Guest speakers and field trips have been a part of instruction since the beginning of time. In a previous blog I covered benefits of using field trips to reinforce what is being taught and in this blog I wanted to highlight the value of using guest speakers. Guest speakers bring to the classroom/lab relevancy and application. They are the models that the students will be observing when they are out in the workforce so the earlier they can meet and hear from them the better.
There are two groups guest speakers that really capture the attention of the students and these are graudates and supervisors. Graduates show the students what is possbile upon graduation. They have been through the courses that the current group of students are currently enrolled in and they can discuss the value of the content that is being offered.
Supervisors from the field reinforce what is being taught as they tell the students what they are looking for in potential hires. They tell it like it is so the students know this is what is going to be expected of them as employees. As a result of this information the students can start to develop a successful career path that includes the soft skills, like attendance, attitude and competence. We, instructors spend time going over these very same components but students have a tendency to dismiss some of what we say because we are instructors. When a supervior says it, then it must be true is the thinking of many students. That is OK, because this gets the students to listen even more carefully to what we say since we are saying the same things as supervisors.
Bring in guest speakers at different times throughout the course so the students can see and listen to different perspectives about what lays ahead for the students. The students will value this information and the course will have more relevancy for the students.