Hi Bruce,
Sounds like you have the learning styles covered. By offering variety as you are you will be hitting on one or more of the learning styles which will help to engage the students throughout the course.
Gary
Hi Stan,
As you know tactile learning helps to reinforce cognitive learning. The more you can get the students involved in the hands on the more your students are going to be engaged.
Gary
I am willing to take feedback daily--have times when we talk about what we are doing in class and how this relates to real life! In math I was teaching graphs and most of my class who were going into business never thought they would use a graph in real life--so we did a last minute research project. It turned out to be great!!!
Hi, all,
I teach online now - Gen Ed classes in Biology and Environmental Science.
Making the content relevant means that I need to provide examples of how learning the material can relate to their lives, as there may not be direct connections to their careers and majors.
For example, topics such as DNA analysis, genetics, bioengineering, pollution impacts, importance of biodiversity, and alternatives for energy use are much in the news. Students that understand these topics can make informed decisions about their health and their environment, both at a personal level and in their communities.
Students can use many resources to learn more about the course content such as text books, internet articles, audiovisual tutorials, interactive discussions, and my mini-lectures. I was glad to see that my little 15-20 minute lectures are about the right length for adult learners. I sandwich the lectures with live discussion and / or Q and A.
I also think it is important to "interpret" the assignment questions, as students do not always clearly understand what is being asked or required, no matter how hard we try to revise the wording for clarity. Lyn
I try to have as many different activities as possible so that I cover as many different learnifn styles as possible. For example, I will assign a chapter to be read, I will use a Power Point presentation, either one that came with the textbook or one I created, in class, and I will give the class an assignment that requires them to apply what they have learned. In this way I hopefully will cover all learning styles in the classroom.
for example we do unit dosing and iv admixtures when learning about hospital pratcices and vial filling when learning about retail
I use a combination of lecture and group projects that may include answering questions or discussing topics or creating something such as an advertisement for a product. I also use role play activities, videos and discussion, having students do web research and report to class, and having them plan an activity for the class that demonstrates a principle.
I plan by first looking ahead in the textbook to see what topics are coming up. Then, I will see if there is any hands-on exercises or possible demonstrations that can be done in conjunction with the lecture portion. I have always found the hands-on, or lab portions of a class to be the most effective for learning.
I like to mix it up with a variety of methods. I always write a lot of material on the board while presenting a topic and lecturing along with it. This provides for both visual and auditory learning. Whenever possible, I will also bring in a physical example of what I am talking about and let the students see and touch for themselves. (Being in the Information Technology field this is perhaps easier because usually the class is in a computer lab which provides hands-on capability)
