I believe that the more things you do, the wider your sytle becomes. This is were professional development comes into play. Attending professional meetings, reading journal articles, writing papers, working in various fields, attending/giving lectures. The more we do, the more comfortable we become with the various learning styles (and thus broaden our instructional style).
Jim
I think Pre tests will be very important. I also think it will be important to really evaluate the learning styles and abilities of my students.
I love my students and the classroom. I am very excited about opening them to new topics and ways of thinking. I love to motivate and coach my students. Critical thinking is the cornerstone of learning in my classroom.
I like for my knowledge of the field to be discussed. It helps me stay current in the field and knowledgeable of the concepts.
Thanks!
Laticia Dezell
I can further develop, refine, and enhance my instructional style by:
*Knowing myself and my current instructional style and areas I might need improvement in.
*Taking advantage of the professional development opportunities offered by my college in the areas which I need to focus on.
*Seeking additional professional development options beyond just those offered by my college.
*Reviewing student feedback surveys to check for any obvious trends or common issues.
*Requesting input from my department chair or supervisor on how I'm doing.
John Ragan
I have the students participate in every single subjec, and i make small labs during the participation. I assig them small projects so they can explain it in front of the class. I also have them do compatative games in the class so they can motivate, challege and makes the subject more interesting.
Committing oneself to lifelong learning will ensure constant enhancement to instructional style. I think about when I began my career as an instructor and how different my teaching style was.
The school I work for offers ways to connect with adult learners and helps us to understand that there are different learning styles. The school helps us to come up with new ways to change up our classroom style so we can reach different types of learning styles.
"What techniques can you employ to further develop, refine and enhance your instructional style?"
Attitude of learning: I do not think that I know it all. There is always room for improvement, and being receptive to other ideas whether from AIU faculty in-services or courses on how to improve teaching/facilitating.
Personality: I inject humor once in awhile where appropriate, and tell real life stories to illustrate some idea/technique/facet related to the course I'm facilitating.
Organizing better: Learning over time some of the stumbling blocks students frequently cover and then modifying my chats to focus on those a little bit more so the students don't get bogged down.
This is very true in my classroom. I tend to have a variety of degree seeking students from multiple departments in my course. The tone of the class is different with each session. I must be flexible with assignments and the information I provide so that it appeals and relates to multiple degrees in the most interesting way based on the student population from term to term. This also requires me to stay current with many trends in various media.
I don't believe there's any profession more noble than being a teacher. After all, we teach people how to be whatever it is they want to be! I've been impassioned about being a teacher, mentor, facilitator, instructor, for a long time. I certainly hope it shows. As an online facilitator now, I'm always on the lookout for ways to improve and grow. One technique I use is observing others who share my passion. What do they do in the classroom that I'm not doing? How do they engage the students? Online teaching takes away the face-to-face connection that exists on-ground. However, in our live "chats" I can demonstrate my passion for their success by "jazzing up" my chats and doing things outside of the box--like giving the students access to speak too.
I like to stay current in my field by taking trainings to learn new techniques on how to better teach students and help them succeed.
Dear Eileen,
I am a lot like you when it comes to instructional style. I like being involved and having a personality to incorporate humor, fun, and most of all gmaes. I think that people learn faster and remember by these techniques.
I like to do current events. A student will bring in a current event and will have to report on the source, date, and it relates to the business. Not only does the student stay up to date with what is happening in the world it makes them a more interesting person in conversation about the industry
Hi Sonia,
This is a good way to continue your professional development. It is good you have someone you trust and feel comfortable with that you can observe and have observe you. This way you both benefit from your efforts to expand your instructional style.
Gary
What seems to be working for me to either develop, refine &/or enhance my instructional style is to sit in my co-workers classroom during her lecture and simply observe her teaching style.
By doing so, I get to dissect the way she and I both teach and therefor can come up with a instructional style that highlights our best educational qualities.
I encourage daily reflection by my students, peers, and self followed by an appropriate response to that reflection.
The main technique is reassessment for me. I use everything I learn to redevelop my courses and my style (although making sure to still keep 'me').
I do this through student surveys, instructor evals, CEU courses and courses I take just because. Coming from a computer background, education was not something that was taught to us so I felt that in the beginning, I was playing a lot of catch up. Today, I have refined my style but still like to learn myself so I am constanting adjusting things here and there... Always looking for that good balance between getting the material out to the students yet not overwhelming them either..
I like to involve the student with the text and how it attempts to improve the learning expirence.
I have also sat in on my coworkers' classes. I found that I gained new ideas and perspectives. I have also had coworkers sit in on my classes and evaluate me and offer suggestions for improvement.
I need to better develop being a motivator perhaps. I have difficulty motivating people that do not want to motivate themselves.
I have actually found it useful to observe my co-workers. Seems like this might be a strange way to learn about yourself, but it gives me great ideas about how to modify my own instructional delivery. It also gives me a chance to see how other instructors handle classroom situations with students and assess how students respond to particular teaching techniques. I then model (and modify) the techniques that seemed successful.
I also had the opportunity to video tape my own lecture and then review it later. It was also an excellent learning experience.
