Get Your Students Hired
By demonstration. My students are MA students and by them leaning through repetitive and demonstrations they with grasp the concept of the lab being taught.
Paul,
This is a powerful and engaging learning tool. As you have experienced this format gets the students involved and using the content that has been covered as well as getting them to thinking about future content that is going to be shared.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Theodore,
I am a big fan of case studies. They help students to see and apply the content that is being offered. This moves the students from being passive to active learners as they are using their problem solving skills to come up with solution to the problem presented in the case study.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
We use facilitated discussion for many topics. For the topic of the class students share experiences in relation to that topic or use a future setting for a topic to show how it is applicable.
I use relevant clincal case studies. This really helps to make the cocntent relevant
Nick,
Staying current is a must because you are impacting the future of your students through the content you share with them. It needs to reflect the standards of the field if they are to leave the course with the knowledge and skill set needed to be competitive.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
As a vocational instructor we are the subject matter experts. Teach the performance skills as outline in the textbook then relate how it applies to the work place. Instructors have to stay current on the skills and procedures use in the field. Student like to know why it is important to know this and how does it apply to the work force. Choose your text book base on context, and the supplemental material provided. Stay abreast of changes in your field and pass them on to your students.
Nick
Lyndsie,
I tend to be a bit dramatic and generally give a lead in that captures their attention and then go into the brainstorming session. For example, I was driving down the road when I saw a deer standing on the shoulder looking like she was going to dart into traffic behind her I saw her fawn as well. The question is what should I do to be safe and hopefully not hit the deer or her fawn. Then we go from there. Students like the cliffhanger kind of lead ins.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
When putting forth a brainstorming session, how do you present the original idea? Does a simple 'if this happens what should you do?' suffice?
Sheila,
Like your style because it is an effective way to keep the interest of your students. A shared laugh goes a long way in helping students to reset their brains and thinking about what has just been covered in relation to what is going to be covered.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
While some subjects are dull and boring, I like to change the pace and throw an occasional curve ball into the arena. Causing laughter or some other emotion to keep student paying attention. I love to hear laughter and it seems to help my student remember some of the most boring information. At least when they are taking a quiz, they can at some point smile or giggle.
Shawn,
The more real world connections you make when teaching a subject like math the better. Your approach shows the students how they are going to use they math they are learning and as a result have a better chance of reaching their career goals. These connections are what help to "sell" your course and the reason they are enrolled to the students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Since I teach Math, I begin each course with talking about how we can use what we learned in the previous class in the programs my cohorts are in. If it's nursing, we talk about how we use fractions to determine various key measurements and in relation to medicine. Adult learners want to see the value in a class, and making the content relevant is a key way to do that.
What strategies have you implemented for making a course's content relevant and applicable to the learning needs of students?
Producing relevant course content is often developed via engaging future supervisors or seeking the key ideas for the subject that will enable the students mastery of the subject. Depending on the course content, the goal should be to prepare the students to gain mastery of the class content for a successive course or to develop sufficient mastery of the subject to then conduct personal study for future application of their own original ideas.
David,
Very good point because it is easy for the students to veer off the topic and forward progress is lost in terms of the purpose for the discussion in the first place.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Brainstorming is great. However, you need to make sure that you continue to steer the students toward your desired end state. Otherwise, they will continue to throw out ideas, and never hone in on target.
ANTHONY,
To me when situations like this occur it makes teaching so easy since the students get to see the value of the content as it is used to solve the problem that exists with the car. They are doing their own problem solving and growing at the same time in their expertise. A win win for everyone.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I definitely have to agree with you. the best labs that I have had is when a car comes in the shop that is broken in the area that you are teaching. The students can immediately see how the course lectures and lab pertain to rear world problems. I also find that our lab units that we take apart for practice also can also do the job, but after the lab units have been apart so many time they should be replaced because of the damage that occurs to them while we are learning on them and because parts usually are missing.
Landis,
Great strategies. You field is changing so quickly that it would be a challenge to bring in all of challenges that face computer security and use since it seems that every few days a new issue comes up or a system has been hacked. I think it would be a lot of fun to teach in this field because your students have to be excited to learn how to work in the field and meet some of the challenges head on as part of their career development.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
My main strategies for keeping course content relevant is to look at current events in the newspaper or online and tie them to the content being taught in my classes.
For example, the recent hacking of iCloud and the broadcast of stars indecent pictures on You Tube. I can easily tie computer security and ethical use of computer technology using this strategy.
Another example I often use is how the use of cell phones and technology has shaped or reshaped the political landscape of our country and overseas.
Landis