I try to incorporate all of the different learning preferences in my class everyday either by during lecture or during lab.
Students take a brief assessment or give a 1 minute speech about themselves on Day 1 of the course. One of the elements of which is to identify their learning style. This helps me in choosing activities for the class. I usually try to include lecture, video, a hands-on activity and group activity in every 4-hour class to keep it interesting and address all learning styles.
In our audio program, we have a lot of students who are interested in genres of music that are usually created with digital instruments. I teach one class in particular that is based predominantly on microphone technique and capturing sounds from acoustic instruments. I find that a lot of those students think that this subject is irrelevant and are uninterested already when they walk in the first day. Once I start talking about how Michael Jackson records were recorded or how one of their favorite producers creates all of his own samples, their interest comes back real quick.
I would try to observe instructors that are recommended by passing students. Since students are the ultimate evalutators, they would likely recommend the best methods.
I find students find courses most relevant when they are able to see skills demonstrated, then practice these skills personally. Many students value skills as making them ready for the work force, therefore they are highly engaged in the learning material.
I lecture while encourage note-taking. I also incorporate hands-on skills with practical experiences in a clinical setting. Role play is also useful.
The strategies I have implemented for making a course's content relevant and applicable to the learning needs of students is to vary the types of presentations and activities. I have used everything from standard lectures, lectures with power points, demonstrations, group activities, games, audio-visual, discussions, etc.
John,
This form of instruction is very supportive of the different learning preferences of students. The more you can involve multiple forms of sensory input the greater the content retention is going to be in the working memories of students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
My course is very hands on. Even the lectures involve demonstrations of various techniques. If I find that a student is having difficulty grasping a concept I find a way to relate the content to something they enjoy or understand.
John M.
Vicki,
Students love to hear stories about the field. These stories and examples help to reinforce the value of the content they are getting in the course.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Sharing my years of experience related to the topic at hand has really added to the students excitment about the course. They find themselves wanting to hear more and more. It is fun for us all.
I try to vary my approach to teaching. I will lecture the material and then do a question and answer session. I will do inactive games with the students. Also give them some "quiet time" for them to work on written activities. Then in my course we have lab time where they get hands on work to complete.
Recognizing different learning styles and planning a variety of activities and modes of instruction helps tremendously.
Since the courses I teach are specifice to a certain career I follow by the outline of the registry that the students take.
This begins with the experience of the instructor. The instructor must be experienced in the field and can thereby maintain content that is relevant to the current state of the profession.
I attempt to have multiple dimensions of any lessons. Each of my lessons has 1) a verbal lecture 2) picture and illustrations 3) discussions 4) group activity
James,
You are going to really like the results you achieve by using this information to plan your instructional delivery. Your students are going to be engaged and focused and you are going to be able to share your content in an effective and efficient manner.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I learned important facts that will assist me in preparing my presentations. I will use the following factors to prepare my teaching sequences:
attention span 15-18 minutes, remember 25% of what is heard, retention of 40% from reading,listen 4X faster than speaking.
I will incorporate these factors in assessing my students learning styles and to synchronize using different learning approaches.
Monica,
I am a big fan of using pretesting as well. I get such valuable information from the tests and as a result I am able to more accurately target my content to that current group of students. As a result there is a higher level of satisfaction on the part of the students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I learn to accomodate different learning styles after the first day of class pre-tests. I take an example of the material that will be covered throughout the course and take some snippets from exams or projects and test the students on what they know, what they will learn, and what they will need to know to be successful at the end of the course. It also shows me the pace at which my students will be learning the material and keep me with backup lesson plans if material is covered quickly.
