examples
would like to see others examples to get an idea
Hi Charles, Thanks for sharing an excellent example of combining delivery options to reach the learning styles! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
Ours is a manual craft based trade school. Whatever the students' preferred learning styles may be, the students' work is graded according to the quality of the work pieces they submit. Few students come to the school who have artisan fabrication or manufacturing experience. I have observed that even a variety of assigned readings, lecture-demonstrations, static displays of work in progress, and how-to videos are only marginally helpful in getting these students started in an activity that becomes a practical/hands-on learning experience. I have also observed that once the students have become accustomed to the demands of the hands-on approach, instructional methods addressing learning preferences are quite effective in developing understanding and application of newly acquired skills.
Previously, in an attempt to facilitate students' becoming accustomed to the hands-on approach, I provided them examples of completed work pieces that could be handled, measured, disassembled, and reassembled. This helped.
Recently, I started providing sequential, step-by-step specimens of work pieces in progress as well as the completed examples. This approach appears to be having the desired effect. At least, more students appear to be more comfortable getting started having considered the sequential examples. I have engaged several fellow instructors to work with me in preparing additional example sets involving more complex projects.
Now, I do not have to talk so much during a lecture-demonstration. I can provide continual demonstrations working in a sequential manner on several work pieces in all stages. (Neither am I reduced to demonstrating techniques using students' work pieces which is doing their work for them.) I believe that less reliance on concepts, lowered dependency on written material, and more "talking to a process" has enhanced the learning environment.
