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

Your Instructional Style

Hi Brian, In response to you question about how to help your fellow instructors to capture some excitement about what and how they are teaching I would suggest offering them quick and easy teaching techniques that they can use in their classrooms. For example in visiting with a fellow instructor that expresses a concern about how hard it is to learn the names of students you could suggest that he/she use 3x5 cards on which the names and some significant fact about the student is listed. By doing something simple like this and they have success with it they will… >>>

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Clarifying Your Expectations To Students

Hi Russell, Internalizing new information is critical to learning. You are trying to create a "working memory" file for the new knowledge or skills that the students can store and then recall when needed. The process that you are using will help the needed memory development. Are there any special techniques that you use to help your students repeat back the instructions to you? Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Understanding learner characteristics...

Hi Scott, What you are doing that many instructors miss is to use the human resources that are in your class. By using those that learn at a faster pace or have had previous experience you are enabling those students that need some additional instructional support to have that support plus benefit from getting to know a fellow classmate better. This will help with their networking for use later when they are out in the field. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Clarifying Your Expectations To Students

Hi Marsha, I like your "ice breaker" idea. It gets the student involved, moving and interacting. This is the way to get a class off to a good start. By doing this you are also attaching value to the handbook since you are using it in your ice breaker. Many times the handbook is given out and then never referred to again yet the polices and requirements for the course are contained in it. This method has the students using the handbook for the games. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Clarifying Your Expectations To Students

Hi Paul, Good way to lay the foundation for the students. They know the expectations and have a clear understanding of how the class will be operated. Also, they know you are the subject matter expect and that you are ready to share with them that knowledge. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Understanding learner characteristics...

Hi Dennis, You are right about needing to know the differences between and among your students. Also, by knowing their learning preferences and offering instruction within the different modalities an instructor will be able to keep students engaged in the learning process. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Your Instructional Style

Hi Helen, Variety in instruction is very important to keep students from becoming bored and turned off to learning. Sounds like you have a wide variety of strategies that you use to keep your students engaged in the learning process. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Clarifying Your Expectations To Students

Hi Dr. Ernst, Ice breakers are a great way to start a class. The enable students to get to know each other better, get an idea of how you are going to conduct the class and lets them settle into the flow of the course. Getting to know the names of students quickly is a must and these ice breakers really help with this task. Thanks for sharing. I like to use ice breakers that help with the introductions plus others that let the students use some basic components of the career/class area in a fun or competitive way. I… >>>

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Matching Content to Need

Hi Dr. Ernst, Great idea! I use 3x5 cards to solicit the needed feedback information from my students using basically the same format. I can quickly flip through the cards and get a accurate picture of where things stand in relation to the students. I really like this method as I can tell you do to help me make any needed changes, redirection or expansions to make sure the class continues in a successful direction. As you know this kind of format has no risk to the students but enables them to give honest and direct feedback to you. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Clarifying Your Expectations To Students

Hi Dr. Ernst, Thank you for sharing your strategies for helping both your students and yourself with understanding their knowledge status through questioning. These techniques give you a baseline for how you will approach the next section of the course content. This way you will have your finger on the pulse of the class at all times. You make a good point about revisiting the expectations of the course in relation to each student's needs. As you know students need constant reminders of course requirements, assignments and deadlines. This part of teaching seems to never change whether you are teaching… >>>

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