Sandy,
This is a good way for your students to see the value of the content being offered and why you are covering what you do. They are not just enrolled in a course but are preparing for their future and that is a concept they need to clearly understand.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
In dental hygiene the students have to pass a comprehensive written National Board Exam before they can take the licensing exam for their state or region. I use this as incentive for them to geet the most out of their learning, not just to pass a test and get a grade, but to be able to internalize the material and how it all fits together so that they will not have to cram for the boards.
Sandy
Dawn,
This is so important because a lot of learning is based upon both the personal and emotional aspects of knowledge acquirement. We need to help connect our content to both of these in our students as we work them through the material.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I've found that associating the content in such a way that it presents a personal and emotional connection to the students helps to keep them motivated.
Laura,
Good way to connect the dots and help individuals see the value of education.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
knowledge = power , power = $
See your future through this class and how much father you can go with this knowledge than without it
Rosalie,
I use guest speakers frequently in my courses for the reason you list. They help to make real what is being taught and why it is valuable for the students to learn such content and skills. After a quest speaker my students are really ramped up for a few sessions which is about the time I bring another person in to share with them.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Having guest speakers have always created a great impact on motivating the students specially when the speakers tell them that they were once in that situation where they thought they could not do what they are able to do now.
Providing an atmosphere of active learning is key to motivation and solidifies knowledge and skill.
Storytelling is a great way to motivate students by demonstrating the trials and accomplishments of others in the field the students are studying.
Habibah,
This is such a great way to make the course content come alive and to personalize what you are teaching to the students. They can see themselves in your story and why they are enrolled in the CNA course. This is the ROI they need to have as they move forward in their career development.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
One thing I do with my population of CNA students is have them tell me why they are taking the course? What are the short and long term goals for them taking the course? This gives me a sense of who they are, what type of motivation they have and it also serves as a tool to evaluate their writing ability. I also share my story of how I became a Nurse. It's an interesting story, and I can always tell alot about the people who have a lot of questions for me after my story. Also the ones who remember the story and use it in conversations, it says a lot about them. It says that they possibly saw themselves in my story, and are now relating my success with their future sucesses. I;m are very grateful to teach a certification course, because the majority of my students want to be here and are here because they are motivated about changing their lives.
Angela,
They really do. These stories give application and relevance to the content being taught.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I agree, students love hearing of real life events. It gives them motivation and excitement to continue to learn and move forward.
Deidre,
Students really perk up when real life experiences are shared. When these stories are told they increase the value of the content as well as give the students an ROI on their investment. They are great motivators as well.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
By giving them real life experiences of what it will be like working in the particular field. Let them do presentations in short skits on how the work place function and try to provide as much insight as you possibly can in the field, visit different organizations if possible.
Hi Malcom, great idea. Taking this even further, you can simply using pictures on the screen of number of objects (such as people or bikes, cars), and making educated guess about how many there might be in a larger area, and what they could discern about the same from owner's perspective on what type of customers they could represent. Some students have been visualization processing then math skills, etc. Can be a positive experience for all.
Ed,
This is a great way to increase the value of the course to the students. The more connections between the content and their future, especially their earning power the more engaged they will be.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I tell the students that what they will learn will open new possibilities in their careers, and describe what those possibilities are.
It is helpful to read what others write in response to this topic.
Getting to know what their goals are in life and use this as reminder of why they are in class- and have them picture accomplishing their goal.
Relating of life experiences- examples of people who succeed because they were/are motivated.
