This is an interesting topic for me. I have taught online for about 5 years now and during that time I have had just about every type of student in my classes that I can imagine. The most important lesson I have learned is that each student is different in some way, and their learning styles are also different.
There are some fundamental learning styles that we all probably know about and try to accomodate, and the design of the courses also typically attempts to provide learning opportunities for different learning styles, but there are still individual needs that each student has and understanding each student's characteristics will help us provide additional learning opportunities.
As an example, I teach a number of "Success in College" types of introductory courses. The students in these courses may be fearful, shy, busy, etc. Each of these issues can help in the way I communicate with the student to help them maximize their learning opportunities in the class. I can coach, provide additional resources, etc. to help each student. When I know them better, I can individually guide them as much as possible to help them do their best.
Kurt
Hi Michael,
I agree about twitter and texting in terms of limitations. It will be interesting how all these forms of communication work out in terms of the emotional development and social interaction aspects of career success in the coming years.
Gary
Hello Gary,
I'm not sure. My guess is that there will be new social networks, but that they will resemble those that exist now.
There is talk at my institution of trying to incorporate texting and twitter. I think that it might be a useful complementary activity. That is, as a complement to class meetngs, online or in the classroom. But twitter and texting seem too limited (to me) for students to really go into the material deeply.
While planning for the first class session, remembering that your new students will likely have many diversities, whether cultural, ethnic, or in learning characteristics, may enable the instructor to have the correct mindset and also to pre-prepare various materials relevant to the anticipated variety of viewpoints. After the initialization of the routine class starting procedures, attending to and addressing the student's comfort level in the abovementioned diversities in a prompt manner gives the students confidense that their instructor is actually "there for them, and each of them". This assists greatly in establishing the atmosphere for the class during the first, and later, class meetings.
Hi Michael,
You raise a very good question that I have thought about much over the past few years. In about one decade our social networks and communication devices have changed dramatically. How this will impact the Gen Ys as they age is a going to be a social study of great interest to many. Will they look for more human interaction, will they continue to separate themselves from others, or will new technology create additional social networks that we aren't aware of today?
Gary
I find this quite interesting. The motivation of older students does differ from younger students. I intend to continue teaching for some time. I wonder, if as they age, younger people will continue to value their social networks.
I teach adult, non-traditional students. They want to know how the material in the course relates to their life and career experiences. I keep that in mind whenever I am doing a presentation or discussing the material with them. Whenever we are going over something particularly abstract, I ask
"Why are we going over this?". The answer is usually that it will help them understanding of the material, and take that understanding with them.
Understanding different learner characteristics allows you the instructor to approach each different student with the same content but in a matter that they all get it. If delivered properly they see the validity and integrity about the topic you are discussing.
It is very important to understand the leaner on several levels. frist, there educational level, second there socal reqiurments and physical needs if any. i love the first day of class to find out who i will be working with.
we deal with a wide age span and it does work well by putting younger students with the older ones they feed off one another. the energy and the experiances together.
As you are introducing yourself to the classroom, the very first day of class, the instructor should ask the students, individually, specific questions that relate to their background, prior work experiences, cultural and ethnicity background, needs/wants, and strengths/weaknesses. I normally do this while I am going over the course objective, assignments, expectations, rules and guidelines with them. I find this very helpful, as a way of getting to know their learning characteristics. Then, I can address their needs, concerns, issues, or fear as I am teaching, daily.
I have been successful with matching up gen x'ers and gen y's on a regular basis.
It allows me to determine my starting point with the class. If the majority of my students are older I tend to spend less time on the basics and reviewing the previous courses than I would if the majority of my students are younger. This also will determine how in depth I need to go with my explanations of the more complex systems. Older, more experienced students tend to pick up on complicated theories easier than younger students.
By understanding the different learning styles we can taylor the lesson plan so as to keep all of the students engaged. Otherwise we could end up with inattentive, bored, and ready to quit students.
Students are motivated differently and the instructor must be able to get across the material in more then one way. For older students the motivation might be to get all the material they can in order to land the highest possible salary after they graduate from school. For the younger students that do not understand this very important concept are sometimes there for other reasons. The instructor needs to be able to motivate all students in the class. An understanding of leaner characteristics will allow you to easily adapt to the student’s needs.
understanding there characteristics helps the instructor with preparing lesson plans and also getting the students paired up for lab teams. i like to mix them young with old this helps both age groups. the older can learn from the younger study habits and the younger from the older manners, patentince and additude.
This is a excellent idea. Sometimes all a person needs is a little push and they thrive.
Understanding learner characteristics is very important. It helps you to taylor instructional design specifically towards your target audience for the most effective outcome.
By understanding the learner characteristics I will be able to create a lesson plan that suite the different types of learners.This will create a general feeling among the students that no one ignored and every one's learning needs are fullfilled. A higher level of motivation is achieved.
