Hi Joele,
Way to win them over. Through your efforts your students now see that your gen ed course has value to their career choice. Basic academic skills are essential no matter the career choice and students need to see that. But, often it takes a daily pep talk to get the message across.
Gary
Dr Meers,
The student needs to see relevance in the instruction so they can apply the knowledge or skills to their future careers.
By constantly emphasizing how a skill transfers to a real world job, we can meet or exceed student expectations.
Kent
And it's always good to also design creative assignments that might have to do with researching their field and therefore making it relevant to them.
It's hard teaching general education classes at a culinary school. The students don't want to listen because they don't see how it's relevant, and they ask me all the time. So I had to prepare a speech and give a little "How it's relevant" talk every day before class when learning a new topic. They eventually got it and understood why they were taking this course. It helped them to pay attention a little better, to show up for class more and to take it seriously.
The Food Sanitation Certificate is one of the best examples of relevent instruction we have for a class as any food service worker who handles food in Los Angeles County has to have one in order to work.
As an English teacher, I am constantly emphasizing the need for soft skills. I am constantly looking for ways to show students where they will need to use communication skills in their careers.
Many of my students have never worked in customer service, so I need to provide examples of my own experience and present it in a manner they can understand. I will teach them soft skills and explain it's relevance to the workplace.
Hi Cecilia,
Good way to connect their life experiences and your career knowledge to what they are studying. This way they will have a realistic picture of what they are going to face.
Gary
Hi Mark,
Good way to make it "real" for your students. You are attaching dollars to learning which in turns translates to profit when they are out in the field. Great job!
Gary
I am an instructor at a culinary college. I teach students from 17 to 60 plus years. I tell them about many of my own experiences in my past jobs. We do Q & A... I tell them about the out What to expect in their future.
I use examples of problems they might encounter in the field and ask them to help me figure out what was wrong. I use the topics we have discussed and show them how each will help them reach the correct diagnosis.
I bring every day issues into class every day. I am alway trying to show student cost of waste and loss of profit as it relates to the food industry. I ask my student to watch the markets to just see how much wholesale food cos are.
They seem to get it...I do not get a lot of trash anymore.
Hi Robert,
You used a key word that works with adults--relevancy. This is so important as you know. If we can show relevancy and then make application we have accomplished much with learner like this.
Gary
I think that adult learner's needs are a basis to relevant instruction. By allowing adult learners to bring their life and work experiences to the classroom, the adult learner will be empowered to learn and teach at the same time. Relevancy can be introduced by the adult learner through their experiences which could help to reinforce the relevancy of the subject matter.
Giving them real-life examples and even "tricks of the trade" helps them to see that the skills they are learning are transferrable to their future careers. Sometimes I have former students drop by and offer up insider knowledge bridging the gap between classroom and real kitchens.
The adult learner needs and expectations will follow in line in the informational content. The classes that are taught are specific areas that they will need to build the foundation that is needed in their career. The way I like to keep the students focused is to keep making the material relevant to what they will do in the industry. I do this by making real world activities based on my experiences in the industry.
Most adult learners just want to get to the point of what "they think" is relevant. We are really fortunate because in teaching culinary education it's almost inherant that the subject material will be relevant. However, my particular class does pose a specific challenge. I teach the baking class for culinary studentswhich means that 90% of my students have no desire to bake or be in that class. it thus becomes very important for me to change adult minds into seeing the big picture of how the material is actually relevant. For example, I ask "how many of them want to own their own restaurant". Most raise their hands so i ask a follow up question, "what is the first and last thing thing you get at a restaurant when dining" The answer being "bread" and "dessert". Hearing this immediately makes them understand the relevance of the subject. I also try to give examples every day of how certain items we make can be adapted from sweet to savory, again helping them to relate.
Hi John,
As I am a "hands on" learner I agree with you about how effective this method is. It gives your students the basics when enables them to go to the next level of being creative as you mention.
Gary
Hi Gerald,
Teaching classes with students that have these types of experiences and backgrounds sounds like fun. You can really get into some exciting discussions as a result of what they are bringing to the class.
Gary
Adult Learners expectations can be met in class by providing them different learning tools such as. Reviews with Powerpoints, Outlines before a test or for use in Lecture. This allows each student and a particular learning need to be addressed in class.
