Eugene,
Beside the boiler plate descriptions of instructor personality, I like to reinforce the importance of being genuine and sincere. Trust and respect are more likely to occur when students feel their instructor is approachable and patient, while giving clear expectations. Authenticity is prefered over an artificial version of someone else, in my opinion.
Barry Westling
In many cases the Sargent approach to learning will cause the student to be forced to adhere to a set of rigid guidelines creating a well disciplined student. The opposite may occur in an individual student who requires a more hands on individual approach by the instructor. In both cases retention may become an issue. I have found that caretaker approaches have a better success in retention but that it may lead to graduating a student who is less motivated when on their own without an instructor to check in with them on progress through a project they are working on in the real world. In any of these situation confidence must exude from the instructor, more so when taking a softer approach.
Frank,
I adopted "friendly, without being friends" a long time ago. I think being approachable and patient creates a welcoming manner to make a connection with my students.
Barry Westling
I think the instructor personality has a great deal to do with the students ability to engage and learn from the instructor. If they are connecting with the instructor I think they are more apt to learn the material.
Andrea,
Immediate activity is a great way to reinforce learning. Modeling practices your instructors did is great too, because those ways had meaning for you and therefore, when you put your spin on some activity, it will come across with a similar, creative feel. Certainly, your students will have memorable thoughts about participation in your classes.
Barry Westling
Hi Wanda,
I agree with you and feel that sincerity is a must. Students can tell if you are being insincere and you will lose both their interest and your credibility as a instructor if you do not take their trust seriously. Being true to yourself is a start and then recognizing your shortcomings and working to improve them is also critical to being a good instructor.
Hi Baneet,
I have also found humor to be an effective tool to break the ice, to lighten the stress levels and to help students relax and get comfortable speaking in front of each other. It helps create a feeling of a "safe" environment where they can express their opinions as long as the humor is not used negatively or in a sarcastic fashion.
While the delivery method varies based on the course that I'm teaching and the type of information that the students need to understand, there is one thing that I feel is key and that is getting the students involved in some activity right after the information is presented. For example, if I show a short video, they need to write a couple of short notes on things that stood out to them (that they have an opinion on) so they can talk about them after the movie. Or for example, when talking about pictographs in a history of design course, I have them brainstorm pictographs of their own and see if other students can "read" their pictographs. Being open to different perspectives, I try to involve the students so they interact with each other and with the material presented. My favorite instructors did things like that and I want my students to have similar positive experiences.
Jodi,
Approachability is so important, and instructors that present a sincere and genuine version of an upbeat, knowledgeable and fun persona will generally always provide a more interesting class setting and a better learning environment. Classes and instructors like this make for memorable instruction and learning experiences.
Barry Westling
I am a goofball by nature. I've never learned anything when NOT having fun. That is my personailty. With that being said, I try to bring the fun into the classroom by simply being myself. I do not hide my sense of humor. Laughter genuinely engages people. If you make your audience laugh (and our students ARE our audience) I've found that they listen a little more carefully for that next opportunity to laugh. Whenever we do activities, I try to make them lighthearted and educational as possible. I have to say that I have probably delivered some of my best lectures from atop of my desk, not behind it.
Wanda,
This is true. Our authentic self is best, and we all have our version of enthusiasm, approachability, patience, courtesy, and humor, etc. when it's given with sincerity students are most likely to accept it.
Barry Westling
I feel that the instructor will have much better results in delivery if they stay true to their personalty. There is no right or wrong personality for successful instructing. Self awareness is criticle for improvment,though.
Colette,
Students want to be led. They need and want direction. I believe we need to portray an authentic and sincere version of ourselves. Some have said to think about someone you consider successful and emulate their persona. I have to disagree. When students see a genuine version of a personable, approachable and patient instructor, they're more likely to trust and listen to their instructor. Sincerity fosters trust. And while it's true we sometimes have to a bit commanding, we can also convey a natural interest in our students, allow an appropriate amount of humor, and as a result, generate an effective learning environment.
Barry Westling
An instructor's personality plays a big role in the delivery of the material being taught.
As a chef instuctor - my job requires me to teach my students a very specific set of skills - cooking professionally - in doing so I am not only managing a classroom but running a kitchen.
I have had to expand my personality so that I can be seen, heard and my instructions followed.
It has taken a lot of work as I was more soft spoken when I first started. But the work has paid off - my classes run well most of the time - I rarely yell and the students seem to really learn - for the most part. One of the things I did was to take acting classes and voice and diction classes at my local community college.
This helped my delivery immensely.
Baneet,
Making class interesting is a great skill set to possess as an instructor. When students feel they can approach their instructor, and receive a patient, courteous response, that's a much more desirable learning environment.
Barry Westling
I am very outgoing with large motions and a great sense of humor. I try to reach all student through different learning styles and also give verbal, written cues when problem solving with groups. This seems to lead to very involved students participating and not being afraid to contribute and learning with laughter lightens the pressure for the older students. This is not all the time but I try for this interactive moments in every class to make it memorable and help the students retain information discussed that day.
Shelby,
Yeah, Prezi is cool. Often many topics have multiple components to them, and PPT is limited to a linear format, whereas Prezi allows exploring a topic, and sub-topics to a much more flow of presentation, and also how much and to what degree the instructor chooses to focus on one segment.
Barry Westling
Joseph,
Upbeat, lively instructional sessions are difficult for students not to just get caught up in the excitement (the same is true for dull, uninteresting discussions -- we'll lose students attention). When sincere, honest passion can be so inspiring.
Barry Westling
I love powerpoint, and Prezi even moreso because it is so much more dynamic than PPT. I get inspired when creating the slides, knowing that students will respond well to inserts of a comedian's comments or a real attention getting action clip related to the class that day. These can provide excellent segues into lively class discussions. Of course it is a tool and not the entire class, but the discussion thread here is how your personality affects choice of media for delivering the information, and not what is best for everyone.
Shelby,
For me, PPT is merely a backdrop for providing necessary information. I think we can make slides more interesting, but the focus has to be on the material, not the medium that is providing it. For instance, did we ever use rainbow-colored overhead transparencies? As for printouts, my preference is to just post the whole lesson on the class portal, and students can access the presentation to whatever degree they feel is helpful to them.
Barry Westling
