I have found that providing real world application examples and sharing stories from my own personal or professional application of the content helps students make the relevancy connection.
I bring into the class "real world" examples and some how relate those instances to their generation and environment.
I try to make learning relavent by applying the techniques that I am teaching. If the students dont belive that the infomation is relavant to their daily lives then they are less likely to absorb it.
I look for ways to bring culinary experiences into the classes and I take time to prepare most of the examples I use in class so that they relate to the culinary world. I enjoy seeing the 'aha' moments when the students get it through this course. I invite students to share their expereinces and I simulate real life occurr.
I think it is important to get to know your students and build a rapport with them at the very beginning of the class. This helps them feel more comfortable with you and also reveals pertinent information for the instructor to make the course relevant for the students.
A question as simple as "have you experienced something like this before" allows for free expression and collaboration between instructor and learner.
for me i always emphasize the importance of passion, attention to detail, implementation of cooking technics this i find that motivates them and they seem to absorb all the information more easily
I believe that variety is a key word to any answer you might receive for this question. Teaching would be a minimum wage job if you only had to use one teaching method to get every student to understand the topic. A variety of teachng styles and a variety of personal actions(energy, excitement, enthusiasm, etc) by the teacher are necessary to keep all students involved.
I am still involved in the industry in which I instruct; I find it necessary daily to relate course material into real world situations.
I find it absolutely crucial to relate course content to the industry needs that way students can easily understand course continuity and relevance.
The importance of allowing the time for introductions of all the members of the class and the instructor; this lays the ground work for communication, understanding and respect for everyone's experience.
I really think role plays are excellent. I am an English instructor but I am sure there is some way I can introduce role plays.
Margaret Bennett
The needs and expectations are a basis for relevant instruction because they will be looking to learn the material that they have decided is important to them.
Pre-tests are a good way of making them relevant. Here we use pre-tests and have the students put their names on them. At the end of the course, we issue a post-test so they can see their improvement and how mucht hey have gotten out of the course.
We also use role-plays in our management courses and other interactive discusion and presentation exercises that help the students practically apply what they have learned theoretically.
By understanding and establishing the goals of the adult learners in my class, I can better develop an instructional method that is geared toward achieving those goals while simultaneously imparting my knowledge of the topics at hand. I plan to continually solicit feedback from my students and to keep a positive outlook at all times to help encourage continued learning.
A specific way to make your instruction relevant is to learn as much about your students as possible. This means we need to know what jobs they currently have, where they plan to go in their careers, and what challenges they are facing now.
I will always try to cue into what type of style, visuals, examples classes rspond to and alter my teaching to that. Nothing is worse than being bored teaching.
When teaching to adult learners I definitely need to make the process relevant to what the students want to learn. By creating relevance to the program I keep the learners focused on the course.
Hi Aaron,
This is a great way to approach skill development in this area. Thank you for sharing it with us. The example is great and gives me new perspective on how things are described in relation to their appeal.
Gary
I really like the idea of service learning or application of skills outside the classroom. I've given much thought to the idea of including a service learning element to my courses. Until I find a way to incorporate service learning into my course, I will stick to mini-lectures paired with in-class application puzzles.
My in-class application puzzles approach real-life situations where the skills learned in class would come in handy. It is my hope that adult learners, who are expectation and outlook focused, will be able to connect the application puzzles to their chosen careers (and thus find relevance in my course).
For example, from my English course, during descriptive language, I and out jellybeans and slit the class into 4 groups (4 flavors). Each group must use what I have lectured on (simile, metaphor, etc.) to describe the flavor of the jellybean without using a 'named' flavor. I tend to give my students a hint: If I read on a menu, "Tequila and Orange Juice," I'd likely pass; but if I read, "Mexican Sunrise," I might be persuaded to see if the drink lives up to the suggested vacation.
This exercise is to help my students see the relevance in descriptive language use, and how they could apply it in their chosen field.
When i am giving instruction on the assembly of of a lower end of a harley engine, I first go over the power point and explain the key points of assembly,then I will go right into a demo and have them participate in it. this way they are seeing and doing which seems to make the project revelant to them.
John, That certainly sounds like an effective motivation!
Julie
