A variety of learning styles are addressed in my class, from lecture, to case-based learning, hands-on procedures, and demonstrations with live patients.
I try to get students to do hands on learning by doing algebra problems either interactively in class or have volunteers do them at the board.
Being a first time instructor, I will try to incorporate and utilize visual aids, lecture, video demonstration, class discussion, and return demonstration.
Because I teach material that requires a lot of hands on learning, I tend to lecture first, sometimes I show the DVD that goes with a specific topic and then I allow the students to try.
I teach math at a career college in which health care programs are the mainstay. So I went to instructors of the various programs to see how math is used. From that I am able to implement real life applications that are relevant and applicable.
Hi Jay,
This is a great way to involve students. They are contributing original content to the discussion based their life experiences. This is how it is going to be in their work settings so the more they can develop skill in problem solving the better prepared they are going to be.
Gary
I like to provide examples of my past experiences and provide a case study to the students in the class. For instance, I would ask what would you do if you were in a particular situation. I would not give the answer for the specific situation that I was in, but provide my answer, or what I did in that situation after I got the classes' feedback. I found that I liked some of the students' examples better than what I did and I think that engaged some of the students in the relevancy of the course topic.
I read the text material and outline them on the board to avoid reading all of the unnecessary works in the book. Even though they are important sometimes it is to much for the students.
I am in total agreement. One course topic can be presented in a variety of ways. The more methods, the more effective it will be for the students.
During the ice breaker, one of the questions I ask students to respond to is their learning style. I also have a short version of the DISC assessment which allows students to better see their learning style(s) and get to know other students better in class.
THe advantage that I have as a biology instructor is that I have laboratory exercises that can enhance the students' learning. My providing several pictures of taxa I am talking about, including slides in the case of bacteria or microbes, I am presenting the information in a visual and auditory manner. During lab, I can have the students run through the same material but perform an experiment that shows them how something works. As a result, my students have 3 forms of information to soak in.
I enjoy the challenges of accomodating different learning styles. I myself am a visual learner, so I have to be careful to address the auditory and kinesthetic learning preferences.
First I make an outline and discuss the topics that we are going to learn and any lab procedures that we will be performing. Part of my class is lecture and part is lab. I try to break lecture up a bit because it can seem pretty long. I do use a lot of powerpoint, but I use pictures, I have them look in microscopes at the real thing that was just learned and I assign reading homework as well.
Hi Don,
Great to hear. Sounds like you are having good success with your online classes. Keep up the good work.
Gary
I constantly shuffle the classroom for ensure all studens have had an opportunity to learn from a different perspective. I consistantly use media, have guest speakers, group discussions,etc to make sure I'm meeting the needs of most of the group. They love moving all around the classroom. This also prevents alot of side separate chit chat!
I took one of the 'online class' modules and it helped me a great deal in learning how to structure an online class.
In a software lesson plan, I think it is a good idea to introduce the topic and objective for the class period, distribute any supplemental materials, provide instruction, show a how-to step-by-step video tutorial, reveal a finished solution, answer any questions, have the students do a trial and error while I visit their computer workstations, and in a one-on-one and group setting evaluate the completed work.
Most of my students agree that hands on is the best
I really enjoyed reading the strategies in this thread, which gave me a few ideas, such as employer expections,real life work experiences and coding challenges that arise.
Hi Jane,
Good strategy. My classes run from 4 until 10 pm so I know what you are dealing with in terms of keeping the attention of students. My students work all day and then come to class hungry and tired. I take it as a challenge to be able to get them engaged and excited about the course because I get to be creative in my instructional delivery.
Gary
