I am just starting my career as an instructor and have found this course to be very helpful thus far. I wanted to thank you for your post because I believe this is an amazing idea and will work great for the course I am instructing. This strategy will not only be helpful for the students but will be helpful to me. I can gain ideas from the interactions between the students.
I am a brand new instructor (I'm only on my third week). I am a nurse teaching future CNAs. My course is only four weeks with lots of important material to cover. Most of the material is completely foreign to the students. In the four weeks I have with my class, the students must be able to take what they've learned and pass State Boards to earn their Certification before they can work in the field as a CNA. Becoming a CNA will likely be a totally new world for my students. They will have a chance to change their lives and the lives of others - the people they will be caring for. I believe this alone is a huge motivator. I am lucky from the start because of the career path these students have chosen to take. My ability to share the magic of caring for someone and to reinforce why they wanted to be a CNA in the first place will hopefully make for highly excited and motivated students.
Callie,
Asking questions of students is a way of showing respect because you are showing that you are interested in them and are willing to listen to what they say. This is the way rapport is developed and student growth encouraged.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I think its important to ask questions. Find out why the student is in this course, what are their expectations, what interests them and even how they learn. Knowing your students will help an Instructor present information where students are engaged and excited about what they're learning.
Wes,
Good point and one that sells to students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
By being motivated ourselves, enthusiastic in what we are teaching must come first!:)
THanks that is a great idea i will try it!
Juno,
I did a quick search in order to be able to answer your question and I came up with a number of possible sources. One that I read and think really captures the essence of the ARCS model is the article by the professors from Syracuse.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Juno,
Is it possible to put some of the decision making part of the content into case studies? You could present the content for 15-20 minutes and then do a case study where they make application of what has just been covered. This way they can start to develop their critical thinking and problem solving skills while seeing the relevance of what is being taught.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Any books or websites you recommend to learn more about the Keller's ARCS activation model?
this sounds perfect for my subject matter.
thanks
This is my first time teaching adults, I teach Audio engineering, and i have a very diverse set of students. Being a engineering class that requires technical concepts to be clear in order for the hands on laboratories to be completed correctly. I have tried different approaches from Lecture ,example to Audiovisual aids. None the less i feel is challenging to maintain attention when it comes down to theory. Most of my students are looking for a clear cut instruction of what to do. But the subject matter requires to analyze each project on its own and apply the theory to determine the best course of action. It is definitely not clear cut. So as a result i feel some of my students are lost when i can not offer a "correct" , "incorrect" answer or a step by step solution. Any suggestions on how to maintain motivation when delivering concepts ?
Steve,
What are some of the other motivators you use with your students?
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
tell them about all the different cities in the usa you that you have worked in and the money you have made as a welder.
Scott,
Like all of the advantages of this instructional strategy that you list. All of them make for more engaged students. By bringing in your examples of what you do in the field you are showing both the relevance of the content as well as the application of the skills that are needed in your field. This is where your street cred and respect is created.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
As a part-time instructor and freelancer in my field, I enjoy bringing in the projects that I work on outside of the class to demonstrate to the students that the materials we cover aren't just "things you need to know for a test." The course material we cover has great significance and application in the real world.
I believe this gives credibility to some of the more mundane subjects in the course, and it gives the students an opportunity to dabble with actual projects... not just classroom, laboratory kind of stuff.
As a newbie instructor, I'm learning that this also gives me some street cred with some of the tougher students!
Edgar,
Adults need to feel a sense of empowerment in their decision to be in school and expand their career potential. Many adults are concerned that upon returning to school they will fail because they cannot compete with younger students. It is important to help them have early success in the class and develop self confidence in their ability to use their life experiences to help them move through the material. With early course success their motivation level increases because they see that their hard work and self discipline is paying off.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Dr. Meers:
This can be challenging depending on the subject matter; however I believe if one is passionate about the subject matter that can serve to motivate the studens. According to Thornton, Mattocks, and Thornton (2001, p. 1)"we live in a rapidly changing society that requires its members to be engaged in continuous learning. Educators must develop empowered learners with spirit of ownership, responsibility, teamwork, and autonomy. This article explores the interactive relationship between proactive instruction and the empowerment of adult learners, asserting that learner empowerment is a key to learner success. Instructional skills must be developed and artfully used to empower adult learners. Accordingly, various methods and approaches to promote proactive collaborative involvement of learners are presented".
Your thoughts
Thornton, B., Mattocks, ,T.C., & Thornton, L. (2001). Empowerment: A method of motivating adult learners. Journal of Adult Education, 29(1), 1-10. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/204582814?accountid=35812
WAEL,
Your approach is helping to make the course content come alive and have value to the students. Each one can personalize the content in relation to their life outside of the classroom or lab. This is when they start to see the ROI in relation to being enrolled in the course.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Students learn more when they are involved in their education and have opportunities to think about and apply what they are learning in the classroom. I use examples related to my students carrers. In many classes, one of my assignment will be (For the next seven days, apply what we have learned here to five situation your life or jobs. I found this assignment to increase the motivation and keep the students involved.
Deborah,
You are on the right track with your strategies. Keep up the good work. A suggestion I would have is to see if you could develop some activities or find some examples of how Spanish has been used in the workplace that are interesting or beneficial. Maybe even some case studies or role playing. This way they can attach even more value to the course and they reason they are in the class.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
