non-threatening environment with mixed age groups
Ive found that many adult students come with intrinsic motivation for some classes, i.e. their medical assisting courses, but less with their general education or college success course. Also, the mixed age sometimes leads to peer motivation, or lack thereof, that same-age groups sometimes have.
I have been consistently challenged by the speed of some students to complete challenging tasks and the lack of speed with others.
I have found that the younger generation, when engaged, move at an incredible pace. They are fast to learn when they want to. The older students still want paper, pencil and books as opposed to technology. I try to break up each lecture with a personal story. After I go first the students jump right in. When everyone see's we are all the same it let's a lot of barriers done.
Sole, great technique and meeting with students regularly is key to engagement with the institution, the classroom and the curriculum.
James Jackson
I usually meet with students individually on a “one on one†short visit every two weeks, specially at the beginning of the quarter. We discuss his/hers progress and “what is working and what is notâ€. After the student state what is not working I ask how we can change that, then we present the idea to the whole class for approval. Most of the time they engage in this “new†form and make it work better for their advance or better grasping of the lectures :)
Troy, I can feel your frustration and it is shared by many within all categories of education. There are times we must look back into our history and learn from our past and their are times when the past will not provide any good lessons into our future. We see a mixture of this today. Over 500 years ago as the printing press had come into its own and the first million volumes had been printed, higher education of the day felt this was a travesty and the ability to educate journeymen would be lost forever. The diversity caused by the need for instant gratification and the media rich age we are in is not a direct translation of the printing press but there are some similarities. Hard to say what education will look like 20 years from now but all indications suggest a strong emphasis on entertainment will be part of the overall process thus the coining of the term "EduTainment". We as instructors can sit idly on the sideline and complain about how this is a travesty or we can be innovative and figure out ways to use the information from recent research and impact the learning outcomes of our students. What are some of your ideas of how we can make adjustments on our end as instructors and meet the students on their terms so the learning will take on new meaning and they will eagerly participate in their own education?
James Jackson
K-12 education is focused heavily on extrinsic motivation. That in conjunction with modern culture's focus on entertainment results in a student "entitlement" mentality - paying for a course is seen no differently than paying for a movie. The instructor is expected to be an actor (Dead Poets Society, anyone?), the classrooms should be in IMAX, and the presentations / lessons should be thrilling or dramatic scenes. I see this mindset in many places, including church. Throw in the declining educational standards of K-12 education (evidenced by increased need for remedial coursework in college) and you have students that are not intrinsically motivated to learn or do much of anything else (why try to beat a video game when you can enter cheat codes; why read a book when you can watch the movie). College instructors are faced with more than the simple task of motivating mildly bored students. In the words of Yoda, they must unlearn what they have learned. We not only have to incorporate these basic motivational strategies, we have to overcome years of the type of conditioning that I describe above. Guess that's why they pay us the big buck$. }:]
Mark, great job and very effective. Why do I need math if my computer can do it for me? This is a common question I hear from students. I relate this to athletics. Why does a golfer need to lift weights? The game of golf is about skill and not strength. The modern golfer however can gain a great advantage if they are stronger than their competition. The modern golfer also benefits from a mastery of emotional intelligence. These were not focal points in the early days of golf but are major parts of the sport today. Employees today that can perform basic math in their heads and communicate in writing and orally will grow into higher levels of leadership and make more money then those that do not master these "general education" skills. Students see these classes through a very different lense after these types of discussions.
James Jackson
Carol, a good practice is to discuss this with your students early in the class then work towards proving the theory over the duration of the scheduled class sessions. Tell the on day one how the process will unfold. At first they will be confused and possibly frustrated but over time the confusion is replaced with understanding and frustration is replaced with confidence.
James Jackson
Having taught many General Education classes at a Career College, I have also experienced a lack of motivation of some during what they consider non core classes.
I now start most classes with a discussion of their really good or bad experiences with people regarding some skill covered in the course material. After they have some time to jot down an example I ask them to start sharing the stories to the class. During this process they normally explore the advantages and disadvantages of having these skills, which I can easily summarize into why this class will be important to their career success.
Another approach I use is to bring in a related news article related to subject matter. For example, when I teach Pharmacological Math to Medical Assistant students (Math of any kind is frequently a phobic or disliked class that isn't seen as important) I share an article on a hospital administered overdose, which was 1000 times too much for the patient. I ask how this could happen. I then tie in concepts of metric unit measures of micrograms vs milligrams, unit conversions, and the importance of watching those decimal points when multiplying and dividing. Once they relate the class to possibly injuring or killing a patient, they seem to take more interest. I also tie back to the story later in class stating, “Oh no we didn’t give enough medication†or, “we overdosed another one" While laughing I make the point of how good it is to practice a bit more before graduation.
David,
I have found that I have to make all of the classes just as fun and inforamtive as the students' major classes because they will not appear to be motivated at all. I have had students to tell me that they are not really interested classes that are only electives. They only want a passing grade! I constanly remind my students that they will get out of a class, what they put into it. I assure them that I will do my part but they have to do their part as well.
Sylinda Brown, MBA
Finally when they are almost through with their program they can finally see how everything fits together and that it all builds to make them successful
david, what we do as instructors to build the bridges of learning for our students is critical to achieving desired learning outcomes. Why should a criminal justice student care about how well they perform in an English class? The more they come to understand that better they master English skills the better they can perform their duties then students will see such courses from a very different perspective. Using specific case studies can also be effective such as showing how the use of effective report writing can eventually play a major role in justice being done or freeing a guilty felon. There are many examples in any area of study but such connectors require instructors to take the time to build upon these bridges of knowledge.
James Jackson
