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

Your Instructional Style

Hi Colin, Good strategy. I think all of us educators can benefit from observing and learning from others in our area. The key is to always be on the lookout for things you can learner from more experienced teachers. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Clarifying Your Expectations To Students

Hi Kirk, Good comprehensive approach to class planning and the sharing of information about the class. These methods will help your students to understand what is going to happen in the class, expectations for the course, and what your policies are. This should enable you to get into your teaching quickly and be of real benefit to your students. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Teaching to Multiple Intelligences

Hi Patricia, Having researched the use of MI for over 25 years I have found that in most settings we don't look at the total picture of how a person intakes, processes and then applies information. As instructors we have to be very aware of cultural concepts, environmental influences and personal experiences as we develop delivery methods for our students. You expressed this very well. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Adapting Your Instructional Strategy

Hi Patricia, Good point that you make. The instructional key to the brain seems to be getting the learner to integrate the short term and long term memory into useable applications which is used in the working memory. So many people have problems in seeing application and relevancy to what they are learning and then pulling it out to work with it. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Your Instructional Style

Hi Christina, There are many great lab activities out there from which you can select those that will work best in your setting. If you haven't already talk with some of your textbook reps and see what they have to share with you. These activities come in many different formats so you can pick and chose those that you like. Another source of lab activities is from your professional association(s). I have found them to be a great resource since most of them have an educational division that develop exercises and case studies, etc. that work well as lab activities.… >>>

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

The Learning Environment Effect

Hi Prof Ferber, Good information. You are right about moving around and being inside of the learning square (the seating area of students). By you moving and moving of students you provide a break for the students as even moving their heads and eyes help them to reset their brains as you present your next point in a lecture. This breaks even though brief really help with the total learning process. Keep up the good work. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Clarifying Your Expectations To Students

Hi Arlene, Having been through a similar situation in my own career I can understand how frustrating this can be. I hope for the sake of your students and yourself that this situation was not repeated and that you were able to get things under control. Generally "instructors" like the one you described don't last long but they can do a tremendous amount of damage while they are there. Always maintain your professional attitude and you will come out the better instructor for it even though it may not seem like it at the time. I know I learned how… >>>

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Your Instructional Style

Hi Kimberly, If you are excited about your work (teaching) then the students will get excited about the content since they will be entering their chosen field to create a future for themselves. Keep up the good work! Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Becoming aware of retention strategies...

Hi Carol, Your college has a great model of making a number of contacts with each student on a regular basis. I commend your college and faculty for taking these most important steps to learning about how the students are doing and looking for any problems that might be out there. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Becoming aware of retention strategies...

Hi Andrea, Another effective way of getting feedback from students is to have them write down their assessment of the assignments once they are completed. I hand out a 3X5 card to each student and have them write their assessments out. They don't sign their names so there isn't any pressure to write anything but their true feelings. I have had many great suggestions without a student ever just using this forum as a way to vent. Gary

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