Vicki,
Sounds like you are in a great position as the learning leader of your students. You have an understanding and knowledge about them as people and are prepared to share your content in an organized and engaging manner. Keep up the good work!
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I think an understanding of my students learning styles and mental maturity is helpful in my teaching.
What I have found it that in a Andrgogy environment, the students are all there because they want to learn the subject matter. Because they all relate to the subject matter, I try to relate what I know from the history of the subject matter (and the student's primary interest) to things that are common in the students backgrounds. Basically:
"Have you ever X in your effort to do Y?"
"Let's relate that Y effort to what we are talking about today - this is the name of the entire process X and Y."
Brady,
Way to go in "connecting the dots" in terms of student engagement. By making it personal you are helping them to see that their life experiences have a relationship to what they are studying. The more connections made the more engagement there will be.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
You always have to evaluate your class to see what their needs are and how they learn best. Then you can modify your approach to best meet their needs.
Colleen,
Yes you do. It is an ongoing process as the needs of the class can change at different times and instructors need to be able to "read" the class and then respond with the appropriate supports.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Knowing how the brain accepts and processes information will be very helpful in helping me design a lesson plan that will stimulate the students and not overwelm them. I will also know how to structure my classes in a way that will keep everyone involved. Lastly, I will be able to meet the learning level of the majoriy of the students in the class.
Carolyn,
Great to hear about the information you have received from this course. I am excited about what you are going to be able to do as you create your instructional delivery format and select the activities that will keep your students engaged.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
The students I Teach are typically very visual. I like to use the actual items they will be working on so they can touch and visualy inspect them as opposed to seeing a 2D picture on a screen.
I sometimes forget the importance of concrete learning skills. I personally do well with abstract reasoning. This course has encouraged me to close the gap with my students.
Butch,
By creating such a balance for your students I know both you and your students are going see enhanced learning and great retention of the content. Keep up the good work.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I think that by getting student feedback it helps to plan your lecture. Use what has been working or change things students say is hard to follow or that didn't help them learn the topic.
Understanding the fact that learning is an ongoing process throughout the lifespan, helps an instructor approach each student with the awareness that he/she comes with certain knowledge and experiences that will impact his/her learning. In addition, understanding the filters that students use to process incoming information will help me to emphasize key material and important facts during facilitation.
Recalling information is one of the toughest things to do even if you have just read or seen something. I find that if the information pertains to me personally or has an Episodic Memory trigger - I will remember. I think I will see how I can use my students personal experiences to help create "working memory".
Thomas,
These connections are powerful reminders. I think you are going to achieve very good results through your efforts to connect your content with the episodic memories of your students. The retention of content is going to increase as will student engagement.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Asking questions to better understand the students needs and where they are struggling.
This is true, I give examples of past experiences to my students to show that what is being taught makes better sense and they seem to understand much better.
Genaro,
Listening is a powerful learning tool and you are using when you ask your students questions. By listening to their responses you can determine how they are doing in the course and what strategies you need to employ to enhance their opportunities for success.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Understanding the basics of learning is not only imperative within the teaching occupation, but essential. In looking or thinking on how one learns it is important to know and understand that first off, learning is life long and continuous. With that said how one learns and retains information does change with age, not that just because you are x age you learn less, but you process the information differently.
Understanding the different factors such as family, environment, culture, etc can help instructors in developing class lessons.
As a career college instructor, working with adults, I am hoping that my students use working memory a combination of both long term and short-term memory. This would help in students being able to retrieve the information and then apply it using critical thinking and formulate solutions.
Thanks so much,
Kelsey
Kelsey,
Thank you for the good analysis on how individuals process information and then store it for use later on. All of these factors contribute to how they internalize content and then make application of it as needed.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
