Learner characteristics are of the utmost importance to my staff and I. We train a hands-on program that requires not only technical expertise but also excellent communication skills on a personal level. If a student misses a key element due to us failing to instruct in a manner they can learn from,we,as instructors, have limited their income and have failed to help them suceed.
Our program must be adaptive to the individual learner or we fail.
Understanding learner characteristics helps in many ways. It enables instructors to write a lesson plan using two or three different methods of explanation. Some students learn by doing, some learn by reading, some learn only through lecture, some by two of the three and some by all. All students definitly need reinforcement, learner characteristics help instructors to determine what reinforment is best suited for a particular student.
Hi Again,
You have asked a question that is raised by a number of instructors in career colleges throughout the United States. Do I have to make accommodations or can I make accommodations for persons with learning disabilities?
The first rule is that all of the students have to master the skills and competencies required to be successful in their chosen field. This fact cannot be altered. If you and your college start to reduce the requirements and standards there soon will be problems due to the fact that your students are not trained to business/industry standards.
The second part of the situation is that there are a number of different ways students can acquire the skills and knowledge needed to be successful. Making modifications for students with learning disabilities in no way compromises the course or its' requirements. You may accommodate a LD student by drawing a box around each test question, so that person will be able to stay confined within the box while completing the question. The only modification you have made is the box and the space between questions. I often do this for my students and I give the same test format to all. This way I have done the same thing for all students. There are many little modifications that can bee made without expending a lot of time or effort in doing so. I would recommend that you get a copy of a special education textbook and look at the suggestions they make in terms of learning modifications.
Thus, my feeling is that you can make modifications for LD students that will enable them to progress in their training. In addition, many worksites based upon worker suggestions will allow the worksites to be modified to meet worker needs, just as long as the work gets done.
Hope this was of help to you.
Gary
Hi Eric,
The key to teaching a standardized curriculum is to understand how much modification to the delivery that you can make and still cover the required material. You are on the right track with making a note of how the lessons are going and then making changes the next time.
Experience has shown that if you keep a notebook of your experiences it is easier to make modifications the next time around since you don't have to rely totally on memory. Also, by keeping the notebook of teaching strategies, you build for yourself a professional library of methods that can be used over a period of time.
Student learning characteristics help you in planning how you are going to make instructional delivery. You have a better picture of how your students are going to do, if you understand their characteristics and learning patterns. This understanding will also help you in creating a learning community for your class.
Gary
I have a question regarding student disabilities.
The school I work for makes no accomodations for people with learning disabilities. The rational is that in the "real" world people are not going to make accomodations for the student, so we are training them for the real world. Do you think this is fair, or misguided? I have mixed feelings about it as an instructor
The understanding of learner characteristics will of course be helpful in the instructional plannig process, but how much should it drive it? For example, In the courses I teach the lesson plans are already written out.While I can modify them a little as I teach, I still need to cover a certain amount of material during that class. :-/
I find it very frustrating, normally I try to make note of it and change that class the next time. Of course with the next class maybe that section won't be a problem.
Hi Ken,
Even though you have worked through all four of the Modules, I thought it would be good if we could exchange some information about how to better serve our students.
You mentioned that understanding learner characteristics can be a great tool to better instruction. What steps do you go through to become familiar with your students' learning characteristics? Do you use a check list, student survey, or some other device to collect your information?
Fear is a big factor when dealing with adults in a new learning setting. They at all costs do not want to be embarrassed by their performance in class. As you walk them through the steps of instruction this is always a challenge. Based upon experience this must be a student by student effort. Each adult is bringing his/her background and situation to the classroom/laboratory and the challenge of the instructor is to make sure that all these experiences are factored into the general classroom setting in order to create a learning community that will benefit all.
As you mentioned early success is a way to get them started in the learning sequence. Good luck with your efforts.
Gary
