Get Your Students Hired
When teaching court reporting classes, I will bring in transcripts that I have taken in the field. They are always excited to hear current, relevant material so they can see and experience and incorporate relevant material into their learning experience.
For my classes, everything we do is relevant and build on their classes from the previous terms. For example, to prepare the syudent for their EMT courses, we have a Law Enforcement First responder course which gets the students prepared for some of the key terms they will be using a regular basis when they have to access their patients. They also get a basic anatomy class which takes away the "scary" factor for some students who may be afraid of the medical terms used for body parts.
Yes,we always try to tie the complete course content into the systems and equipment the students will be working with in the industry.
Debra,
No problem with the name. I appreciated your thoughts in the forum. As for pretesting I think is can give valuable insight into the students that are just starting a course. I use pretesting to establish a baseline from which I can plan on what instructional strategies I am going to use. I am able to customize my instruction that that student population and that helps me to engage them in the learning process much quicker.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Hi Dr. Meers --
I apologize that in my haste I think I have used an incorrect salutation on previous discussion forum posts!
For adult learners in particular, because they typically come to college with a considerable level of life experience, expect that they will be taught skills, attitudes and behaviors that will directly pertain to their career aspirations. They do not want their time wasted. I think that this is another spot where a sort of "pre-test" could be useful. This time it would not be a test of prior learning, but a sort of "test" of what they understand to be the expectations and functions of their chosen career area. If, for instance, you discover at the outset of a bachelor of criminal justice program, in the introductory course, that there are students who expect to be able to practice as attorneys upon completion of this degree, there are some expectation adjustments that must occur, and right away, so these students understand what the content of a program that they are enrolled in will and will not qualify them to do upon completion of the program.
Debra
Miriam,
You are so right in terms of what it takes to engage adult learners. I am a big fan of using guest speakers and field trips to reinforce what is being taught. The other activities you mention increase the value of the content so the students will see both relevancy and application of what is being taught.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Adult learner needs and expectations are significant when preparing a course. Instruction needs to present the knowledge and skills needed in the career that the student is expecting to begin after graduation.
Role play, active participation, guest speakers, and field trips are all strategies to make content and delivery relevant to the student. Making sure that course content and the instructional method used to deliver clearly links the information to the use will help the adult learner feel prepared and want to retain the information for future use.
Rody,
Great way to get the students involved and thinking which is going to be a major part of their lives once their are in their careers. You are helping them to visualize the transition they are going to make from being students to professionals. Keep up the good work.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I am an allied health instructor; the strategies I employ to make the education material being delivered relevant are to practice what we learn in the classroom not only in clinical rotations at the hospital, but also utilize various clinical scenarios in the school Lab.
This will not only make the instructional content relevant but also encourage critical thinking and harbor a good learning experience.
Tanya,
Right you are and this is why relevancy and application needs to be a part of our content delivery.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Jessica,
You raise a good point in relation to getting student input in terms of their expectations. Having this information will assist in selecting content that will meet those expectations and move them forward in their career development.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Denisse,
Without either of these two the students will not connect to the content. They need to see value to what is being offered if they are to become engaged.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I agree making instruction relevant is very important. Because you are opening a path which can lead the student to find a better job, be marketable and become more skillful than others.
Adult learner needs and expectations are a foundation to relevant instruction because it is a starting ground to build their learning. Some specific ways the can make instructional content and delivery relevant to students expectations would be to ask students for their expectations.
Relevancy and application is needed in planning lectures. This will open up the students interest.
Anna Marie,
This is such a critical connecting point for the students. If they see relevancy the value of the content has increased greatly. They start to see the ROI they will get from being successful in the class.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Students understand the lesson plan when they understand the relavance of the material and how it relates to their field of study.
it is important to relate the classroom/lab work with how it effects the study progress of the subject being taught