Patricia,
Great response. Especially in your situation you need to mix it up some. Also as an instructor I find that I get "bored" too if I don't uses varied instructional delivery.
Students need variety. Especially in longer classes students need a break from the same thing. As an instructor you need to mix it up some so that you are not always predicitable. Every class needs a little excitement!
Since not all students learn through the same delivery method, it makes sense to vary the delivery methods.
This also makes classtime a bit more interesting.
If you try something new in class, usually students will complain, because this is something that the students are not familiar with.
Encourage the students, get them involved and 9 times out of 10 the new method is successful.
Lastly, after class it is also important to evaluate the new method to see if it met your objectives.
Because there are a variety of learner types in your classroom. It is important to actively engage your students throughout the quarter/semester in order for them to really learn the concepts being taught. It is also important to read body language in the classroom as the lecture is progressing, and to be comfortable enough with the material to change it up. Perhaps have some group exercises or discussion topics on hand to wake everyone up when eyelids become heavy.
It's important to provide a variety of delivery methods so that you are able to reach a greater number of your students rather than just those that learn based on your primary delivery style.
We have been taught that everyone learned differently and can't easily be fit into one learning style box. Some students can learn more than one way or a mixture of many ways. It is important to reach out to students to help them bridge the learning gap towards success. You never really know that beyond the traditional learning styles you may have students with learning disabilities.
Definatly not everyone learns the same way. It would be unfair to focus one one method, leaving out a specific population. Another important advantage to changing up the delivery method is it helps lengthen the attention span. The monotony is broken up and students will be more involved and interested instead of losing them after 15 minutes.
Hi Joanna,
This is a great way to break up the class sessions. The mini-breaks are more effective than the longer breaks because humans can concentrate only so long. (Between 15-20 minutes). So the mini-breaks lets them reset their brains, get the blood flowing and then they are ready to move on. Good job with these longer classes.
Gary
This is simple, because there are different types of learners in each class and it also helps keep the students interested. With limited attention spands of learners it is good to keep things moving along.
In a lecture class, you hopefully should have the ability to get your students moving. This is good when you have 4 hour class settings. Some students don't know they are learning if they are also having fun at the same time.
To get students up and move about is harder in a computer based classroom. What I have done is incorporate small breaks sessions within the 5 hours sessions. For example, rather than a traditional 10 min break each hour, we have 2-3 5 min breaks per hour. It breaks up the time the student is starting at the computer screen. Sometimes these breaks include a discussion or support of another classmate. They don't always have to leave the classroom, just to do something different.
Students will more likely stay engaged in the material and have a greater opportunity to retain the material. By keeping them engaged, more students have the opportunity to absorb the material and understand it.
Unfortunately not everyone learns in the same manner, therefore in order to be good instructor you have to offer your information in varied ways for students to understand the material. Some students learn by observing while others prefer trail and error, while others prefer to read about it to get all the necessary details. This is where the student-instructor relationship comes in; the instructor has to get to know his/her students learning styles to know which delivery styles should be offered so that the student gets something out of the class and feels they have learned something worthwhile.
I try to use as many instructional delivery methods as possible. Nevertheless,because I am a visual/auditory learner it is sometimes difficult to remember the importance of incorporating tactile activities in a lesson plan.
Hi Mark,
Right you are. This to me is one of the fun parts of being an instructor. I get to be creative and have variety in what I do each time I teach the course.
Gary
Hi David,
Your second sentence is right on concerning using different instructional deliveries to reach different learning styles in bigger classes. By rotating through the different styles you allow the students to feel comfortable within them which will lead to more involvement on the part of the learners.
Gary
While it is important to try to accomodate different learning styles, there is another advantage to varying delivery. It keeps your presentations fresh if there is something new in terms of delivery style.
How do you offer varying styles in large class room sizes , say 100 or more, it would be unfeasible to cater to every students preferred learning styles. Do you suggest incorporating all the various types of instructional delivery methods in a teachers lecture.
I believe it keeps the students interested and excited and awake.
Hi Donna,
Good comments about how to keep fresh in delivering content. As you say the variety is essential to meet the individual student needs as well as keeping engaged yourself.
Gary
I enjoy utilizing different strategies because not only will students learn by different styles of teaching, it is how instructors can plug into their own creativity. I also believe as teachers create new learning opportunities, we also learn new things in the process. Varying styles keeps the material (that often is the same semester after semester), fresh and exciting; lending itself well to re-igniting a passion of the subject matter.
It will keep the course interesting and allow the students to gain the tools they will need in the workplace
