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

Making Instruction Relevant

Hi Jim, I think you have developed an excellent way of getting students invested in the online course. The idea of equating running a home as a business which it is really helps to make it real for your students. The "heads up" email really helps to set the stage for the coming content and gets the students thinking about what they need to be concentrating on. Great job. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Understanding learner characteristics...

Hi Michael, The format you are using is associative learning and is effective because the students get a solid knowledge foundation while developing skills in the application of that knowledge through the examples given. Good approach. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Becoming aware of retention strategies...

Hi Andy, Good points about how instructors have to adapt and reflect the learning needs of students. A constant in teaching is change. This at times may be a bit challenging but the effort to remain current is well worth the work involved. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Clarifying Your Expectations To Students

Hi Beatrice, Sorry to hear about the challenging group of students you have the quarter. I have had such groups before and they really force you to be creative in your approach and content so you can help them to develop problem solving skills. The last time I had such a group a student approached me and said "Would you please just have us memorize terms and dates because we have to work too hard when you give us case studies and ask us to solve problems? When you do that we have to think too hard?" Needless to say… >>>

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Your Instructional Style

Hi Deborah, The use of supplemental and current material is really appreciated by students as you well know. They can see that you are working to stay current and this knowledge really helps them to develop respect for you and what you are doing. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Your Instructional Style

Hi Cara, Good point and good strategy. Instructors have to be very creative and flexible in their delivery if they are going to reach all of the diverse learners in their classes. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Your Instructional Style

Hi Chiarina, Good point about using student feedback as a way of maintaining high standards and expectations. This is an effective way increase the effectiveness of your instruction. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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The Learning Environment Effect

Hi George, Good point about helping students to become self learners. As much of our training in the career college sector is within the service industries a tremendous amount of our work is problem solving. Students have to develop their problem solving skills if they are going to successful out in the work world. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

The Learning Environment Effect

Hi Cara, Way to get the students involved in the learning process as well as applying what they have just learned. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Matching Content to Need

Hi Anne, You are doing something that many instructors fail to do. You are keeping value associated with the assignments. In many cases the instructors make the assignments and give due dates but they don't explain the benefits of these assignments and how they contribute to the total education of the students. Gary

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