfort zones and actually move into new and unfamiliar situations. 

Moving up and out is the next phase in which participants practice setting and making goals which venture out into new dimensions of thought.  This part of the program uses visualizations in order for the participants to picture and rehearse how they will act in new and different situations.  They will also begin to practice using affirmations as positive self-talk. They then participate in a workshop to assist the participants to create their own affirmation statements (Tice, PX2 Facilitator Manual, 2007).

The participants then are to vividly describe their visualizations in complete and descriptive ways so they can begin to actually experience their visualized future.  The concept being instructed here is in the form of a formula which is represented as:  Imagination times Visualization equals Reality.  This final stage is to give the participants the tools needed to engage in the uncomfortable experience of new and different situations and changes (Tice, PX2 Facilitator Manual, 2007).

In addition, the program includes supplemental material which adjusts the concepts presented to the different settings such as: academics, athletics, career, leadership and substance abuse prevention (Tice, PX2 Facilitator Manual, 2007).  Each of these is addressed in its own unique terms and many of the concepts are the based on the same principles, but adjusted for its targeted audience.

This program includes a good deal of interactive exercises, a period of reflection in every session, and the use of videos and discussion in each group.  It is designed for a small group and focuses on the facilitator’s efforts to engage the participants in the exercises and the conversations.

The second program is a course offered at Harrison College to adult students called, Strategies for Success.  This is a twelve week course in which students participate in an on-site learning experience.  The course begins with an overview and an introduction to some of the similar material covered in the Pacific Institute course. 

This course begins by examining messages and understanding where the messages come from and what they communicate about us (Harrison College, 2012).  The course continues with the use of the DISC assessment tool.  This tool is used to assess the students and their preferred style of dealing with conflict and resistance (Inscape Publishing, Inc., 2006).  This tool breaks the personal preference of participants into four different categories; 1) Dominance scale; 2) Liveliness scale; 3) Sensitivity scale; and 4) the Privateness sc ale (Inscape Publishing, Inc., 2006).  This assessment is given to students in order to assist the students in identifying their own personal preferences and strengths and weaknesses they possess.

The twelve week course uses some materials that are very similar to the Pacific Institute Program however; there are some departures, which include sessions on understanding the formation of beliefs, understanding self-image, how to make the unfamiliar familiar, and establishing vision, goals, and an alternate future (Harrison College, 2012).  Additionally, the course covers additional objectives, such as an understanding of the conscious, subconscious and creative subconscious, along with developing a list of methods of improving academic and professional skills (Share/Harrison College/Academics/Program and Course Resources/PSY 1050 Course Syllabus, 2012).  

Metapro workshops are used to focus on specific skills needed for these non-traditional college students.  Focus is brought to the students through the interactive workshops which deal with handling stress, improving test taking skills, ways to study, strengthening communication skills, and improving concentration and productivity skills.  It also incorporates understanding how learning styles work and understanding the students preferred learning styles.  These workshops are interspersed with the DiSC assessment and evaluation, other activities which introduce students to some of the concepts offered in the Pacific Institute training course.

Many of the concepts incorporated in the course from the Pacific Institute include stress management, understanding how the brain works, perceptions and optical illusions, and how to understand and practice affirmations (Harrison College, 2012).

Both of these courses deal with the emotional anxiety that is faced when students must deal with change, and understand how to cope with change.  The Pacific Institute is a more general program with principles to be applied into many different situations.  The course at Harrison College is more academically focused, but it prepares students for academic success by understanding how their emotions impact their ability to learn.

The main features of the Pacific Institute Program and the Harrison College course, begin with helping the individual to understand the ways which perceptions can contribute to the way we view what we believe to be true.  This is a very important element, because when dealing with emotional intelligence, we understand it to be “. . . an emotion-related cognitive ability involving the ability to perceive, use, understand, and regulate emotion” (Kathryn Jane Gardner, Pamela Qualter,and HelenWhiteley, 2011).

The following table identifies some of the more important features of the programs which I would propose to adapt in my program.

The main features of the Programs	The Pacific Institute	Harrison College Strategies for Success	Features Adapted
How individuals perceive the environment	X	X	X
Use of a tool to evaluate learners preferences		X	X
Learning in a Small Group format/setting	X		X
Period of reflection to consider principles learned	X	X	X
Use of videos for main teaching content	X
Use of Activities which include role playing and visualization	X	X	X
How to become accustomed to changes in the environment	X	X	X
Use of the Discussion cycle and flipcharts for discussion	X		X

The understanding of an individual’s temperament helps an individual to identify ways in which they would react to different situations and reflects their emotional reactivity (Kathryn Jane Gardner, Pamela Qualter,and HelenWhiteley, 2011).  These differences need to be understood to recognize ways in which the individual reacts to their environment.  Additionally, it is known that trait EI includes an ability to perceive self and surroundings (Kathryn Jane Gardner, Pamela Qualter,and HelenWhiteley, 2011).  Therefore, an assessment tool is crucial to understanding the way that a learner most often relates to his or her environment.

Additionally, it is important that the learners be able to have a time of quiet reflection when learning these principles, in order to practice the principles of applying perception and visualization.  It is also important that the learners be given an opportunity to explore the principles in small groups, and participate in activities such as role-playing and others in a situation that is relatively comfortable.  For example, role playing would allow for an individual to experience exposure to a difficult situation in a controlled environment.

Also, the use of the exercises in which participants become more accustomed to and comfortable with change would be a valuable exercise, because it would teach learners ways to cope with environmental changes.  I also believe that the practice of the discussion cycle could be used in conjunction with the practice of brainstorming in order to facilitate feedback and input for the ways that individuals have developed coping strategies when dealing with difficult situations.

While these programs provide good ideas and material for consideration, there are also additional areas which they do not cover.  For example, the general concept of emotional intelligence involves more than the experience of dealing with change, it also deals with the general ability of an individual to perceive and react to the responses of other individuals.  The purpose of training in emotional intelligence is to improve these individual interactions with each other.

The interactive and small group approaches are quite good, and could allow for a more comfortable setting in which to provide individuals the opportunity to experience role playing, changes in perception, role-playing, the discussion cycle, as well as a time of personal reflection, visualization and affirmations.

References Cited

Harrison College. (2012, October 12). Share/Harrison College/Academics/Program and Course Resources/PSY 1050 Course Outline. Retrieved from Share/Harrison College: http://share.harrison.edu/operations/academics/Program%20Development/default.aspx

Inscape Publishing, Inc. (2006). Evertyhing DiSC Facilitation System. Minneapolis, MN: Inscape Publishing, Inc.

Kathryn Jane Gardner, Pamela Qualter,and HelenWhiteley. (2011). Developmental correlatesof emotional intelligence: Temperament, family environment, and childhood trauma. Australian Journal of Psychology, 63, 75-82.

Share/Harrison College/Academics/Program and Course Resources/PSY 1050 Course Syllabus. (2012, October 12). Retrieved from Share.Harrison.edu: http://share.harrison.edu/operations/academics/Program%20Development/Course%20Materials/1/Approved%20Course%20Materials/PSY1050%20-%20Strategies%20for%20Success/PSY1050%20-%20Strategies%20for%20Success.pdf

Tice, L. (2007). PX2 Facilitator Manual. Seattle, Washington, USA: The Pacific Institute,Inc.

Tice, L. (2012, October 12). The Pacific Institute: Education. Retrieved from The Pacific Institute: http://www.thepacificinstitute.us/v2/index.php?name=education