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

Becoming aware of retention strategies...

Hi Garry, Well said. The human side of learning has to be the center of our focus. By integrating the human aspects of learning into our approach the students will have respect for what we are doing and we will develop rapport with them. Student rapport is important because it helps to open the door of communication between us and them. This way we can stay on top of any encouragement and support they might need as they progress through the course. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Clarifying Your Expectations To Students

Hi Kerry, Thank you for this information. It lets me know how the course is operated in terms of expectations. Do many students take advantage of your offer of help in answering any questions they have? Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Clarifying Your Expectations To Students

Hi Linda, Good way to get the class off to an informed source. I commend you for the way you inform your students about the evaluation methods that will be used. This way there are no surprises and they can gear their efforts to the evaluation points. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Clarifying Your Expectations To Students

Hi Caryn, Great way to start a class. You are covering all of the bases in terms of getting your students settled into the course. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Matching Content to Need

Hi Kerry, You raise one of the developing questions in the career college industry. For many years there were not gen ed courses required but that have slowly been added for a variety of reasons not understood by everyone. This is not an answer to the question your students raised but one that is ongoing for us in the field to consider. "Just how much general education is needed by career college students?" Any input and comments on this area are welcome. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Matching Content to Need

Hi Steven, You make a number of very good points about how to keep students engaged in the learning process. As you say fear is one of those. A point I push is having multiple skills sets to be able to be mobile once they graduate. This helps to capture their attention as well. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Making the Course Relevant

Hi Rosie, Good job of using different learning preferences for your online students. This way they get to work within their preferred learning area and get feedback from their instructors through these different mediums as well. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Clarifying Your Expectations To Students

Hi Bradley, Good way to start off the new students. What have you found to be the biggest challenge you have as you explain the course requirements to the new students? Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Matching Content to Need

Hi Steven, Talk about real life! You are in the middle of it with the course you teach. If you students can't see application and relevancy to your course then they aren't going to ever get it. What is your biggest challenge you face with students enrolled in this course based upon today's economy? Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Understanding learner characteristics...

Hi Douglas, Good way to start a class off. With this method you are helping your students to start to see themselves in their future if they are successful in your course. They need to be forward focused as they progress in their training or they will soon become discouraged and regress. Gary

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