Assessing general education skills I believe gives the instructor an clear perception of how to formulate a positve learning environment
Hi Vaughan, Yes, having advance knowledge of students' abiliites can really help when dealing with instructional strategies. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
It would help me as a new Instructor to format my lesson plan to reach a level so every student will get the information I am teaching.
Hi Jose, Yes, unfortunately we see too many students who are lacking those basic skills. Realisticaly, we are limited in what remediation we can offer in the short time they spend with us, but, as you say we need to do what we can.
Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
The assessment of general education skills is very important. As an instructor, I want to know the general education skills my students bring to the class. Students with ineffective communication skill and poor soft skill levels cannot success in the real world. Institutions have to be sure to provide not only the technical and field skills necessary for the students' careers but also the general education and soft skills.
Assessment is important because of all the decisions you will make about students when teaching and focusing on them. Assessments must have a clear benefit—either in direct services to the student or in improved quality of educational programs.
Hi Deborah, Although we are of course limited in what remediation we can offer these students in the short time that we will be working with them, as you state, starting immediately to tutor etc. is essential! Susan
Susan Polick
Knowing the general education levels of my students is important to me as an instructor. I need to know if the basic reading, writing and math skills are missing, and may need to adjust to accommodate their ability to learn. I can start right away with tutoring and bringing the student up to the level needed before he starts to do poorly in the class or gets left behind.
Students need to know the basics in order to be able to acheive success in the long run.
Hi Kimberly, Yes, we do unfortunately run into this too often. We can only do our best effort at remediation in the short time that we have them in our programs. Susan
Susan Polick
I agree that is is very important as well. Right now the assessment of my students is left up to me during class. It is amazing the math skill that are lacking from some of my students. The field they are preparing for in my class requires daily basic math skills and I have several students who struggle. It makes it difficult as an instructor to make them feel comfortable and help them in class while the rest of the students are zipping along.
Hi Lorraine, Yes, we too often encounter this problem and of course are limited in what remediation we can offer in the short time these students are enrolled in our programs.
Susan
Susan Polick
It is very hard to teach a student that does not have the basic skills of reading comprehension and critical thinking.
Hi James, Thanks for your post to the forum. You mention an important point - we do get students who have real problems with reading, writing and math. How much we can do with remediation in the short time that we have them as students is a question, but we do need to do all that we can because these graduates are representing our programs.
Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
There are plenty of reading assignments in our classes and if a student has trouble reading they will fall behind. Once out in the field our students will need to communicate effectively with the public which may mean going over discharge instructions and filling medications which will involve reading the doctor's instructions and using math to dispense the correct amount of medication. If we have not assessed their general skills appropriately they may escape into the field not fully prepared to deal with their job. We need to make sure that they are ready. Assessing their skills and helping to fix them will make them a better member of the working population.
John, you make a great point regarding language barriers. We have a highly diverse/international student population. English as a second language is common. Things do get lost in cultural translation.
When instructors understand students' reading, writing, and math skills, they can design instructional supports more effectively. These skills are cornerstones for professional success.
Hi Cecilia, Excellent point! At our college we try to get graduates and also reps of industries who hire our grads to come to speak to our students on this topics - it has great impact! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career, Susan
Susan Polick
It's important to find out where the student is academically, to identify which students might need more help, and which should get more encouragement. Instructors should then explain why these skills are so important in the world--it makes them a more qualified candidate when looking for jobs. I didn't understand this when I was very young, and I think a lot of students don't "get" it, they ask why can't they just do the career program without the gen ed component.
It's important because if the students have to be able to do the basics before they can start learning more. it's like the foundation of learning.
