Hi Joan,
This is a very good approach because it gives you the information you need to plan your instructional delivery and pace. I use baseline assessments with my students and have had the same results as you have. I feel I am able to target the needs of the students much more effectively.
Gary
The understanding of learner characteristics help in instructional planning process by knowing what to teach and how to teach. For example, if you have students that do not have a clear understanding of a topic you can begin at the basics. However if you have a diverse classroom you may need to find a faster pace but at the same time aim to meet everyone’s needs in the classroom. This can be done by using surveys in the beginning of class. If a majority of the class is at a beginner level you will need to start your class at a slower pace. I think understanding of learner characteristics is also a great way to encourage your students.
Understanding learner characteristics helps give an instructor a better understanding of the students in the class. By understanding the students, instructors are able to better relate and give the students the tools they need to be successful.
There are some students that will learn differently than others and the instructor has to challenge herself to be able to get the same concept to all of the students
Hi Carolyn,
What are some of the methods you use to identify the characteristics of your students?
Thanks.
Gary
Hi Robert,
Sometimes it's better to let the person that doesn't have a lot of experience take the lead. It helps to build confidence. It also helps the students that are used to leading, how to rely on others and follow for a change. The most effective leaders are those that know how to follow.
Leanne
Hi Stephanie,
I have tried this approach, but sometimes it doesn't work, and the stronger student ends up doing all of the work, but doesn't want to speak up and say so. Has anyone else encountered this?
Thanks,
Leanne
Some students need for their learning environment to be highly structured, with very specific rubrics, examples and demonsrations of each assignment, etc. However, there are some that excel when assignments are not so specific, and are given a little room to stretch their creative legs. For this reason, I have found that it's good to get to know my students' capabilities. I teach in a purely online setting, so getting my students to attend live chats goes a long way in accomplishing this. Adult learners will usually share their worries in the first chat, as long as I can get them there. I have tried a few things to gain this end, such as posting announcements for every chat, sometimes in bright colors, and even e-mailing the announcement to the entire class. Anyone have any other ideas of how I can entice them to attend that first chat?
A good understanding of the learner characteristics will help the instructor create the best way to get the material across.
It helps you meet the needs of all learners by considering where they have been and what their motivation is...you can taylor your lessons to address them.
It helps us to teach the student in the correct maner and speed.
Hi Robert,
Great ideas that you shared in your comments. Thank you for the input. Your last sentence puts it all in perspective. "Just LEAD!" If the instructor doesn't lead it is going to make for a veeeeerrrrrry looooong course for everyone because the students are going to struggle to figure out what is expected and who is in charge. The instructor is going to feel disrespected and alienated so no one is going to be happy.
Gary
Hi Melanie,
Rotating leadership in a work group is a good idea. Often when starting a new class out you can draw upon the most experienced person to get the group started and then start the rotation so everyone gets the chance to contribute and coordinate the learning for their group.
Gary
How does an understanding of learner characteristics help in the instructional planning process?
I find student leadership rises to the top in a team/classroom setting from just about anyone given personalities and motivations within the class. Sometimes older, sometimes younger, it just depends on who steps up to the plate and swings for the fences in moving a class forward.
The goal is to move a class through the steps of group development or team building steps. Form em, storm em, norm em, perform em, dismiss em.
We all know it takes formal leadership out front during the forming stage to settle a team/class in. The goal is to move the group through the forming and storming stages as quickly as possible then let formal leadership "step aside" and watch student informal leadership take the helm.
What's most important to me as facilitator is to watch the overall "barometer" for the total team/group.
Whose stepping up? Encourage and validate.
Whose quiet kept and in idle mode? Get them out of the starter blocks and moving.
Whose voicing discontent and causing the storm to stick around? Resolve the issues and keep moving.
Whose jittery and reluctant? Work one-on-one, pair them up with student/coaches, get some of their skin in the game.
Leadership is sometimes described as the art of influencing others. I like to think it's often more about getting people what you want them to do and they like it!
If you have some insight into your team/group/class personalities and traits, situations and motivations, you can then design a useful and meaningful approach to total team building for the entire class to leverage for success. Just LEAD!
Thanks.
When I am planning I try to include something.
That is:
Something visual
something auditory
something tactile
something motor
something exploratory
something cognitive.
Knowing the student's learner characteristics (age, culture, disability, family, etc) helps us to know how we can support the students. It helps us know what type of learning activities to provide for them. For example, offering group learning activities with age diversity is great, so that the younger students can appreciate the life experiences that the older adult has to offer and the older students can learn from the younger students as well. Knowing the previous academic education and life experiences will help us plan how we will present the class material; can we use more advanced case examples, or do we need to start at a more basic level? If we have a student that is doing poorly in the class, having a sense of that student's learning characteristics will help us know why they may be struggling and give us a starting point of how to help them. Though, we hopefully will have provided appropriate learning opportunities and support along the way, having learned up front what their learning characteristics are, so that they would not get to a point of doing poorly. One learning characteristic that will be especially important to recognize up front is any type of intrinsic limitation issue, such as a student's feeling they have a lack of competency in a certain skill, perhaps difficulty with computer usage for an older adult returning to the classroom. Knowing about this limitation up front, we can provide support to help them overcome this issue. Maybe suggesting a basic computer proficiency course in the learning lab.
How does one know who is the most experienced? I think changing the leader so everyone has an opportunity to grow is a better approach.
Understanding learner characteristics is crucial to instructional planning process. I teach writing and in this field, the writer needs to think about the audience before writing a piece, because the effectiveness of the piece depends on whether it addresses the audience or not...the same holds true with regard to knowing learner characteristics...the learner is the audience and the instructor needs to know the characterteristics of the learner in order to adapt the course material to meet the student needs.
Hi Jacob,
This is a very good point. What are some of the strategies that you use to identify the learning preferences of your students?
Thanks.
Gary
Inorder for the instructor to be as effective as possible, the instructor needs to understand how each of the students in the class learns. This will enable the instructor to provide the proper basis for each of the students to understand the material, participate in discussions and master the material.
