Hi Yevette,
What do you typically do to show course relevancy.
Patricia Scales
Re: Showing relevancy of course content
Whenever possible, I try to incorporate real life stories that I've encountered in the vet hospital as it applies to the topic at hand. I find it helps to keep the student's interest and help them to retain the information.
Hi Mark,
I love how you make the learning objectives applicable to the real world. Students have a greater interest in the coure whenever they find out they can apply what they learn in the workplace.
Patricia Scales
Hi James (Jim),
Proactive is the name of the game in education.
Patricia Scales
At the beginning of the class and at the start of each week or module I tie each objective with the outcome that is expected and then tell how achieving that objective will help them do a better job when then get out in the work world. I have found that showing them how mastering an objective will help them do a better job and set them apart from other employees gives them a strong incentive to work towards that learning objective.
Thanks for the Day 1 suggestion to get ahead of the problem.
Are the forums great or what!
Hi Stephen,
Awesome! What an excellent way to show course relevancy and to get students motivated and excited.
Patricia Scales
I definitely use myself as an example. I teach students how they should relate to the knowledge in the classroom and at the bedside and showing relevancy in this instance is fairly easy, but rewarding.
As a nursing faculty member, I use examples from my past experiences to illustrate how material being presented is utilized in practice. And I do have students occassionally ask why it is important to learn a specific topic or skill. Showing its relevance to the job they are training for helps the students to focus on learning and ask relevant questions to clarify any misconceptions.
I like to relate a life expierience to each course.
Giving examples and visual aids in class to help the students keep in mind why they are taking the class to begin with.
In a recent class in music production, I passed around my Grammy so each student could see it... and also as a prop to demonstrate an orignal recording device (the gramophone). It was a great icebreaker, and reminded the students that they were putting effort into the class because their aspirations included having a Grammy of their own. :)
Thats awesome! I have success doing the every same thing.
Hi Jennifer. I was very happy to see your comment because today, the working world is very competitive and people cannot get hired (let alone become promoted0 without really good written and verbal communication skills. This fact makes taking English or writing classes very relevant indeed! Thank you :)
I teach in a career college (2-year) and in order to convey relevancy, I try to bring up as many "real life" examples as I can that exemplify necessary reasons for successfully learning the concepts emphasized in the particular course I am teaching. For example, in a college chemistry class geared to dental hygiene students, I remind them of all of the tools and procedures involved with their future careers that involve chemicals and knowledge of their properties and how they interact. When I teach math to nursing students, I bring up examples of dosage calculations which are mathematically-based.
You can show the relevancy of the course by showing completed items of what you are studying. Show successful projects and successful people in the career field. It is very important to show the relevancy of the course to a student so that they can see how it fits into their ultimate goal.
Relate content to real world experience
relate it to the area of study
relate content to current events
relate content to what student knows, but extent this knowledge content.
Encourage students to apply learning to current events online.
Illustrate the need and importance of content through guest and student speakers
Hi Russell,
What do you typically do to show/share course relevancy? I like to bring in classified ads as they are applicable to the course content so that students can see that you need this information in order to be successful in the workplace.
Patricia Scales
Hi Rommel,
Awesome exercise to show course relevancy. What a great way to get students excited.
Patricia Scales
I teach a foundation course of microbiology. In addition to relating some of the more esoteric things they learn to how they actually apply clinically, I survey the nursing instructors as to what microbiology topics/organisms they consider important in the clinical setting. I make a particular point to note those topics as we go through the course and then again in the review session for the cumulative final.
