Lorin,
Yes, they are. They for the most part like being passive learners because they can disconnect with what is going on and just sit there. When they are asked to be active learners they sometimes are at a loss because they have to stay engaged and learn new thing for the duration of the class.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I am trying to incorporate more discussion and less lecture in my classroom. I think students are programmed to come in, sit, and listen to me talk and it can be a rather uninteresting way to learn. I am trying to work in ways to get the students to interact with the lecture rather than just listening.
Geetha,
Nice blend of all three methods in your knowledge sharing. This way your students get to use their different learning preferences in different ways and increase their engagement.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I do this as well and after I have finished explaining a major concept about a particular topic, I ask the students to read out a few Power point slides slowly by listening to themselves and understanding what is presented and to clarify if they or other students have doubts.
This also has been effective to get the students participate in discussion.
I teach by using instructional styles of interactive learning by using power points presentations of each chapter along with questions in frequent intervals based on what was taught in class and highly encourage discussions during class and also give a lot of real life examples.
Nate,
This is a good point because it puts us in the minds of students. By thinking about how we would like to learn new information we then can plan our instructional delivery to help them become a part of the learning process.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Landis,
What you are doing with your connecting of the course content to the real world is extremely valuable to your students as you well know. This approach increases the ROI for the students because they get to see both application and relevancy.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Joseph,
What are some examples you use in these two formats?
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I think remembering how you would like to be taught a new skill is important. We often take for granted the information we already know, being aware of the skill level or experience of your student can help meet a instruction style that is most effective.
David,
Just be careful the first couple of weeks.
You just need to understand that the way one person understands the point you are trying to make, not all students will.
What I try to do is when I am teaching a subject, I watch the students faces carefully. I look for the proverbial "thousand yard stare" of the "Scrunched" eyebrow and that tells me I need to further explain my point.
Landis
Sandy,
On the first day of each semester, I do an Ice Breaker session. I tell the students something about my education, my skills, the technology I use (Cell Phone, PC, Laptop, tablet, etc) then I tell them something about myself that "everyone knows about me" and tell them "something about myself that only my closest friends know" then I make them do the same to me and the rest of the class.
This seems to give the students a sense that they can share anything with me or the rest of the class. It has worked very well for me.
Landis
David & Dr. Meers,
I have found this to be a difficult strategy for the first two or three weeks of a semester.
My college is located in the inter-city of Kansas City, and the differences in communications styles within the classroom is difficult to overcome in the first couple of sessions of a semester.
Usually by about the fourth week all the students, no matter the ethnicity, seem to "gel" as a class and communication improves to a point that sharing is no longer an issue.
Landis
Dr. Meers,
Teaching Computer Science, and being a former System Administrator for Hewlett Packard, I always try to relate what I am teaching in each session to real world experiences from the corporate world.
Students seem to respond well and it helps them have an understanding of what they are learning is applied in the real world.
Landis Shippert
Bring alot of creative ideas to the classroom such as media and cases studies.
MICHAEL,
What are some ways you do this with your students?
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Jaclyn,
You make a good point because instructional style is a work in progress for all of us. We have to be able to adjust to the content, our students, circumstances and dynamics. By doing so we will be able to keep the attention of our students and move them forward in their learning.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
make the class room like the real world.
It is good to have a general starting point for instructional style but it should develop and change as the instructor becomes more seasoned as an educator. A style may also change or be modified according to the environment or demographic of student. Modifications should be continual as instructional growth occurs and adaptations made as necessary.
Brenda,
Always good when you can go to colleagues for advice and questions. They will help you to expand your expertise as an educator while giving you an opportunity to increase your confidence in the classroom or lab.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I learn from other instructors who have been teaching longer than I have; I am always asking them for advice and guidance.
