Gary Meers, Ed.D.

About me

I am an Education Advisor/Consultant for MaxKnowledge. I write courses that assist in the professional development of career college instructors. These courses range in content from the introductory level to advanced instructional development. I started my teaching career as an instructional technology teacher on the high school level, completed graduate school and then moved into higher education. I spent many years in the area of teacher training at the University of Nebraska. While at the University of Nebraska I stared working with career college instructors to improve their instructional delivery skills. As a result of these experiences I have been a consultant to career colleges throughout the United States and a number of foreign countries.

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Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Understanding Learner Characteristics

Caitlin, Great to hear that this strategy will become part of your instructional processing. I know you and your students are going to benefit from you having and being able to recall this background information. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Using Graphic Organizers

Tina, Thank you for sharing this method of using graphic organizers. This method will work in so many other settings as well so I know this will be useful for instructors teaching in other fields. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Your Instructional Style

Natalie, One thing for sure is that it will get easier so don't despair too much. Yes, you are investing a lot of work at this time but as you gain experience the lessons will become more familiar to you and you will get to enjoy more interaction with your students. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Strategies for Keeping Students Engaged in Learning

Amy, Right you are. I teach from 4 until 10 pm so I use a lot of different activities and deliveries. As you know if you don't they start to drift away and then the learning process is greatly reduced. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Making a Positive First Impression

Amy, Your last sentence says it all in terms of the importance of a good first impression. It is the foundation upon which future class sessions are built. So as you say organize, prepare, and deliver an engaging first class session and then build upon this impression from there. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

The Learning Environment Effect

Amy, We need to see our classrooms and labs through the eyes of our students, which means what you mentioned in your comments. Each work station must have the equipment and supplies required for that session and everything ready to go for them. If something isn't there or a piece of equipment is broken then we need to have a backup plan that will enable the class to continue to go forward. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Motivating Learners

Amy, Taking a personal interest in your students brings the human factor into the educational process. As you say by knowing them better you can select projects that will make a personal and strong connection between the student and the content. When this is done then the engagement level of the students increases and learning is expanded. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Instructors as Role Models

Alexandra, This is such a great way to look at instructional preparation and delivery. By reviewing both types of instructors you have had in your past you are able to select the methods that you feel would work best with your students and then plan activities around those methods. You are right it is a continuous process because I am still doing it for each of my classes and I have taught for many years. What I find fun about this is that I get excited planning new things to do in my courses and my excitement spreads to my… >>>

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Discipline in Critical Thinking

Scott, Right you are and by following these steps students will be prepared to do critical thinking and problem solving. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Developing Critical Thinking Skills

NEAL, You make a number of good points and to me the big one is helping them to identify what is in it for them. Once they see that then they will buy in to the effort needed to learn how to be critical thinkers and problem solvers. As for role models they are good for students to have contact with and you are right about the fact that we as learning leaders are role models to and for our students and we can never forget that when interacting with them. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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