I think know the reason will help me to know their expectations or motivations. If they are not in the accounting corriculum and just need to get through the course for another program such as marketing, I at least know what they are expecting.
If an instructor knows why students have enrolled in his/her class, he/she can provide support and experiences to meet the needs of the students.
The instructor will need to identify a student's intrinisic needs (such as learning a new skill and wanting to be succesful) as well as extrinsic needs (such as physical comfort, security, acceptance, recognition, and approval). The instructor can motivate the students to develop not just the technical skills but also social skills.
With this important knowledge, the instructor can customzie the program and meet the specific needs of the students.
Once I understand why students have enrolled in my program it helps to plan my instructions to meet their goals. It facilitates to understand why they want to become a member of the medical office administration team. It helps to create a lesson plan to meet their goals of becoming the best MOA.
different students may have different reasons for going to school and as an instructor knowing their reason can help you understand and encourage and advise them to suite there needs
Hi Dr. Molina,
You have a great point when speaking about value. Students need to value what they are learning because they are preparing to enter the career field of their choice. When they value the content they will start to see application and relevancy to what they are learning and this leads to student success. Your efforts are helping them to achieve that goal.
Gary
They only learn something that has value for them; so knowing why they enroll in the program will help me adjust the lecture according to their necessities.
I often try and locate the reason fro the student enrolling in the program and use it as a focal point for retention.
Knowing the students' goals gives instructors possible insight into what types of skills students may be more interest in acquiring. Thus it helps guide the area of emphasis that I would place in the lessons. It also helps in determining what type of career guidance methods to incorporate into my lessons.
Hi Sarah,
This is a very important point. Failure as you say is easy to achieve and the more you do it the easier it gets. So to provide support and encouragement to these students really helps them to see that they have a future if they will complete their program.
Gary
I think it is important to know WHY a student has enrolled because you will be able to help support them with that knowledge. When they are struggling in class, you can remind them that they are doing this to get a better job, help their family, support their kids, etc. Sometimes, students need you to help remind them WHY they are in school. I think they get overwhelmed sometimes with work, school, family, that they may want to drop out of school, as they see that as the easiest "out". By helping remind them why they are in school, you can help them stay in school.
It affords a more complete understanding of the classromm dynamic. As they say "Know your customers".
Hi Kristen,
This is a great way of making the course content real. You are showing and making application of math in a variety of settings so the students can see how math "DOES" apply to their education and career future.
Gary
As a math instructor, I ALWAYS hear the following question at some point in the course: "Why do I need to know this?"
If I know what program they are enrolled in (i.e. Business, Vet Tech, Medical Assistant, etc.), I can pull in a math problem they will be faced with later in their career or in later course work that incoporates that topic.
I feel that understanding why the student enrolled, will give you information to assist with retention of students by allowing you to motivate the student reflecting back on the reason they enrolled.
Hi Dale,
Good strategy. I think this is really going to help set the stage for the development of respect and rapport with your students at a much greater level.
Gary
Understanding why your students have enrolled in your program can help you plan your instruction by allowing you to further understand the intrinsic motivations in the classroom. By understanding these motivations it is possible to better plan instructional and learning activities that are focused on students career motivations.
Whenever I have a new class, I have always gone around the room and asked students to introduce themselves and a little anecdote as to what led them to enroll in school. This gets very cursory when you have 15 - 20 sutents in a class. I'm actually going to change this process and do this more 1 on 1 over the first couple of weeks. That way, I can form questions around a student's history and goals to make a question more personable. This will also draw on their prior experience and make it more important to the class as a whole.
Understanding why a student has enrolled will help me identify key motivational factors that will assist me in tailoring either instructional methods or course content to meet specifically each student's individual needs.
Knowing why someone has enrolled in school is helpful because it guides my interactions with that person. If I know someone has enrolled in school because they were forced to pursue a new career due to a lay off or other unfortunate event I will approach that student with more sensitivity.
Basically it is helpful to know as much about students backgrounds as possible. The more I know about students, the better equipped I am to mold my instructional experiences for them.
Understand the reasons for why students enroll will assist me with implementing why the information presented is relevant while providing real life examples of how they may use their acquired skills and knowledge.
