Applications
Just a note on applications. I have found that in 38.5 years of teaching that the rate of student appreciation of applying the subject learned is inversely proportional to the complexity of the course. That is in many extremely difficult, complex and challenging courses, students will often get engaged just because of the difficulty of the material. It is in the basic courses where students often have to take it just because it is mandated or a "gen. ed" course using applications can increase interest, show relevancy, etc. Therefore teaching a basic easy course should inspire us to do even more applications.
Rodney,
Very good advice for instructors to remember because in my many years of experience I have that you are right on with this assumption. I am currently teaching several gen ed required courses and I have to work very hard to keep the students engaged because they see no value to the course since it is only a stepping stone in their minds to getting their certificate. I try to bring value of the content into their daily lives so they will see there is an ROI for all courses even the gen ed ones. Thanks for makes this critical point.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
