Hi Leslie,
Excellent way to accommodate all of the different dynamics and personalities represented in your classes. Your methods are enabling all of your students to achieve success if they are willing to put forth the effort.
Gary
You have to understand the learner and what works for them before any instruction can be planned. The planning process is created from knowing your target audience.
I teach an online course that is already developed - and hopefully this issue has been addressed in the actual work involved in the course when it was originally written.
The way that learner charactersitics affect my instruction process - is that I focus on being tentative in my reactions and replies to students (as I may know know their age, race, culture, disability status). I also try to be flexible (in so much that the goals of the course/particular assignments remain unchanged). An example would be when I taught a career development course - and there were times when I had students who were already quite accomplished in their previous careers, but were getting a degree to augment their career, or they were changing careers. In any event, some of the assignments were written with traditional aged college students in mind - so it was important to adjust some of the assignments as to show respect and acknowledgement for what that particular student (usually quite a bit older than the traditaionl student) had already accomplished in his/her career.
Leslie
The more you understand the obstacles that the increasing number of students are facing today the more successful you can be. It is not only age,ethnicity and income status as much as it is confidence and the driving force behind there decision to become students.
Hi Amy,
This is so important because by using the life experiences your students bring to class you can create a connection between their lives and the course content. This helps them to see the transition they need to make into becoming successful students.
Gary
Understanding the learning characteristics of my students is essential because as an instructor of a skill trade, each student can bring experinces to their peers. This makes the learning of information legitimate and understandable.
Hi "Doc",
Well put. The key is getting the students to see how this sojourn will result in their moving closer to their career goals. Once they do they can capture the essence the content and skill development and how both will contribute to their future.
Gary
Dr. Meers and Class,
It seems to me that the educational enterprise is like a sojourn. One must have a starting-point in order to establish the trajectory of the course. Additionally, one must have a destination (or, at least, a direction in mind) as well. This is where understanding learner characteristics are useful. The learners' characteristics are the beginning point of our educational sojourn together. The destination is the outcome to be achieved. Even if every step we take together is correct along the sojourn, without knowledge of the starting point of the enterprise, we risk taking steps in the wrong direction, needlessly revisiting already well-traveled destinations, and potentially failing to complete the journey.
When I begin with knowledge of the student, I am better prepared to plan with the adult-learner the sojourn we need to take. We may be able to prevent a circuitous wandering about the materials and actually discover something new and wonderful.
Thanks!
Dr. John "Doc" Heckman
It allows the instructor the fore knowledge to plan lessons incorporating different techniques to "reach" a wide variety of the students.
Hi Jeff,
You are right about the sharing of your own fears or frustrations with students. This also helps the students to see the instructor in a more human light since they realize that instructors have many of the same concerns as do they.
Gary
Learner characteristics are an intrinsic part of the learning process. Understanding each students fears and frustrations, as well as their motivational sources can help an instructor fine tune lesson plans and approaches and communicate more effectively. I find one of the best ways to find out someone's fears, frustrations etc., is to expose one or more of your own.
James,
Good point regarding trust. Without it, very little can get accomplished. In learning and in life. Once trust is established, and respect for each other . . . an exchange of information can more easily take place. A great place to start is learning names . . . but more importantly saying what you mean and meaning what you say is a good path to trust and respect.
Hi Michael,
The corporate world is very demanding as you have indicated and it expects a lot of those that work within so I can understand from where you are speaking. In education I do believe that we need to use all of the "tools" that we can to engage learners in the process of acquiring the knowledge and skills needed for career success. By using different approaches this can be done the students are successful and everyone benefits from their growth.
Gary
I agree that students need to be able to develop the learning styles that are not their strengths, because they will need to use them at times on the job. I think teaching how to adapt to other people's preferred style would be valuable. For example, I was talking with a business owner who has a corporate client. He has been trying to explain to them how a project needs to be done to work correctly. I asked him if he has drawn them a picture, since business meetings will often have charts to explain data. He did say he has bought a laptop, and will be doing more powerpoint presentations for his business clients, because that is how they are used to seeing information.
I teach using my life experiences in the real world.
In the business world, we are not interested in how you learn and we are NOT going to provide an environment which suits the individual. If the project calls for teamwork, then teamwork it will be, if it calls for indivual work, so be it. The manager will tell you what needs to be done and if the manager is good, he/she MAY tell you why the assignment is necessary. Management is NOT interested in how you learn, only that you learn and get the job done efficiently, effectively and timely. How you accomplish it is up to you. At best, you may be able to ask questions, and if you don't, it will be assumed that everything is CRYSTAL CLEAR.
This will aid in teaching all students, knowing the characteristics will allow for easy recognition of what is best for each student. An increased awareness on who to aid all learners.
Hi Deborah,
"Reading" students is critical for teaching success. You make a good point about needing to pay attention to what the students are both saying and not saying while in class. Both of these variables can really influence their dedication to the course and success within it.
Gary
In my class room I feel it is extremely important to understand who the individual students are and thier individual level of competency.
I understand what classes they have passed prior to coming to the current module. This does not mean that they all possess the same skill set and level of knowledge needed to be successful. By getting to kn ow the individual student I can modify my delivery to better suit thier level.
It is important to understand learner characteristics to account for the levels of participation in the course. If there are students who admittedly learn better by having tangible material to study, the instructor can plan to incorporate reading assignments and learning activities that accomodate this type of learning. Likewise, if there are students that are rather talkative, they may appreciate the opportunity to interact via discussions with the instructor and other classmates.
April Raines
paying attention to an individual's response to a question during class or by watching other students when you are giving lectures can tell you alot about a student.
