It's important to understand how the students learn. If they learn best by seeing visuals then it's important to be able to incorporate visuals in your program.
Vanessa,
The more you know about students the more accurately you can provide support to them. As a result you can target your instruction to be of maximum support to the learning preferences of your students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Elmer,
So true and so important to their educational success.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Understanding learner characteristics is really important for them to succeed, type of population, age, personal issues, etc. All of them are important and should receive specific attention by the instructor.
By understanding my students learning process and incorporating this into my lesson planning will help me be able to relate to all of the students instead of just one or two. When using different teaching methods during the class time you keep students engaged in the classroom instead of wondering off.
Understanding how students learn guides the instructor in preparing course material to best suit the needs of the students. By tailoring lesson plans you support the students learning needs and help them to be successful in the course. You can also make the necessary accomodations if a student has a disability or other special need.
It gives the student a sense of being and congruency. This allows for acceptance and engagment to take place.
I agree, students need to be supported by showing that they can progress, regardless of their age or any other attribute.
Nicole,
This is such an important part of instructional planning. By knowing about our students we can customize our instruction for them at they point they are within the course.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Understanding learner characteristics with our diverse population of students helps us to establish different learning techniques and helps to adjust those techniques for different classes.
Natalie,
Right you are. The more an instructor knows about the students being taught the easier it is to develop instructional delivery formats that will appeal to their learning preferences.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Understanding learner characteristics helps to aid Instructors or course facilitators in their approacch to teaching the curriculum. When an Instructor is aware of the diverse characteristics of their audience, this also propels them to be able to reach all learning styles, thus providing a conducive learning environment for all students.
Understanding how each of my students learns helps me to successfully relate to them. I understand how each of my students learns and retains information in very different ways. Even for myself when I am teaching a specific subject I like to use different ways of showing the information, powerpoint, handouts ,lectures and actually letting the students participate in a hands on demonstration. It is important to keep the students engaged and focused that way they retain the information you are teaching them.
Sharyl,
Your analysis is right on in terms of how diverse learning groups operate. This diversity really challenges us as we do our instructional planning and so as we do our planning we need to seek common areas if they exist from which we can help the students operate. It is an ongoing effort for sure. We need to continue to share our efforts with other educators so collectively we can identify the best practices to use in settings like this.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Age and cultural differences can be challenging as well as how long they have been out of school.
One other situation encountered in my class has been how they were educated prior to this class, some have traditional public education, some charter school, and more now than before, home schooling. Each comes with different "issues". I have found my home schooled students are self motivating, but do not know how to interact with other, no matter what age. The charter school students wish to work ahead or behind the rest of the class as they feel they need, and the traditional students just want to learn what is on the exam. The privet school students have high expectations of the facility and the equipment. On basic learning they are highest, but have been spoon fed so much it is at times hard to get them to become self starters. Somewhere, as instructors we need to put all of them on a different plan, one that fits the course study and yet one none of them have experience before. The longer I teach, the harder it is to plan an effective plan to teach this diverse group, as far as educational background is concerned.
Micki,
Glad you can see the value of the content that is being shared. To bad you are not just getting access to it and after acquiring your expertise through you on the job teaching efforts. I wish you continue teaching success.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I wish I had taken this course prior to being faced with some of the challenges I've had over the years. It might have made things easier for myself and the student.
Understanding learner characteristics has proven to be a challenge for me in the past, but have worked hard to overcome these challenges. One of my greatest challenges was trying to teach a course to students that spoke no English. I drew upon the community to find assistance for the students to take some free English lessons, and then re-enroll in the class. Once they had taken these few lessons, they were excited to finally be able to participate with others in the classroom.
Understanding learner characteristics assist me in identifying meaningful activities and learning opportunities that will appeal to the diverse learner.
Sonya,
Good method to follow. The more you know about your students the more accurately you can plan for their learning preferences. This becomes a winning situation for everyone.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
