General Education
I teach sociology and psychology at a career college. These are general education courses required to obtain a degree. Students are often less than enthused to take these courses because they do not see how they will enhance their skills to get a job in the technology field or graphic design, etc. I have tried giving the rationale that these courses teach about general human behavior and the motivations for that behavior. As humans it is important to understand this behavior in their work and personal lives. I have even tried to tie specific examples to their career fields. This is sometimes unsuccessful. I try to get students hooked by using my personality and humor and that sometimes works to get students who were not previously engaged to buy in. The best technique I've found is that when there is a project to be done, I allow students to chose topics they are interested in and apply the course material to those projects. For instance, in a society and technology class, students did a show and tell on a technology and presented examples of how that technology changed over time. I got presentations on things like rope, shoes, hand held video games, and electronic file storage. Not only did students work hard on the project, but the rest of the class was engaged in watching the presentations and asking questions. I find that adult learners need to stretch their own wings but some of the younger students have a more difficult time independently coming up with their own ideas. I think this is because in their K-12 lives (that have just recently ended) they are not encouraged to think for themselves and chose how to apply their knowledge.
I teach Legal Writing, and my students are non-interested at first. This is where experience in the field comes in handy. I explain to my students that through my experience in private practice, I know that most motions are decided on the briefs submitted, unlike what you see on TV, and therefore legal analysis and communication are the most important skills a lawyer can have, above and beyond any subject matter knowledge.
Hello,
I teach a Gen Ed course as well and find that my students also question the importance of Literature in the real world. To bring my students to higher level of thinking, I have them complete a double-sided journal. I allow them 25% basic responses and 75% must be higher level thinking responses. I provide them examples before we start of what these might look like.
Since I have been doing this I have notice an increase in reader understanding and class participation on each story has increased.
Hi John,
We should demand higher-order learning skills because this is what it takes to succeed in the real world. We have to challenge our students as much as possible.
Patricia
perhaps the reason younger student do not excel is because they are still stuck in concrete operational thinking. They also have fewer life lessons that help them in non-traditional learning settings. However, i too find that students struggle when asked to use higher order thinking skills. They want to keep the lessons at the knowledge level. many instructors want it there also-much easyer to assess. Are other instructors demanding higher order leaning skills?
