Gary Meers, Ed.D.

About me

I am an Education Advisor/Consultant for MaxKnowledge. I write courses that assist in the professional development of career college instructors. These courses range in content from the introductory level to advanced instructional development. I started my teaching career as an instructional technology teacher on the high school level, completed graduate school and then moved into higher education. I spent many years in the area of teacher training at the University of Nebraska. While at the University of Nebraska I stared working with career college instructors to improve their instructional delivery skills. As a result of these experiences I have been a consultant to career colleges throughout the United States and a number of foreign countries.

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Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Feeling Accepted Helps with Success

Hi Jacqueline, This is a very common problem nationwide. Almost every week I encounter instructors telling me that they have many students that feel they are entitled to success in the classroom without working for it. One thing that has helped a lot with this attitude is having people come in from the field and talk to the students. They lay it on the line and tell it like it is. This really gets the attention of most of the students. These students see they can have a future that involves success but they are going to have to work… >>>

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Feeling Accepted Helps with Success

Hi Jeff, You make a very good point about belonging and acceptance. This is very important in classes where you are trying to establish a learning community. Inclusion is a great motivator. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Motivating Learners

Hi Brenda, A career choice needs to be informed, meaningful and realistic. The informed means the students know about the career, meaningful means they enjoy doing it and get value from it and realistic means they can do it. They have the knowledge and skills required. Anything you can do to help them experience these three areas as they start to narrow their career choice down is valuable to the students. Guest speakers, job shadowing and practicums are great ways to help them see the "real" part of the career choice they will be making. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Valuing Student Opinions

Hi Jeff, Great point about how to be responsive to a student when he/she is talking or asking a question. The students need to be the focus of the instructor when they are participating in class through discussions and questioning. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Valuing Student Opinions

Hi Jill, Good comments about how to work with students but I really like the way you caution us to suspend judgment until we understand exactly where the student is coming from. This is so important if we are going to provide support to our students. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Increasing Student Retention

Hi Matthew, Good point about using personal experience stories in illustrating a point or showing students how the real world is going to be for them. Instructors need to pick the most appropriate stories and then keep them brief and on point. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Being Successful in College

Hi Alfredo, Well said in relation to how important feedback is to students. Many of our students have not had support in their previous educational experiences and by having it now they are on a success trail that before has not been available to them. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Making a Positive First Impression

Hi Theresa, You make a very good point about connecting with the students by letting them know the experiences you had as a former student. This is a great way to establish rapport with them as well as they see how your own career has developed over the years. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Reasons for Enrolling

Hi Richard, As an experienced instructor what are some strategies that you use to establish rapport with your students? Sharing these will be of help to beginning instructors as they develop their teaching expertise. Thanks. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Developing Student Rapport

Hi Michelle, Well said. Rapport is an essential part of being successful with such students. They are in need of a being able to see a positive role model in their instructor while having some success in the class. Once this happens they will start to build a success trail for themselves. Gary

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