By knowing the backrounds of your students you can formulate material that they can more easily relate to. This makes their learning experience more enjoyable and helps keep them motivated.
This helps us to better adjust ourselves to an individuals learning style. So we can get the message across to a wider variety of people.
If you get to understand the learning characteristics of the students, it will assist you in developing a series of tasks fopr each student
Carol,
I suppose that is where the diversity in the classroom comes into play. As I have read in other posts, I think it helps to have more than one activity planned to suit many different learners in one sitting. For instance, we can lecture for a few minutes, then do a group activity, then discuss or complete worksheets, etc. I remember, when training for teaching, learning that students' attention spans (high school) are often no more than 12 minutes, and we were 'taught' to switch modes every 10-15 minutes or so. That is not necessarily true for the college student or the online learner, but maybe changing the formats regularly helps all involved (and keeps the excitement in the courses for us, too)!
Andrea
We also give advance standing tests at our school. I agree with you that some students are surprised they did not pass the test, but are glad they took the class in the end.
Carol Silvis
I feel if you know what type of learners you are dealing with, you can plan lessons to meet their needs. For instance, if you have a visual learner but have planned a "lecture only" lesson, that person may not get all the information you intended him/her to have. It would be better in that case to provide handouts or PowerPoint slides with the lecture.
Carol
Ron,
I enjoyed reading your response. I think the different students (adult vs. younger groups) definitely bring out the individuality of our teaching. I find, though, that adult students test just as much as the others - but maybe in different ways. The older students definitely want a format, they want to understand the assignment, but I have found that they also enjoy further clarification and like to talk to me about ideas and concepts presented in assignments, whereas younger students seem to want information and "test" me to see how much I will "bend" and modify assignments for them. Each day is a challenge; I have found I definitely need to have my own ideas clear before I can try to explain it to students - and, if I don't, often talking about requirements in class helps to clarify.
Andrea
I enjoy teaching the adult students better because I feel that they are not testing me. In reading through the 1st module I am beginning to understand that the differences in learning between the younger students and the older adult students may be in the way I percieve the younger students questioning. Because I have to spell out my instructions in a time consuming finer detail I percieve that the younger student is trying to waste my valuable time. The more adult student requires less time for explanation and follows instruction more readily. I still don't fully understand all that I have read as I related it to my students but some ideas are becoming more apparent. I interpet that with more understanding of the differences between the students a better understanding of how I can reach the more difficult student will be more apt to present itself. Also understanding the differences between the students and myself may lead to a better communication of ideas.
Understanding our learners helps us to determine HOW we should teach course material. I know I always have a plan in my head, and, when I started teaching initially, I stuck to that plan pretty well. The result? My students learned, but did not enjoy themselves or really enjoy my teaching. Since then, I have modified my approach to get to know the students themselves. I ask about their lives, their jobs, their other courses, etc. - anything that will let them know I really do care. Then, I always try to incorporate what my students tell me into lessons (or examples) during discussion and lecture. I think, sometimes, because they never know what I will say next, they all pay attention!
I will give a pretest to see who has some experance in the field for this phase of learning. I will also look closely at the first test we take & see who might need help.
When you understand your learners, you can understand how you need to teach. A teacher is only truly effective if they understand the needs of the students. When they understand the needs of the students then they can adapt their teaching style to make an attempt to teach to all learning styles. They can also make an attempt to learn personalities of the studnets so that when they attempt to show the benefit of the lesson to the studnet they will have a better connection to their class.
This is so true. We have students say they are really good at English and choose to take a test in order to avoid the class. They often do not pass the test because it covers the things they will learn in our course that are specifically tailored to what they need to know to efficiently perform on this job. They will find that perhaps they don't know everything they will be expected to know after all. Some just need to take the course because they have been out of school for a while and need a refresher.
Hi Sandy,
I know you are challenged by being asked to retain students even when they are not meeting standards. I am a firm believer if doing all you can to keep students in classes. That means support, learning strategies, etc. I also believe we have to maintain the level of standards that reflect the business or industry in which we are training individuals. To not do so will quickly doom your program and college. A few students that are not prepared or do not pass state/national boards will reflect on the college that these students of caliber to be employed.
I don't have a quick fix for this situation but I do know that maintaining the standards is a must. In addition, you can look for ways of providing supports for your students. Such things as structured outlines, guided notes, and graphic organizers are a few of the things you can try. These efforts should result in better student retention as well as better student performance.
Gary
Hi Sandra,
This is a very common problem when teaching adult learners online. This is because they need the additional input of support so they can feel comfortable with the progress they are making in the course. A strategy that may help this is to give them an assignment early on that will assure them of success. This assignment should be simple and short of duration so they can see that they will have success in the course and with you. As they ask more of your time you can sight the example of their success and assure them that they will do fine in the course if they continue working at the level they are. If they are below the expectations of the course you can concentrate your time on these students and get them up to the standard.
We are still refining the techniques of teaching online courses so please share any strategies that you have found that have helped you to do a better job with your students. Thanks.
Gary
Gary wrote: If you and your college start to reduce the requirements and standards there soon will be problems due to the fact that your students are not trained to business/industry standards.
Sometimes I find myself being pulled in two different directions: one by the need to ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge needed to succeed from the course concepts/activities and the other by the requirement to retain numbers of students. Many times we, as faculty, are told not to lower school standards on the one hand and then we are called to account for why adult students who do not respond to outreach are dropping out of class and while I do understand that faculty play a pivotal role in this process I do find it extremely frustrating to feel compelled to "pass" a non-performing adult student :( Advice? Tips?
Sandy
Ana, do you find that teaching adult learners "extends" your working hours beyond what you would normally expect to spend in an in-classroom setting? I find that my online adult learners, many times, require much more of my time than do physical classroom learners.
Sandy
10/3/08
Pamela wrote: we also teach alot of adults that have worked for a long time, but sometimes don't think they need some of the classes required. There are test-out tests, and some pass them with flying colors. Others who do not are disappointed at first, but in the class they find things that they didn't know that they could do with Word or Excel. Some had only been typing or entering numbers without all the other features that could make their computer lives easier. In the end, those students are so glad they took the courses. That new knowledge also boosts their confidence like they never dreamed.
Pamela, I teach both for-credit courses and adult extended education courses that are for self-satisfaction and I find that student frustrations are generally higher in the for-credit courses because the student "resents" being "graded" or evaluated: many times it is due to the fact that these adult learners have not had their writing "critiqued" in a number of years and now they are supervisors and they really become irate at having their writing abilities critiqued at all: they know that they must comply with academic formatting requirements but they really do not have the time to sit down and dig into learning the rules but they want to be only obliquely reminded and then graded as if academic formatting rules don't matter---this is the most troublesome point of contention that I have ever faced :( Advice? Tips?
Sandy
I think so you have all differant kinds of aproaches to use.
Hi David,
Good job in transferring the different learning preferences of students from the lecture setting to the lab setting since this is where the bulk of time is spent. As you have seen you will start to see how individual respond to using different methods to explain things to them while they are in the lab. Good teaching is the same no matter where the location might be.
Gary
If you know their learning styles, habits, and how they have conducted themselves in previous class, it would help you to plan on all the learning styles, and characteristics of most of the students before they come into your class. The better prepaired the instructor is the better the class will be. It may not be possible for the instructor to find out how the students conducted themselves in another class, but you can talk to other instructors about them, and get a feel for them.
