Learn to Live Assisted Living

Facilityby Betty Halle, Tereasa Sanders, and

Raul Ortega

OLIT 561 - The Adult LearnerInstructor: Dr. Kevin Brady

LEARN TO LIVE ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY

Mission Statement:Our mission is to maintain or improve the quality of life of relatively independent senior citizens and individuals with disabilities by addressing their physical, social and mental needs. Our endeavor is to solve the problems of seniors and disabled individuals who desire to maintain proper nutrition, stay socially and physically active, and strive to keep their minds active. We meet their needs by providing state-of-the-art housing, nutritious meals, appropriate supervision, and by advocating participation in recreational, fitness and social activities in a way that promotes maximum self-determination and independence.

Welcome to Learn to Live Assisted Living

A place where residents live to learn! Our planning staff would like to take you on a tour of our elegant living facilities. You will see how we go about making living here a stimulating learning experience.

First, let us introduce ourselves. Tereasa Sanders is our fun-loving enrichment coordinator who is full of great ideas and energizing activities for our participating occupants. Her goal is to inspire our residents to be life-long learners while creating wonderful memories of living.

Our chief operations officer responsible for overall technology strategy is Raul A. Ortega. He is very actively involved in community planning. Raul loves to socialize and exchange stories with anyone who will let him and he will have you in stitches with his funny jokes.

Greeting everyone with a smile is Betty Halle, our housing and hospitality manager. She works hard at making all of our citizens feel like they are an integral part of our community of life that we are building here while maintaining a comfortable living environment.

Individuals moving into an assisted living facility are involved in a transformational process. According to Mezirow, this process can be triggered by a major life experience, such as having to alter an independent lifestyle towards assisted living.

This new way of life requires individuals to change their frame of reference by :

(1) critically reflecting on one’s assumptions and beliefs

(2) continuously making and implementing plans that bring about ways of defining this new way of life.

Transformational learning

WE PRESENT TO YOU

Learning to Live Assisted Living Facility We will convey how transformation is engaged by individuals who desire to reside in a facility that focuses on the lifelong process of learning - while LIVING.

As teachers, our role is to establish an environment that builds trust and care and facilitates the development of sensitive relationships among learners, which is a fundamental principle of fostering transformative learning (Taylor 1998). Loughlin (1993) talks about the responsibility of the teacher to create a "community of knowers," individuals who are united in a shared experience of trying to make meaning of their life experience“ (Imel, 1998).

ENJOY THIS JOURNEY!

All staff members start the day at 7:00 A.M. meeting in the exercise room. We all walk on the treadmills while we conduct our morning meeting to plan and discuss the programs of the week for our residents. This is a good time for us to boost our brainpower just like John Medina mentioned in his rule #1; we are able to plan events and activities while the residents have breakfast in our elegant dining room. The exercise room is equipped with flat screen TVs which are located on the wall opposite to a row of six treadmills and three stationery bikes. We will explain the benefits of this layout later in the presentation.

Medina’s “rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power.”

Our electronic piano player, located in the dining area, plays music twenty minutes (stimulus) before meal time, cueing the residents to come to eat (response).

Behaviorist Theory: “Behaviorists believe that our responses to environmental stimuli shapes our behaviors.” (Cherry, 2012)

The dining room provides an elegant banqueting experience with beautiful surroundings that encourage socializing in the room full of square tables decorated with colorful candle arrangements with appetizing colors of reds, yellows and oranges.

Medina’s “rule #10 Vision trumps all other senses.”

The fireplace with its ornate mantel displays imitation logs and flickering flames to provide a serene, calming effect for the diners. Atop the mantel is an enormous painting of the Sandia Mountains at sunset with its invigorating colors to further enhance the appetite. The entire dining experience is extremely inviting.

Medina’s “rule #10 Vision trumps all other senses.”

We know that a well-balanced cuisine is one of the most important factors for healthy living. Everything, from entrees to desserts, is made by professionally trained chefs fresh from scratch; options are available for residents who prefer something different. Beyond being a delight for the palate, each meal is carefully planned by experienced nutritionists to meet the needs of a senior living population to help ensure that our residents live longer, healthier lives. The menus are robust and varied (featuring many regional favorites) and, quite simply, delicious. Residents are encouraged to share their favorites as well!

(“Diet can influence cognition and behavior…insufficient intake of particular nutrients.”) (Lahey & Rosen, 2002)

Our game room incorporates games associated with Gardner’s approaches to multiple intelligences. We like to serve freshly baked cookies* in the afternoon to draw the residents into the room. Various games correspond to Gardner’s multiple intelligences such as the following: o Musical and Kinesthetic - Guitar Hero computer gameo Musical and Interpersonal – Karaokeo Bodily – Kinesthetic – Bowling computer game

KaraokeBowling Guitar Hero

Continued…(Armstrong, 2012)* John Medina’s “rule #9 – Stimulate more of the senses.”

o Spatial – putting together jigsaw puzzleso Logical – Mathematical – Chess and Poolo Linguistic – Scrabble – Learn a Language by Rosetta

Stone

All Multiple Intelligences are integrated in various brain games: luminosity.com and fitbrains.com

Continued…(Armstrong, 2012)

We encourage the residents to use our exercise room equipped with treadmills and stationary bikes to increase blood circulation throughout the body and to reduce stress. This coincides with Medina’s rules stated below.

Medina’s “rule # 1: Exercise boosts brain power.” Medina’s “rule # Stressed brains don’t learn the same way.”

Remaining physically and mentally active may be one secret to successful aging .

“Exercise has been universally beneficial. When people exercise their body they increase brain factors that make the nerve cells in their brain healthier. They increase the number of new nerve cells that are being generated,” says Dr. Michael Raab, a geriatrician with Lee Memorial Health System. “Doing…puzzles, card games…even playing computer games are things that you can get better at…coupling that with exercise keeps your brain healthier longer…” (Lee Memorial Health System, 2012).

Medina’s “rule # 1: Exercise boosts brain power.” Medina’s “rule # Stressed brains don’t learn the same way.”

Your brain – Use It or Lose It

When it comes to boosting your brain, certain exercises work well for seniors. Tai Chi is one that doesn’t put mind over muscle.One is taught alignment, balance, a tremendous amount of focus,” says Lee Memorial Health System Tai Chi instructor Marc Rowe.People who practice Tai Chi believe it blends the best of both worlds. “The exercise should also include movement, complexity, and memory, which tai chi does,” says Rowe.Staying fit for life - it’s helping seniors live better, longer.“That’s what makes 60 the new 40, or 80 the new 60,” says Dr. Raab (Lee Memorial Health System, 2012).Medina’s “rule # 1: Exercise boosts brain power.” Medina’s “rule # Stressed brains don’t learn the same way.”

Your brain – Use It or Lose ItThese seniors are enjoying Tai Chi on the mounted TV screens during the absence of the instructor.

This is our library, an extension of our social media room, where the Brainy Book Club members meet. Here members choose a book of a specific topic that interests them. Most books are offered on tape as well as Kindles. If a movie has been made from the book, then that too is offered. These resources will provide a variety of learning tools (Knowles, 1975). The Book Club members always enjoy their discussions after completing their reading. Because of this event, participants learn from each other as well as from the content (social learning theory). (Smith, 2002, 2008)

Social Learning Theory John Medina’s “rule #3: Every brain is wired differently.”

“Knowles…argues…that…proactive learners learn more things, and learn better…reactive learners.” (Knowles, 1975)

This is our social media room which is used for book club, story telling, movie Mondays – popcorn is served during these activities, which applies in John Medina’s “rule #9 – Stimulate more of the senses.”

o Naturalistic – National Geographic Magazines and Videos (available for checkout)

o Intrapersonal – Journal writing is a choice to responding to the chosen book from book club.

o Interpersonal – discussion of thoughts and feelings about the chosen book. ) (Smith, 2002, 2008))

Contemporary Brain Theory(Armstrong, 2012)• John Medina’s “rule #9 – Stimulate more of the senses.”• Gardner’s approach to multiple intelligences.

Almost all of our residents love to participate in storytelling. They learn so much from the experiences of others while enjoying a good time; storytelling time emphasizes the importance of observing and modeling behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others (Culatta, 2012). The emotional impact of the stories told promotes learning amongst those who are listening, as explained by Contemporary Brain Theorist, Albert Bandura.

Contemporary Brain Theory Social Learning Theory

Computers located inside the library offer residents the options of surfing the net or partaking in an instructional course, [allowing self directed learning (Knowles, 1984) and intra-personal intelligence (Gardner’s multiple intelligences)].

John Medina’s “rule #3: Every brain is wired differently.”

“Motivation to learn: As a person matures the motivation to learn is internal” (Knowles, 1984).

SSSS – Seniors Serving Seniors and Society Program (Humanism)

One of our most innovative programs offered to our residents is Seniors Serving Seniors and Society. SSSS gives our Senior residents the opportunity to engage in causes they feel passionate about – helping children learn to read, working with the homeless, collecting food donations for local food banks, or supporting our troops. This program allows its participants to express their intrinsic values leading to a life of meaning and purpose as interpreted by Rogers and Maslow’s notion of humanism.

Humanism

Enter through the doors of our Dance Hall

One of our more popular activities is dancing. The dance hall is a busy place every Thursday evening from 7 PM until 9PM. Almost all of our sixty residents participate in some way – either by directly participating or by observing. We have asked our residents what dances they prefer in a survey we conducted. Most have said some ballroom dances like the quick-step, waltz, cha cha, or mambo. Some prefer country western dances like the two-step or country swing. We like to mix it up so as to keep the brain fired up to learn the old and the new. To gain attention, we have an experienced dancing couple to first introduce everyone on how to do each type of dance.

Gagne’s cognitive theory : Conditions of Learning – gain attention and Stimulate recall of prior knowledge (Richey, 2012) Contemporary brain theory: John Medina rule #4 - attention

Enter through the doors of our Dance Hall

We use many mental and physical strategies, some more effectively than others, to learn new skills. We learn a dance step when someone describes it to us, but we learn better by “doing” them as we observe and imitate. However, research has shed some light on the brain’s action observation network (AON), which fires up both when we perform an action and when we watch someone else perform it. Research has yielded evidence that the brain has a shared network for observing and doing.

Contemporary brain theory: Scott T. Grafton, M.D., 2009

Conclusion: Lesson LearnedThere are different approaches to learning/teaching andragogy opposed to pedagogy. o People’s brains are larger today than they were many years ago.o Stress has a negative effect on learning..o Emotions affect the brain’s ability to process information. o Adults use self-directed learning to pursue their interests. o Transformational Learning is about fundamental change, but not all learning leads to

this kind of change. Transformational Learning can lead to significant social and personal change.

o Humans learn from each other. o IQ does not guarantee success in the workplace. o Everybody has all of the multiple intelligences; however, some of the intelligences

come out stronger than others. We are all unique. o As we mature, we acquire more experience, which becomes a resource for our

learning. o Humans cannot multitask.

ReferencesCherry, K. (2012). About.com Psychology. Retrieved December 8, 2012, from

Introduction to Classical Conditioning:

http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/a/classcond.htm

Culatta, R. (2012). Instructional Design. Retrieved December 8, 2012, from Social

Learning Theory (A. Bandura):

http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/social-learning.html

Grafton, S. T. (2009, October 5). What Can Dance Teach Us about Learning?

Retrieved December 6, 2012, from The Dana Foundation:

http://www.dana.org/news/cerebrum/detail.aspx?id=23500

Imel, S. (1998). Transformative Learning in Adulthood. ERIC Digest no. 200, no. 200.

ReferencesKnowles, M. (1984). Andragogy in Action. Applying modern principles of adult

education. San Francisco: Jossey Bass. A collection of chapters examining

different aspects of Knowles' formulation.

Lahey, M., & Rosen, S. (2002). Dietary Factors Affecting Learning and Behavior.

Retrieved December 6, 2012, from Childrens Disabilities:

http://www.childrensdisabilities.info/allergies/dietlearningbehavior1.html

Loughlin, K. A. Womens Perceptions of Transformative Learning Experiences within

Consciousness-Raising. (1993) San Francisco, CA: Mellen Research

University Press.

Medina, J. (2009). The 12 Brain Rules Illustrated. Retrieved December 6, 2012, from

Brain Rules: http://www.brainrules.net/the-rules

ReferencesRichey, R. C. (2012, January 12). Conditions of Learning. Retrieved August 31, 2012,

from learning_theories_conditions_of_learning: http://teorije-

ucenja.zesoi.fer.hr/doku.php?id=learning_theories:conditions_of_learning

Smith, M. (2002, 2008). infed.org. Retrieved December 8, 2012, from Howard Gardner,

Multiple Intelligences and Education:

http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm

System, L. M. (2012, July). Your Brain - Use it or Lose it. Retrieved December 9, 2012,

from Memorial.org: http://leememorial.org/healthmatters/

Taylor, Edward W. The Theory and Practice of Transformative Learning: A Critical

Review. 1998, Information Series no. 374. Columbus: ERIC Clearinghouse on

Adult, Career, and Vocational Education, Center on Education and Training for

Employment, College of Education, the Ohio State University,.