Hi Husham,
You make a good point about you and your students being a learning team. The more you all can exchange information, grow in your knowledge and professional development the stronger you all will be at the end of the course. Keep up the good work.
Gary
Hi Holly,
Good for you. These students are still trying to see if they have made the right choice in terms of a career and the more career counseling you can provide the better informed they will be in terms of that choice. This way they will be more confident that they have made the right choice and that they are going to be successful in their chosen career.
Gary
Hi James,
This is a good point. By knowing this information you are able to customize some of the instruction to better meet the needs of certain students. This helps them to feel more a part of the course and that they can be successful in it.
Gary
I think that my students and me make one team of communication that I can help them in any information they need and according to their age,experience,and level they can share my plan processing.When I was in my native country I was a prof in the dental college and my students helped me to share my plan of instructions. Now, in this school I have different student level,age,and behaviour and I think that I always need their participation to get my goals.
There is a difference in the way that I interact with students who have enrolled because they want to change careers and the students who are still unsure of what they really want to do. With a group of students who are unsure, I need to spend more time explaining the application of things they are learning in the class.
When you know the reason your students have enrolled in your class you can find an easier way to teach them. if an older student wants more knowlege in his field you can skip some of the basics and make the lessons more interesting.
Hi Drexel,
By knowing their motivation you can develop strategies for keeping them excited about the course and moving forward toward their career goals. This is an essential part of offering instructional support.
Gary
Knowing why students enroll in a specific program helps with motivation in the classroom. You get to see what drives the students and discover specific areas that they are passionate about. An instructor can then be sure to relate industry specific ideas and skills to why a student is enrolled in the given program.
knowing why there here helps me stay fouced on teaching them the skills they need to ferther there goals.
I think that sometimes it helps to know what their motivation is in taking your course.
Hi Ronald,
The older students have so many life experiences that they can fall back on to relate to the courses they are taking while the younger students are looking for more information to confirm that they have made the right career choice. By blending the two groups you will have an opportunity to help them share their experiences and challenges with each other so both groups can benefit from learning from each other.
Gary
I instruct at a technical institute also, the younger students I deal with are always asking about what it was like in the field, I answer them as accurately as possable.The older students for the most part are ex milatary,the students need to be encouraged that they are getting what they signed up for.
Hi Charles,
I can really appreciate what you are experiencing with your students and the subject you teach. I teach required courses as well and they are a challenge when it comes to getting the students invested in the courses. Is it possible to develop writing exercises around the different career areas the students are entering? This way they can see exactly how important good communication skills are going to be for them.
Gary
Teaching composition to students who are focused on preparing for careers offers some different challenges. The college has decided, rightly so, that writing effectively is, indeed, a skill worth having. Convincing the students of this is an extra challenge for the instructor. Many of them do not want to take the class; they would prefer to be studying in their chosen fields, and many of the them hope to never again have to write after they finish college. I remind them often of how they are going to be writing in their careers regardless of the field.
Also, many of the students have not had great experiences with writing and are very fearful. As the instructor I have to balance getting them comfortable with writing and getting them to master the grammar mechanics which can be so troubling.
By understanding my students' motivation I'm better able to tailor my lesson to their interests. Their experiences add a great deal to our topics.
Students enrollment now a days is purely career oriented. I see lot of students coming to join my course only to enhance their skills and update their resume. They might have done some other courses from different institution. Some times, I confront frustated students of not getting jobs inspite of doing all the certification courses. The first day to deal with those students is challenging. I try to convince them by explaining the present economy and the situation. I try to comfort them by saying that its not their fault to get a decent job in their field, but it's the economy that is preventing them. I will make them beleive that education will never go in vain and it's the proper timing that makes their lives succesful.I will try to see what exactly the students are looking for by enrolling in my course. I will develop my lesson plan accordingly which will meet the requirements of my prospective students.
Students usually join a course for some specific reasons either to enhance their skills or update their resume or to have a career oriented goal. If I know the reason of their choice then, it will be easy for me to modify my course content and curicullum to reflect the requirements and the knowledge data base as expected by my students.
The reason students enroll helps identify their motivation and consequently also the reasons they may see obstacles in their success. Knowing this makes it easier to keep a positive learning environment for all of the students.
The way I see it is, it can give you an idea of what motivates them. If you know what motivates people you can help guide them in the right direction.
Knowing why students have enrolled points to their success goals. Matching these goals to the course material reinforces (and clarifies) relevance, a key factor in student motivation.
Students in the class may have widely differing reasons for enrolling in the course. Understanding the disparity among students in the class, and managing it, is key to ensuring that all the students in the class stay engaged, not just a subset of the class.
