Donna,
I agree that large class sizes can make it difficult to interact with all of the students. I find that using the student online discussion board, is an effective way to provide the students with an opportunity to express themselves and relate to the content. In the discussion boards, it is great to hear comments from students that do not verbally participate in class.
Tremayne Simpson
Getting to know your students is very important but with our class size, it takes a while. Learning styles vary considerably with adults. I try to take tht into consideration when I do lessons plans. It is always best to use visuals, and hands on with any lesson to keep it interesting.
When creating lesson plans that engage various learning styles it is important to consider differntiated instruction. One must develop a plan that engages the visual, auditory, and tactile learner. Indeed there are additional learning styles, yet accounting for the aforementioned should diversify the classroom enough to engage the majority of learners.
Miriam,
I agree. Students tend to learn more about themselves (in general), once they understand what type of learner they are.
Tremayne Simpson
Completely understand. I know when I returned to school my instructor asked me what type of learner and all I could think of was..."a good learner (?)"...I found that being shown that there are different ways to learn helped me to improve my skills as a student so it actually becomes a useful piece of knowledge for students to have in the future.
Miriam,
I have also tried this technic, however on many occasions, I have had to provide an impromptu lecture on the types of learning styles to my students. In my experience, I've noticed that there are many students that have not taking a learning style analysis and are not familiar with the terminology.
Tremayne Simpson
I teach small classes so I ask the students on the first day if they know what type of learner they are: visual, auditory, or kinesthetic...maybe a combination. I have a resources that allow me to teach the material in any type of learning style so I know the material I will teach the only thing that will change is the method of delivery.
I review the objectives of the course and implement a lesson plan that will include all of the subjects listed.
Rejandra,
Do you ever have students that say that they are not motivated to take class, however they enrolled "because it was required"? If so, how do you address these students.
Tremayne Simpson
At the beginning of each new start I have students tell me about themselves, what their motivations are for taking the class. I then present the information and use items to pass around the room and use open questioning. I encourage note taking and questions.
Mary,
What presentation methods do you use to adhere to these learning styles, consistently each class session?
Tremayne Simpson
To respond to all the different learning styles in my classroom, I present the material in a variety of ways. I try and stimulate their visual, auditory and tactile senses quite frequently.
jim,
Providing your students with additional resources is an excellent way to adhere to varying learning styles. In addition, interesting resources can increase their enthusiasm for the subject.
Tremayne Simpson
I am a Mathematics Professor. I also use the internet resources such as khanacademyand Youtube to show different methods to solve similar problems and to give applications to what is being learned. The students always want to know why am I learning this!
Diane,
These are great methods for accomodating various learning styles. In addition, using initiative in your methods can diversify your instructional approach. Using multiple formats can also increase the student enthusiasm and perception of the course.
Tremayne Simpson
I try to incorporate something for all the learning styles in my lesson plans. Sometimes if a student that is an Auditory learner isn't clear on an objective, when they see it presented visually it helps clear it up for them. By presenting the necessary objectives in multiple formats, I believe the student has the opportunity to have that objective reinforced. I also feel that feedback from the students is another good way to determine where they may need help as well as in which format to deliver it.
I tried to applied several learning techniques. I do Power Point and demos for the visual learner I also do hand outs and study guides for those that learn better like that.
Joel,
I agree with your statement. What are some of the methods that you use to implement multi-sensory activities, in your course?
Tremayne Simpson
Make sure each lesson involves a multi-sensory approach including visual, auditory and tacticle intermingled activitites.
Dan,
I also make sure to assign collaborative activities, whenever possible. Within the small groups, students are able to actively "brainstorm" and find collective ways to apply the information that they have learned.
Tremayne Simpson
