I agree with you completely. It also allows you to do some real life applications with the material that you are teaching. Students always want to see how the information pertains to them, their goals, and their lives. They need to be able to see the future and the proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel."
Knowing why students are enrolled in my classes help me to make the material relevent to them. I can include examples and applications that will help students to see how they will really use the information I am sharing with them in the real world.
Another benefit of knowing why students are enrolled in my class helps me to find ways to motivate them in class. If it is a matter of fulfilling a prerequisite or if there is true interest in the subject, my goal is to make them successful and achieve their goals.
Jennifer
Knowing why they have enrolled in a particular program and their career goals helps by being able to plan and deliver supplemental and instrumental material. Aslo helps to give direction with their academic goals and future plans in the chosen field of study/practice
Hi Mia,
Good way to get to know your students. By knowing their reasons for enrolling and what their goals are you can customize your approach to make sure you are helping them make progress toward those goals.
Gary
Knowing why students have enrolled in the course that I teach helps me in the preparation and delivery of the materials of the subject. Knowing what goals students hope to meet with the knowledge they're working to gain in the course help me to make the course materials more relatable to those goals. It also give me time to develop practical scenarios and examples to reinforce the lessons.
You can better relate to their specific needs and reasons for making the choice to get an education at McCann.
Whether a student is enrolled in a class to gain a certain skill/knowledge, advance their degree in hopes of achieving a more successful career, or to learn for the sake of learning and interacting with others, it is important for me to get to know the primary reason why my students are in the class so that I can use this as a way to motivate them to not only learn the material, but to also stay the course when things might get tough. In the online learning environment, one of the ways I meet the extrinsic needs of students is by building rapport. This is fundamental to success and retention especially because there is very little if any face-to-face interaction. A relationship between the instructor and student helps to create a sense of security and belonging for the student. One of the ways I try to foster this rapport is if a student ever emails me with a problem whether it be academic or personal, I try to address the issue, help find a solution, and then follow up with that student sometime down the road (a few days or weeks) to see how things are going. This follow-up serves as a way to let the student know that I am interested in their lives and their academic success. They are more than just a name or a student ID number.
Hi Brian,
Good point about why knowing the reason for enrolling is so important. By you knowing their reasons you are able to adapt your instructional delivery to match their investment in the course. I teach a general education course that is required so I have to work very hard to engage the students see they don't see my course as contributing to their career preparation even though it does. I strive to help them see the relevancy and application of what I teach just as you are doing through your personalizing of accounting procedures in family budgeting, etc.
Gary
I believe it plays a big role in the interaction portion of your instruction. I have seen a big difference in the mindset of the students that are focused on an accounting career compared to the students that are just taking the first two levels becasue it is required. The majority of students that have specific goals in the accounting field want know the reasoning behind the task and require more technical and career expereinces. The students that just want to pass the class but are not making it a career are a little less engaged and you have to identify and shape engagement in a different way. I try to engage those students by bringing in family budgets, balancing bank accounts and how to look at things from a company perspective etc as way to keep them engaged.
Hi Alice,
You make a good point about the need to understand why a student is enrolled in the course. This helps you to shape your approach to working with the individual.
Gary
If you understand your student's motivation for enrolling in the class - you can tailor some of your delivery of the material to fit their needs. Such as if it is a recent single mom starting school for the first time - while you present the material you can give little bits of insight on how to study the material or little clues on how to be successful in preparing for a project. Alice Smith
Knowing why students have enrolled helps me plan a meaningful delivery method for the content. Knowing who they are, how they learn, and especially how they plan to use the information gives me an opportunity to tailor the experience to the group.
This is important not only to you but also to the student. If they really haven't thought of the "Why" they enrolled and the "What" they want to gain or then most likely they haven't thought about long term goals either.
The student cards containing age, demographics, experiences can assist you to have an idea about what the student's experiences and how you can draw the student into teaching from their experiences.
If I know their motivation for enrolling, I know how to keep them how to keep the course relevant to them. If I do a good job in linking course content with their motivation for taking it, it will help them to stay connected with the instruction and help them to remain active learners.
I think it helps in enrrinchng there learning, bein gable to relate to there experiences and relating content to there experiences can make for a rich learning environment
Isabel
I have students with different career paths - some different paths within similar careers and in some cases, the students come from different programs that share my class in their curriculum.
Knowing their goals help me explain the relevance of the class projects.
Hi Kristen,
Connecting the dots for students is so important. You are do that with your incorporation of specific examples related to the course content. These examples help them to see relevance and application to what they are studying.
Gary
Knowing why my students are enrolled in our program helps me incorporate specific examples into my lectures that pertain to their interests. I think this keeps them motivated and excited about class because they understand why the information is important.
Knowing the motivational reasons for the students' enrollment enables me to better tailor or adjust the instructional method(s) for the course, so that the content will be better received and absorbed by the students. Sometimes, this may call for adding content outside of the textbook and standard materials, if these will add relevance.
We are an automotive technology school. Our students come into our school with a wide variety of reasons. Some want to learn a new trade to be able to work on thier own vehicles. Some want/forced into a career change. And we have some that are forced here by judicial reasons. With all of this varied background it is difficult for our instructors to find ways to motivate all of the students equally.
