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.

Activity

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Understanding learner characteristics...

Hi James, Student diversity is a real issue that instructors have to deal with. Instructors today are being challenged to meet a wider variety of student needs more than ever before. The fun part of teaching is being creative in meeting those needs. This keeps teaching from ever being boring. When the students have an "uh-ha" moment it is worth all the effort. Keep up the good work. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Matching Content to Need

Hi Kari, Your students are fortunate that you have such a practical approach to your instruction. By allowing them to immediately use newly acquired knowledge they are seeing the application of their skills as a part of their career success. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Becoming aware of retention strategies...

Hi Heather, Good approach to being a support to the students in your college. You must be a good listener as they come to you even though they do not have you as as instructor. The service you are providing and the rapport you are developing with them is so valuable to their future success. Keep up the good work. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Your Instructional Style

Hi Ernest, Good plan. By watching others you get select the best you see from them and then apply to your own classroom/lab. This will not only help you to increase your skills it will help you to avoid making some of the common mistakes that come with teaching. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

REFOCUS...

Hi Dottie, You make a number of very good points about teaching and teachers. It is a great opportunity that we have to share our knowledge and experience with the next generation of people entering our career field. As a result we have to work very hard to the role models and educational leaders that our student need. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Becoming aware of retention strategies...

Hi Jason, You make a number of good points about how to conduct a class. You last point is a very good one. The students do feed off of positive support and encouragement. It is much like when a dog runs off the owner chases it down and then smacks it with a newspaper. The dog learns very quickly that if they get caught they are going to get hit by a newspaper so they run faster and farther. Students get like that to. Negative responses give them nothing to "feed" off of so they turn off and disconnect from… >>>

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Understanding learner characteristics...

Hi Dotti, You are right about the tactile area being a learning preference. In answering your forum question I forgot this one. Thanks for reminding me. Tactile learning is the focal point of most of the training that we do in career colleges. It also helps to blend the other areas together and give value to the content they are studying. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Clarifying Your Expectations To Students

Hi Elaine, Right you are. This is where the 3 M model becomes so important. You have to be that model, manager, and motivator or teaching is going to be a very hard job. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Matching Content to Need

Hi Elaine, Keep up the good work. Career preparation classes have to be kept relevant and up to date or they are doing a disservice to the students. By keeping your pulse on the field you are reflecting the true training needs of your students. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Becoming aware of retention strategies...

Hi Dotti, Thank you for the kind words about the listening approach in developing rapport with students. It is essential as you well know. Your question is a tough one to answer as so much of the answer depends upon what the student will volunteer as you mentioned. My approach has been to have a one on one private visit with the student and talk about the class and that student's position in the class. Generally if something big is going on in their life they will be having problems in the class, with late assignments or poor test performance,… >>>

End of Content