Different people learn differently. If you plan on being successful as an instructor you must learn how to deal with many different kinds of learners. I once had to take a class on an incredibly boring subject that required loads of memorization. The instructor arrived early every day and unloaded paper, markers, and little toys. I asked her why and she explained that some people just learned better if they could be doing something with their hands....it really endeared her to me. She have really thought about her students.
I really enjoy a classroom that has a diversity in experience levels/ages/backgrounds/etc. This really allows for students to learn from one another. Learning, it seems, is more powerful peer-to-peer than instructor-to-student.
Understanding learner characteristics helps you to design relevant and appropriate course content. Students' stories of who they are and how they have come to be in school uncover a lot of insight into their goals and motivations. If an instructor operates without an acknowledgment of the students' goals, it could be very difficult to engage that student in learning. I teach career development. The very first assignment is for the student to complete a career autobiography. This assignment allows me to learn where the student has come from and where he/she is trying to go. Through that, I can adjust my approach to help each student on his/her path.
This will allow the instructor to have a diverse lesson and meet the needs of all the students. I as a instructure I teach my class as if they all have ADD. The reason behind this is because I do. I also have a few other learning issues I spent years getting a control on. I know how most of the students feel on the disability side and being the nontraditional student(I started after the military. Don't get me wrong I do not talk down to my students but I bring items down to a level that sosmeone with diffuculty can understand. Then I build from there to challange the other students. This allows everyone to be challenged but not feel like a failure. This helps build confidence and as the class continues all students step up to learn the more difficult items.
As a former law student, I have extensive experience with the Socratic method of teaching and overall I find that students when given the opportunity and proper environment learn from each other and teach each other more about any given subject than they could ever get from a professor or lecturer, especially in an online environment. Adult learners in particular seem to thrive in this system as they frequently have relevant work and personal experiences to share that relate to the course offerings. They also appreciate being able to learn and apply practical information in their current careers right away.
Hi Kim,
Good set of questions. These help the students to reflect why they are enrolled and where they are hoping to take their careers. Also, their answers help you to get to know them better. This is a win win for everyone.
Gary
I teach an online career development class and one of our first assignments is for the students to write a "career autobiography." We prompt them with questions such as what did you want to do when you were younger? How did you arrive at your current career choice? What are your career goals? Career fears? And what do you hope to get out of the course. This is a chance for us to get to know the students and reach out to them based on their background and needs.
Hi Sheila,
By following the approach you shared with us an instructor could help students to feel accepted and comfortable in this class. When working with ELL students this sense of acceptance is so important if they are going to continue in the class and feel like they have something to contribute.
Gary
I teach exclusively online and find that it is difficult to know the learner characteristics of my students because I don't know their age, cultural background or disabilities unless they have stated them to me. I can't ask them for fear of discrimination. Does anyone have suggestions for implementing these suggestions to the online environment?
There are a variety of ways we learn. We often teach the way we learn best not necessarily based on the learning styles of our students. Additionally, we often teach in the manner that is most economical for us which is lecture. We need to be teaching the same content in a variety of ways (more than just one) to ensure we are targeting the variety of learning styles represented in our classroom.
I prefer to use groups of 3 to 4 for my discussions.
As an ESL teacher it is important that I undertand the culture of my students. This allows me to plan and implement strategies that help ELL learners understand content. Also, I am aware of words, phrases, or terms which are culturally biased and, therefore, may cause confusion for the ELL students. It is important that the culture of the students is shown respect amd acceptance.
you have an overview and total picture of the contents as well as the students you have to deal with..it is more effective if you have the total understanding of the learner characteristics
If the instructor can "walk in the shoes of their students" and meet their student's basic and safety needs (address these issues when planning their instruction), students will be more successful.
Great points on this Karen
I have found it helpful because understanding our adult learners aids with facilitation of the course material
As we know there are different learning styles and different multiple intelligence types so if we, as instructors, are aware of our student's characteristics we may be able to find a method that will be able to get our message out, and understood, to all the students.
Hi Michael,
Thanks for sharing how you involve your students in the learning process. Effective online instruction is important to keep students engaged.
I really like your philosophy. It truly is a gift that can be shared.
Gary
Hi Amanda,
Good approach to bringing diverse learning opportunities to the classroom by offering content in different formats. This helps the students to use their learning preferences in more effective ways.
Gary
Being an Online Instructor has challenged me to take my technical skills to a whole new level to meet learner needs.
I have been teaching online now for six years and it has been a work in process. The more you learn from your students the more you can do to help them succeed.
The way I continually to do this is by providing them with my website which I use as I would a chalkboard by displaying the key concepts from the book with demonstration problems. In addition, they can download an audio version of me discussing the chapter, provide additional tutorial software resources and real world organizations websites for additional learning.
My philosophy in teaching is as follows:
"Learning is a gift to be shared by all."
Michael
