What happens when you combine learning styles and diversity? Well, a new word is coined, "diversatile". As an instructor, one has to meets the diverse needs of students from wide range of ages, backgrounds, experiences, ethnicity, etc. as well as their learning style needs. I also believe that once a learning style is determined for students, an instructor should encourage students to enhance their weaker learning preferences, and avoid solely feeding them information in their predominant learning style only. What are your thoughts about it? A. Andaz Ahmad

When I first began teaching as a teaching assistant in graduate school, learning to teach to different learning styles was the most valuable thing I learned and I use it for teaching, when I lead meetings, even when I pitch ideas in my other job. I have found that appealing to each learning style helps all students learn better.

I believe that taking the time to learn about students will help you really understand their learning style. I prefer to integrate many different learning styles into my class periods. I understand that we need to work together to make the class as interesting and as productive environment as possible.

I truly believe the first day is like testing the waters before a swim. It is the perfect time to welcome students who are new and also those who may be return students to your classroom. This is a great time to encourage students to engage in conversation with others and learn about everyone's background and experiences.

It is important to create an open and inviting environment for students. I believe the real trick is doing this without leaving any openings for students to take advantage of the situation. Most students look to an instructor they can trust and also relate to. If you make yourself approachable and also give the impression of being knowledgeable you will be successful with this.

I think that being a good model means taking the time to really understand who you are. It means trying to take a different point of view and try to see how the students see you. It is getting past reacting immediately and actually taking the time to evaluate the situation.

I think that the rapport an instructor has with students is so important for success. I am new to teaching online and have been concerned about establishing rapport with students over the computer. This seems much easier to achieve face-to-face because so much can be communicated in facial expression, etc. I am interested in what instructors have found to help in this area.

Although some view college as a means to an end with learning, I believe it is important to continue learning and developing both personally and professionally throughout life. This maintains an open mind to new ideas and it helps me to grow and develop as an instructor. After all, if I am not willing to learn new ways of thinking and behaving, how can I teach others to do this? Laurie B.

Through my teaching experiences, I have found that the most effective way of reaching the largest # of students is to make sure you understand their learning style.

I wrote before about trying to use the socratic method with paralegal students, and I'm curious what other people have found when using this method in nontraditional classes with adult learners?

What is better--having the curriculum committee select textbooks for each course, or letting instructors select their own text?

This seems small, but I base a lot of my in class activities on the use of technology. It is HUGELY important to understand the technical capabilities of a room in order to match the different teaching mediums to what's available. Great ideas in the course. I have been caught twice with technology that didn't match the room capability and that completely derailed a whole day of class each time. I will walk the room!

My tendency to let lecture bleed into discussions. It often happens after about fifteen minutes when I see students' eyes start to haze over. As I'm not too smart, it never occurred to me that it was natural attention span and not bad delivery on my part. Great strategy, the Mini-Lecture!!!

I have always done an "Oprah" exercise with my classes. I have the students break into pairs and they interview each other on a series of set questions. After, they introduce one another. Immediately one connection is made. Because the questions are the same for each pair, a bunch of connections are always made across the class. One semester, I decided the exercise was too much and didn't do it. The class NEVER gelled. Unbelievable what attention to this topic can do for you.

When starting up the first day of class, I like to make sure we discuss important information like the syllabus, expectations, instructor access. I also really like to see that students get to share a bit about themselves. We may talk about what their expectations of the class are...what do they think they will learn? I also will bring in little treats to use as "prizes" for questions I will ask throughout the first night, just to confirm that they are absorbing the material. The "quiz" questions will include things on the syllabus, how to reach me and I may incorporate a few funny items to help make them comfortable. For example, when we introduce ourselves, I may ask them to tell us their name and the program of study and their favorite color. One of my quiz questions may be about the information we learned in our introductions or our conversation through the evening. I want them to feel that it is important to listen to each other and to ensure that they feel that they are active contributors to the class.

It is critical to give your students specific feedback. I teach online and feel that it is essential to provide feedback that is unique to each individual student. Especially when they do not have the ability to see you in a traditional classroom setting, this piece becomes such an important way to communicate that you care.

I have taught both online and traditionally for 3 years. I wanted to share what I have found works well in my traditional class in terms of delivering the content. In order to reach a large number of learning styles I have found the following technique very effective. Students love it! I create Powerpoints for each Chapter and make them available. The students print these as handouts putting 3 slides per page. Doing this leaves room for notes to be written to the right of each slide. During lecture I have the Powerpoint projected for all to see and they have it printed. This allows them to write in the important and additional information I give as we go through the content. Since I teach Accouting once the chapter has been gone over in the lecture format described above we break into groups of 3-5 and work related problems. Julie

I found this detailed breakdown of best practices for meeting the class for the first time very helpful. I have done a lot of this before, but maybe not in the order listed. This information is important because this well organized system on the first day allows the instructor to "set expectations" for the entire course. A lot of times the way we begin a course or work project is the way we end up. The end result is highly affected by how we "begin" a journey. I will definitely use this information to enhance how I conduct my first class for a course in the future. Dwight

I think it is very useful to "know yourself" as an instructor to better serve students, which was great point made in Module 1. Knowing one's strength and weaknesses helps in the area of continuous improvement for instructors. This knowledge of self and skill sets, combined with knowledge of the adult learners we are serving puts us in a better position to "customize" the learning environment to their specific needs. I agree with the fact that we must be models, managers and motivators at all times. I have experienced each and everyone of these roles in my Online classroom experiences. I have to encourage students to "hang in there" during difficult family breakdowns and to still stay focused on their academic journey, which then helps to improve their professional and perosonal life. I have always said "being a role model is not a choice", people learn from us and observe our actions whether we choose to accept it or not. Dwight

When composing my response to Dr. Meyer's main post topic I thought about it a bit and want to also use it as my personal thread as well. If we go strictly by the content in this learning module the learning environment should be a comfortable and supportive learning site that will enable students to focus better on the content of the course. I teach on-line courses so my Learning Environment is a bit less tactile but still needs to meet the requirements of being comfortable and supportive. Comfort does not come in the form of temperature or chair type/arangement; It comes in the form of establishing a friendly and supportive tone to the course in my Instructor Profile, Discussion Postings, Grading comments and e-mail/IM interaction. It is very important to put the students at ease with the overall course interaction to allow them to focus on completing the course assignments and tests without feeling intimidated to reach out for help and support throughout the process. What other methods do some of you who teach in the on-line environment use to comfort the students as well as engage them and promote active participation and dialoge during the quarter?