Understanding Learner Characteristics
How does an understanding of learner characteristics help in the instructional planning process?
Each student is different with their ability to learn. Instructors need to understand the characteristics of each learner in order to reach them. Repetition is the key to reaching everyone. If you repeat yourself more than once if they do not get it the first time they will get it eventually.
Hi Michael,
Good points about knowing more about your students and then targeting their instructional preferences. This will increase the retention of content by students as well as help them to see relevancy to what they are learning.
Gary
to deliver different instructional methods
It helps a great deal to be able to communicate effectively to the learner. The goal is for the learner to learn, not just the teacher teaching.
Understanding the learning characteristics helps the instructional planning process because it helps the instructor choose appropriate instructional methods. Student success is dependent on the way in which material is presented. As an instructor it is important to cater to the learning styles and needs of all students.
Hi Elizabeth,
I teach mathematics as well, and I like you three level idea; however, can you briefly explain a hilly and a mountainous assignment?
Michael Nevitt
As an educator, I believe that understanding learners' characteristics helps me develop better lesson plans and gives insight on the steps I must take to assist my learners in achieving the highest level of success throughout my courses. If an educator fails to understand student characteristics, learning styles, and learning deficiencies, students will lose interest, thus leading to a lowered course retention rate.
Michael Nevitt
Yes, in addtion to simply being able to explain the concept in a different way, in order to help comprehension, it helps to be cognizant of diversity and varying backgrounds.
I teach Math. Many stuggle with math. Every person learns and acquires skills in a different manner. This is especially true with math.
The fact that Math builds on previous concepts exacerbates this truth. One cannot learn calculus until you know and understand algebra. One cannot learn algebra until you now and understand adding of fractions. One cannot know and understand fractions until you know your arithmetic. This is also true of details within each topic. So, of you fail to grasp one topic, you will severely inhibit your ability to move to the next topic.
There is a tendency to say "I don't follow this, but go ahead and move on". In math you can't do this, you must learn each topic before moving on.
Due to both of these concpets, individual learning modes and the building of the material, requires the ability of the instructor to be able to describe the concept in mulitple different ways so that each student can understand before moving on.
Hi Larry,
Your last sentence really captures the essence of teaching subjects like yours. By knowing the characteristics you can adapt your delivery to meet their needs while maintaining the standards of the course.
Gary
I think that if you are aware of the students learning abilities and the different ways in which we all learn, you are able to adapt your material in order to promote higher order thinking as well as enthusiasm for learning on the students behalf. We all learn in different ways and have our strengths and weaknesses. I try to identify how each student learns and where their strengths are within the first week of class. This allows me to adapt my material and teaching style so the information is being taught in a active and retain-able fashion.
When teaching math, understanding learner characteristics in the classroom can lower the fear factor while providing an environmetn that is safe for questions and safe to perhaps make an error. Math sometimes is learned by trial and error. Failure to ujndertsand learner characteristics can kill this channel of learning math.
Giving allowing the instructor to have an insightof a student
Everyone learns and retains in differant ways
I believe that a understanding of learner characteristics help in the instructional planning process by helping the instructor understand how tailor the course content to help increase student participation. This understanding helps you aid the students in relating the material to real world situations and application. The more real the content relates to the student's present circumstances, more involved and enthusiastic the student will be in class. This enthusiasm will become more contagious and lead to a higher course retention.
What a great question. The understanding of learner characteristics can help the in the instructional planning process on many different levels. The use of holosagogy comes to mind. We as instructors typically want to be all things to our students. We all truly (hopefully) want the best for each person learning from what we share in the course room. However, we are each individuals. And because we are each unique in our values and experiences how do we truly understand each other? Moving beyond this, there are fundamental characteristics that can help by having the proper instructional planning.
On one level is the understanding of the student’s conative ability. We must understand how the students gains and retains information. This is typically broken into three learning styles: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. By preparing information in such a manner that it repeats it’s self on each different style it can allow for each student to have a chance at getting the information provided. By providing the information in repetition and by the different styles is simplest approach to instructional planning.
The next level is providing information in a manner that allows for the student to have an experience with the information. How can the student experience the information? The student can have an experience by providing the stories with the knowledge attainment process. Professionals in the work place have needed to apply the information in “real world experienceâ€. Sharing the information to the students in this manner allows them to see that the information is beyond academic.
The finial level is when the information changes a person’s life. As you can see this kind of experience rarely happens. However, meaningfulness of the information cannot be measured by the person doing the speaking. It is of course measured by the person who is listening. Therefore, holosgistic paradigm must be an important cornerstone for the instructor. Each part of the learning environment must be examined and carefully scrutinized for the greatest success a student can obtain.
I have found that being able to identify the type of learner your students are, it better enables me to help accomplish teaching them the material. As an instructor, and having been both a traditional and non-traditional student, I noticed the differences in the appoach to learning changes.
It find it especially challenging at times trying to accomodate the diversity of students and their special needs given their challenge in learning. It is an ongoing, everchanging challege to be an instructor and be "politically" correct when teaching.
I think that understanding your students also helps you to know how to teach in the classroom. You need to recognize how they learn best - whether thru lecture, taking notes, or classroom discussions.
To understand each person learning characteristics is you have to understand their learning needs and level first. If that person learns well by book or hands on. Once you learn their learning levels then you will teach what and how in their level to master their new skills.
