These are real world, daily, on the job skills that students will need in their career. How can they follow or convey instructions to clients/co-workers if communication skills are horrible? How can one administer life saving drugs if one cannot determine how much is necessary to give? How can a person brush up on a technique (new or old) if they don't understand the reference text? How can a professional intereact at national conferences when the discussion topic seems like a foreign language to them? I remind my students of this often.
Hi Brooke, Thanks for your post to the forum. Yes, the more information that we have about our students skills the better we will be able to teach them. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
These are the basis of everything and these should all be assessed so that the instructor knows where each student is at.
Hi Sherry, Thanks for your post to the forum. Students do sometimes question why they need to have the Gen Ed skills since they are going into very specific skill based fields. As you mention, those Gen Ed skills are often a base that is vital for success in those fields. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
It is extremely important because if they don't have this concrete basis of ideas and understanding, they won't be able to "handle" the more difficult and intense curriculum their programs require.
These are foundation courses for technical or skilled (hands-on) classes. For example, college math is generally taken before a student enrolls in a pharmacology class. Math is a major component in a phamacology class in calculating doses. Had the student not successfully completed the math course first, then the student might have been set up for failure in pharmacology.
Without assessment of general education skills such as reading, written communication, and math skills, instructors will not be able to determine student ability of more in depth topics. Also, in order for students to gain a deeper understanding of specific teacher hot points, basic reading and writing skills are needed. This is also a great way for teachers to assess progress throughout a course.
Hi Deborah, Thanks for a very well written description of the impact of the lack of general education skills in most career college settings. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
Hi Marie, Thanks for your post to the forum. Yes, it is really shocking how many students we see who are lacking basic skills. We can only do our best in the short time they are with us to try to offer remediation. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
Assessment of genreal education skills is very important. In our particular situation though, the assessments are left up to the instructors as our students do not take any kind of pre-assessment prior to admissions. this makes it very hard on the instructor because we never really know the level of the students basic skill set until they are in the classroom and then it is up to us to remediate them. Problem is, we are instructors/experts in our fields. We are not licensed teachers, so we really do not have the skills to test or remediate general educations skills. Most of us just go by what we have either learned through faculty development or by how we work with our ouwn children. it is not a very effective way to do it, but it is what we have to work with.
while many of my students are very sharp people and chose a career college because it is the only vet tech program in the area, there are many who chose a career college because they could not get into a traditional college. I have students who really have not learned much during their public school years. I teach both math and psych and have learned that I cannot assume that students know how to write with proper grammar and spelling or that they know how to work with mathematical concepts (even concepts like zero and negative numbers). They need these skills (communication and problem solving) to not only participate in the American work force, but also to particpate in our democracy.
Assessing in these areas gives the instructor a clear pictures of a students strengths and weakness. Knowing this upfront helps the instructor to better meet the needs of students.
All of these general education skills are important to students because they will use them and most likely be evaluated by employers based on these skills. Their success in their career field largely depends on their ability to communicate verbally and in writing, get along with other employees and various other general skills that can be learned and developed in the classroom.
Beacause these are liftime skills that the students will need to have successful careers.
Hi Evelyn, You said it exactly! We actually bring employers in to speak to our students and tell them how important those skills are. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
Hi Stephen, Thanks for your post to the forum. I agree - the more information we have about out students abilities, the better we can plan how to teach them. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
These are basic skills. Not all students are strong readers or in communication. Also in math, students need to be evaluated to see where they are at and where they need to be. Writing skills are important, because we have to be able to read what they write. If they are weak in these areas they will struggle, if they aren't addressed and delt with.
It gives instructors a baseline of their students skills. It helps the instructor decide what type of foundation needs to be laid down for successful learning in the classroom.
It is so important for students to have general skills such as reading, communication and math. These skills are essential not only in the work place but in life and students will need to know these basics in order to be successful. Employers will look for not only job specific skills but general education skills as well when deciding to hire an employee.
Having a baseline of a student's comprehension and communication abilities is very important when answering or formulating questions. It's much more difficult to be successful as an instructor when working with students with several learning disabilities. It often takes several applications or demonstrations to get a concept to take hold. I try to have more than one real life example outlined in my lecture for every learning point I am covering. One of my greatest challenges as an instructor is to balance the discussions so everyone in the class is included.
