Lisa,
I commend you for customizing effort. You are connecting the content to the focus of each student. This way they will see both value and relevance to what they are learning.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I remember when I was in college, how frustrated I was with much of what we were learning. So much of my education was irrevelant to my goals. I was in nursing school and had an instructor who loved OB nursing, I did not and had no intention of being an OB nurse. She brought all the class content around to this speciality. I needed the information, but she never made it relevant to my goals so I often disengaged.
When I start a new class I ask my students what kind of nursing they are looking to and what thier expectations of me are.
I am teaching at a career college, I need to connect the content to the hands on and actual clinical practice for the students to see the relevancy. This done by sharing my own clinical experience, clinical simulation, and case scenarios
the students need to know that what they are being taught is necessary content for them to be successful in their careers and in nursing to be successful to get a license
Jane,
Application of content tied directly to career growth is very important. You make a good point about how this needs to be done right from the beginning.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I think that by clearly outlining the ways in which your course is relevant to either their lives, or their careers, at the very beginning of of the course is very important. You might point out how each objective or content point in the course is relevant to their careers. Or, as you're going along in the course, interject, your own professional experiences via anectdotes or stories so that they know this is relevant to the real world.
Jane,
I understand clearly. I teach a required foundational course and it is always a challenge to get them to see value from what I am teaching as opposed to just meeting a requirement. I like teaching this course because I have to work hard at being creative and convincing them that in spite of their ideas about the course at the beginning they are going to learning information that will be of help to them. Always a great feeling when I have them say at the end of the course that the information was interesting and they really learned something.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I teach Introduction to Psychology. It is usually not very hard to get students to see how psychology is relevant to their lives. But, I do find that the biggest obstacle to their learning in my class is pre-conceived ideas and (erroneous) background knowledge they have gotten from other sources. Everyone has an "opinion" about many psychological topics, whether or not they are educated about it, so I think that the most important part of my job is to help students identify fact from fiction.
Andrew,
You are "connecting the dots" for the students. By you showing them real world applications you are making the course content relevant in their minds. They see an ROI to all of their efforts.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Suzanne,
Anytime you can offer application and relevancy in your instructional approach you are helping your students to see the value of what you are teaching. Live work on the shelter animals gives direct experience that shows the students the ROI that they are getting from their efforts.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I have recently started running workshops for students. I have found that they are far more interested in learning new technologies when I tell them the real world applications for these new technologies such as Access.
Students need to feel that the information is relevant. With my classes, we do work on shelter animals so that the students get an idea of what their role will be as a veterinary technician.
Teaching adult learners can be challenging due to their needs and expectations; different learning styles etc. It is important to ensure that the material being taught is relevant towards their growth and development.
Therefore, I try to always demonstrate the relevancy of the material by sharing my professional expertise performing that particular task. This process shows the students how to apply the application. It also creates a level of enthusiasm for the students to want to learn more about the chosen field.
Letting students tailor some of the assignments to their own interests can help make them more relevant to each learner. As the content expert, the instructor should be able guide the learner based on their own intended career goals and interests while ensuring the learner is not going off into territory that has become obsolete or irrelevant.
With the adult learners educational needs and expectations in mind, an instructor like myself can create the ideal framework for any college course and day-to-day classroom organization.
Helping the student find relevance in the course content each day is a good goal for instruction. Review concepts from the class before, identifying key concepts of the day’s content, and helping the students make connections to everyday application of these concepts will help to address the needs of the adult learning.
I try to identify each students background on the first day even a prequiz helps establish the overall level of instruction.This is most important when dealing with adult learners because they typiclly have a much broader range of experience than the average student
This is so true, it has to be valuable knowledge.
Lenore,
It is critical for assignments to be relevant and have application. You are bringing both of these elements into your assignments with your approach. You are showing them the ROI that is coming their way if they are successful in your course.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Regardless of the course, students resent "busy work" and as adult students they are very good at recognizing it and "calling a teacher out" for it. Some students are juggling family, jobs AND school - they don't have time to do an assignment "just because". I have the students of certain programs in the General Education portion - 20 weeks prior to beginning their chosen course of study. I relate English Comp to what they will experience in their course work, how they are perscived by their fellow workers (poor English speaking sounds as if they are not "Educated". Their research paper in assigned to them and are pathological conditions from their major field. They share these as an expectation of diseases they will be dealing with in their field.
By knowing their needs constantly looking for ways to meet these expectations. Also by showing them how their expectations are met that will increase their motivations. E.g Well defined curriculum recognitions of achievements and friendly and helpful.
