Gary Meers, Ed.D.

About me

I am an Education Advisor/Consultant for MaxKnowledge. I write courses that assist in the professional development of career college instructors. These courses range in content from the introductory level to advanced instructional development. I started my teaching career as an instructional technology teacher on the high school level, completed graduate school and then moved into higher education. I spent many years in the area of teacher training at the University of Nebraska. While at the University of Nebraska I stared working with career college instructors to improve their instructional delivery skills. As a result of these experiences I have been a consultant to career colleges throughout the United States and a number of foreign countries.

Activity

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Critical Thinker Characteristics

Mark, Like your thinking style and thought process. I come from a background that involves ranching and construction work. In those situations common sense and fore thought were essential if we were to be successful. We need to provide our students experiences that help them see the value of self discipline and personal effort as it relates to career success. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Effective Motivation Techniques

Harry, Stories like those you are sharing help to make the course content come alive. You are demonstrating via the stories the value of the content and what the ROI is for students if they are willing to put forth the needed effort. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Instructor REFOCUS

Nieva, Good way to give everyone a mini-break and let students reset their brains and refresh their thinking processes. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Using Reflective Thinking

Eddie, This is critical in the problem solving process. This is how solutions are identified and problems solved. We can't just grab onto the first idea we come up with and hope it is the right one. We need to reflect and analyze the possibilities and then decide just as you mentioned. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Teaching to Multiple Intelligences

Walt, You make a key point about using different instructional deliveries in your classroom. By rotating them you will be appealing to the different learning preferences of your students and this helps them to stay engaged and moving forward in their learning. Good strategy to follow. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Effective Motivation Techniques

Leslie, Passion for one's field and enthusiasm for teaching about it goes a long way in getting students engaged in the learning process. Plus with these two elements in place you are a model for someone in your career field and that helps students see where they can take themselves once they graduate. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Effective Motivation Techniques

Christine, I am a big fan of using games as review devices. My student love game time for review. Their favorite is Jeopardy. We cover a lot of content and they start to realize that they in fact have learned a lot of information since the last test. Also, they love being in teams and competing for rewards such a pieces of candy. We instructors need to remember that adults are just taller children. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Instructor REFOCUS

Brenda, Well said because as you have said teaching does take a lot out of us both physically as well as emotionally. We are impacting the lives and future success of our students so we need to be at the top of our game each and every time we interact with them. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Developing Student Rapport

Harry, Trust and respect are the foundational elements needed to develop rapport with students. It is so rewarding when we get to the rapport stage and we are able to interact with students at this level. This is what makes teaching fun. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Feeling Accepted Helps with Success

Gary, Thank you for sharing your story with us. You are an inspiration because you were able to focus on being in the college environment and you were successful. If we can get our older students to see that they are being years of experience into the classroom and that in fact they can be successful then we can help them build their self confidence which leads to success. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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