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

Motivation techniques...

Hi Dave, Good to hear about your use of case studies. I really like using them in my classes. I find they really help my students to make application to the situations. What has been your experience in using case studies? Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Clarifying Your Expectations To Students

Hi Charles, I commend you for your approach in terms of expectations and policies for your class. This way there are no surprises and the students can focus on the content since they already know the requirements. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Clarifying Your Expectations To Students

Hi Audia, Well said. A good plan for being ready to teach a class and meet student needs. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Understanding learner characteristics...

Hi Dotti, You make a number of good points about knowing the learning characteristics of your students. There has been as you know a lot of research in the area of learning styles. The four categories currently being used are visual, auditory, pictorial and printed word. There are many sub-categories of learning styles but I like to focus on the four big areas as I plan my instructional delivery and content. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Understanding learner characteristics...

Hi Dave, You are right about by understanding the students' characteristics you will be able to decide better how to instruct them. What are some methods that you use to get to know the characteristics of your students? Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

The Learning Environment Effect

Hi Dave, All good points about the learning environment. The setting is critical. I have found if I can getting the setting to the point that students feel comfortable I then can capture their attention. If they are worried about external noise, looking at paint peeling and chairs that might collapse they are not ready to learn. There are enough distractions that they don't need additional ones to take them off task. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Your Instructional Style

Hi Russell, You hit upon a key concept of learning and that is building a solid foundation. If the students get that solid foundation they then will be ready for the next phase of the course and as you say it makes it much easier for them and you. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Understanding learner characteristics...

Hi Christopher, I have been researching the assessment of the different multiple intelligences as identified by Howard Gardner. I and my research associates have develop the "Talent Key" assessment for identifying the three highest processing formats within the seven intelligences. This information gives up insight on how people process and internalize new information. The example you site is dead on in terms of people being able to respond verbally with the correct answers and have a difficult or impossible time with writing responses to test questions. Those individuals are verbal/linguistic and see things in word form. The musical and spatial… >>>

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

REFOCUS...

Hi Larry, You are right about needing to have wide vision. You can fail to see a student that is on the bubble of leaving and not even notice the signs until it is too late. By having this focused vision you will be alert to those needing help in time to be of assistance to them. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Understanding learner characteristics...

Hi Jason, An essential part of being a teacher is the establishing of rapport with your students. From your forum response it appears that your are very much attuned to noticing what the students need to keep the engaged and focusing on their learning. Gary

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