Jay Hollowell

One of The Lounge participants, Stacy Slabaugh, recently commented in a blog, regarding one of the CEE courses she completed, "...helps keep me as an instructor reminded of my responsibilities toward my students instead of getting lost on the students' responsibilities to my class." This started me thinking about what we call the "learning partnership." 

Indeed, adult learners and their instructors should create learning partnerships where outcomes are identified and responsibilities, on both the student's and instructor's parts, are clearly defined, aligned and communicated.

As Faculty Coaches, I would be interested in hearing any comments or observations about perceptions of… >>>

Steven Moore, in his discussion topic "Chef Instructor" in The Lounge, raises an excellent point about the potential predispositions students may have about a particular subject and/or class, and how those predispositions may sometimes create challenges in motivation. Steven suggests that utilizing different teaching and learning styles can help.

One technique that I have used is to have students in a new, or first, class create, based on their interests and expectations, their own learning objectives for the course (with guidance). I then introduce the established learning objectives and integrate the students' input into them. Typically, even though there may… >>>

Dr. Sandy Gecewicz, in a comment on Patricia Scales's blog, "A Student's Learning Style, said, "Students today need a different approach than many of the teachers had when they went to school.  I am interested in not only addressing the individual learning styles but to show instructors how to approach the different generations as they all learn differently..." This reminded me that the way we learn is not only affected by our different modalities, but by generational differences as well. Instructors have often commented on the various makeups of their student populations - it is not unusual, for example, to… >>>

I read a blog post recently from RK Selmon, entitled "Professional Development: A Life Learner Activity." Thank you so much RK, I couldn't have said it better myself!

As Faculty Coaches, one of the points we might emphasize to our instructors is that faculty development and professional growth are focal points in the lifelong learning process. Though CEUs are important to ongoing credentials, thet are only one piece of the development pie. The lifelong learning process itself is a natural part of every educator's genre.

As RK mentioned, "Advancements via online portals have made it most convenient for educators and professionals to receive quality and… >>>

A recent blogger, Mark Anderson, in reference to the online course he had completed, commented, "I really enjoyed the training. It is so relevant to what I am currently doing in my career at the moment." This started me thinking about "relevance" in the eyes of the adult learners in our classrooms and labs regarding the skills and concepts they are mastering in their training and educational programs. 

Learners must see relevance - not, "this is what you need to know," but "this is how what you learn will help you accomplish your career objectives."

As Faculty Coaches in our… >>>