I believe one of the biggest communication skills is organization. If your students don't see the "big picture" or if your lecture is randomly presented, no student will be able to follow you.
One of my biggest struggles is that I probably talk too fast. I'm not necessarily nervous to fill the silences, but I usually have so much that I want to share with the students I feel like I will run out of time if I don't talk fast. This probably prevents many students from being able to process the information I've presented well and possibly even hinders retention.
The communication skill I believe to be the most important is walking the room. Just by performing the simple task of walking the room while speaking the instructor is almost automatically going to make eye contact with their students. This is important because the movement and the eye contact help keep the students involved in the lecture or discussion. The instructor maintains eye contact because as they move around the room they are looking at the class from a different perspective which requires them to look at the students from a differeent angle.
I personally walk my class room constantly anyway. Every student can expect me to look at them as I am speaking. Constant movement keeps the students involved in the lecture or discussion. This movement also helps me spot those "texting" rather than listening. When I catch them not paying attention, this provides the opportunity to simply stop and be quiet until they realize their activity is holding up the entire class.
If for some reason a student is experiencing hearing me clearly for what ever reason, it becomes easier for them to hear as I move around the room. Moving around the room also provides me the opportunity to see who is taking good notes and who might need some counseling. When I spot a student taking good notes I will pat them on the back and point to their notes and smile. This lets them know they are doing a good job.
There are many such reasons I believe that walking the room while lecturing or facilitating a discussion provides the instructor invaluable information about the class just as it keeps the students engaged.
As an instructor, I personally would like to improve my pronounciation of some vocabulary. Occassionally, I experience difficulty properly pronouncing certain words. This weakness also affects my ability to properly spell a word due to inaccurately pronounciation. This is a trait I have strived to improve for many years and will continue to practice new techniques.
I think listening and be patient are very important in communication, that especially in career college. Meantime, I believe to understand and respect diversity of culture is imperative. To me, I think to totally forget or ignore culture influence I grow up with and 100% accept the way of student’s behavior under American culture is somehow challenge sometimes. I have done a lot better now than 10 years ago, but I think it is impossible to ignore any culture perspectives, and only way to make the communication smooth and succeed is to respect other culture and adapt it.
I think being able to deliver clearly the same information in different formats and over the course of the class is one of the most important communications skills. Repeating yourself on important subject matter makes it sink in over time, students can not be expected to remember something you mentioned only once in class. Then being able to say the same thing in different ways helps hit diverse students because they may understand things differently then other students, but all of this must be done clearly. As an instructor I would like to be a little more connected with the students, I need to improve on eye contact and calling on students including the ones who I know are having a harder time. I tend to let the students answer the questions they know and not call on people, but I think that this can be healthy for students as long as I set them up for success not failure.
William
the most important communication skilll in a diverse learning environmen is the ability to say a statement in different ways so that all stundets can understand the information.
That is the skill that I need to improve.
Hi William! Good observation! An instructor who uses incorrect vocabulary, particularly in his or her subject or discipline, sends a message that he or she is not experienced or credentialed in the topic at hand - as you mentioned, it's just flat out unprofessional.
Jay
ED106 Facilitator
Hi Shawn! Thanks for your comments! I tend to speed up as well, particualrly when I ma really into a topic, or "on a roll." I have found that inserting an example or anecdote, asking a question, asking a volunteer student to paraphrase, and using different delivery resources (PPT, whiteboard, flip chart, etc.) all help to moderate timing a bit.
Jay Hollowell
ED106 Facilitator
The most important thing that an instructor can do to improve their communication is to improve their vocabulary. Improper use of terms and wording is not only confusing, it creates an image of unprofessionalism. That doesn't mean we need to try and impress students by using fourteen-letter words - just making sure that we use words effectively and properly. I am sure that everyone has heard at least one example at sometime in the classroom. The one that always gets me that you hear alot from the military, particularly Army guys, is "orientated". Improving our vocabulary is the best thing that we can do to improve our communication effectiveness and hopefully it will wear off on our students as well.
I believe that non-verbal communication skills are the most important. A grand, sweeping gesture at the right time can foster a feeling of inclusiveness.
I would like to improve my pace. I am from the east coast, teaching in the midwest, and even when I slow down my pace, about 10% of the students state that they have to work hard to keep up with me.
Begin with thorough knowledge of the subject being taught. Index cards are good if it is a relatively new subject you haven't quite gotten down yet. Once you are comfortable with the subject, the rest is almost easy. Just as a director uses his baton to direct an orchestra, you use your hands to point out the important pieces of the lecture. Animation works well. You are on stage. You would not be amused by an actor that just stands there and speaks, you need and want motion! I once was discussing hydroplaning in a vehicle. The class knew what it was, but having me pretending to be in the car, sliding across the front of the room and making skidding noises was a lot more memorable than just talking about the physics of hydroplaning. Have fun with the class. If I cannot have fun teaching, how can I expect the student to get involved with the concepts I'm putting across? Think of yourself telling a story during a family get together. You don't try to emphasize anything or conciously think about gesture, you just do them. What is the difference with a class? Be yourself.
Repeating information and checking with return demo,quiz and questions to be sure the material is understood. As an instructor I need to be more experience creating new power points. I use the board alot and my drawing skills are not the best! M. Bejin
I believe that non-verbal communication is important in a diverse learning environment. The words we speak must match the message we present with our clothes, body language, hand gestures etc. As an instructor, I am constantly looking for ways to improve my ability to bring those who don't participate into the classroom environment - active engagement. There are many reasons why students don't participate - fear, lack of preparation, self-conscious, no experience, but when I get to know them, their knowledge and their experience/s, and then use that to bring them into the conversation it helps them to learn and grow.
The most important skill is being able to convey a clear and concise meaning. Teachers will need to be mindful of appropriate word selection especially since interacting with diverse groups.
As an Instructor, I want to continue to improve on my vocabulary. It it vital that an Instructor finds the correct words to educate, motivate, and inspire all students.
I feel that application and reason for content is crucial. If I don't have a real-world application, it is difficult to motivate the importance of learning the content.
As for the communication skill needing improvement, I would say more eye contact and more floating to improve my body language. That increases more attention for students.
Whether I am communicating as a team leader, team member, educator, or as a friend, one of the critical pieces that I try to first understand is the audience. When you stand in front of a group of students, it may be a challenge to 'read' their reactions, but it is far more challenging when you are communicating over long distances or virtually. In most cases, I find it useful (for me and the class) to always try to check for understanding.
From a teaching perspective, I think it is important to communicate with confidence and passion. You have to be confindent to show confidence. You should be inspired by the belief of your cause and what you are particularly speaking about during that class. I read somewhere that before class, predetermine your mind to success and you will be a good presenter.
When we are speaking passionaly about a subject, our bodies tend to move with the emotion we are often feeling on the inside. Students pick up on that and they are more likely to pay attention.
As an instructor, the communication skill I would like to improve is to not talk so fast. One thing that I started do this quarter is to only put half of the notes in a powerpoint and write the rest on the board. Two things occur; 1. I have to write out key points on the board so it forces me to slow down
2. Students are forced to participate in their learning experience by having to also write the key points and it's another application to retain the material.
Communication skills start with knowing the subject. Once that is firm, the teacher of adults need to show how what they are learning is of value to them. Subsequently, instructors of adult students should put the material simply with the ability to generate discussion and motivate adults to participate.
I think that it is important to observe students' responses to what is being taught. I have caught myself teaching under the assumption that the students were "with" me, then suddenly notice perplexed faces staring back at me. If I keep in tune with my students' reactions and expressions it's easier to identify if/when they don't grasp the material.
I like to ask questions to keep students involved and challenged. I would like to improve on formulating my impromptu questions so that they are more succinct.
After teaching Communication 101, I have found
several things that I taught my students that I
do, and a few things I do not as much as I should. (I won't divulge what they are, but I will definitely work on improvement, thanks to
this course.)
