Jane,
So true. An instructor needs to help students to connect the dots between content and application so they will be able to take their newly acquired knowledge and skills to real world settings.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Siobhan,
Right you are in terms of maximum learning for students. The more application and relevancy you can help your students to make of the course content the greater their engagement is going to be.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Understanding the basics will help me to apply a more hands on approach to student learning. Applying the high points of lecture to the actual application of techniques should help them learn more and retain the information better.
Making the content relevent to the student is the kernel to success in Learning. My experience is that students do not like abstract, however, true learning happens when they can see how application in work or life is possible and of benefit to them.
Dr. Kevin,
Good strategy to offer variety. We all like variety in food, clothing, etc.. So why not incorporate it into our teaching. This sets the stage for success for everyone.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Understanding the basics of learning can benefit instructors by allowing them to adopt more effective delivery approaches/teaching methods. As a result of understanding how the brain functions and how learning occurs, I would be more inclined to include a variety of methods in an effort to appeal to the class as a whole rather than sticking with just one approach as this might not be optimal for many of the learners in a class.
I feel you always have to adapt to the students if you can't you are not very effective
ROB,
Are there any questions I can answer for you about this?
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Gary,
Good support you are providing your students. They often times, as you well know don't have the tools to internalize the content that is being provided. By giving them such tools you are helping them to get the content into their memory bank for use in the future.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
John,
Good way to get to know your students. This informal method gives you a "feel" for the students and then you can plan your instructional delivery from there.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Ezra,
This is a good strategy to use in expanding the learning preference options to your students. This way you are going to have more student engagement.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Very interesting i would to learn more about this approach.
Through the study of epistemology I have learned that human beings deal with the unlimited number of concretes they experience daily by forming concepts. This has helped me to understand the limits of students in a learning environment (e.g., overloading on concretes). A student can only retain a limited number of concretes in his/her mind at once. Thus, while teaching, I give students a methodology for learning that teaches them how to use conceptual compartments to store the numerous concretes we cover in class.
I will spend some time at the start of every new class and just talk with students questioning as to why they picked this field. The real reason I do this is to try and see what type learners i have. Some of my students let me know right a way they are hand on people, sometimes they tell me they don't test well, ect. I have been teaching this course severs years and have a few different directions to go with lectures and even hands on task.
In my class I may have as many as 20 students with 12 the norm, I have found several ways of explaining a single item. I try and read the faces of the students to see if i feel they understood what i just said. Sometimes I will need to have an hands on demo for the students that must feel what they are doing. I also need to try and keep the class at a good pace for the studenys who learn faster, understand more or have some experience.
Early in a course I believe it would be wise for an instructor to present some evaluative instrument, like a quiz or test, that approaches the topic of the test from various learning styles. When reviewing the results the instructor can discern much about the individual learning styles of their students. This will help them design the format(s) that can be best used for that particular group when it comes to presenting new material.
Jeffrey,
Great to hear and I am excited about the success you are going to have.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Sean,
Very good point and one that instructors need to remember as they prepare each lesson.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I also found this to be helpful. I can't wait to start applying some of this new information.
Understanding the basics is a must for a teacher. If you understand the basics and incorperate them into your class you can move on to more advance learning methods. An example of adapting an instructional startegy switching from the absract concepts to concrete examples.
