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

Accommodating Learner Preferences

Sandra, Good strategies. Rote reinforcement is in many cases a forgotten learning method that really works, especially in areas where there is a need to acquire an extensive amount of new vocabulary. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Accommodating Learner Preferences

Sharif, Good point and one we need always remember as we plan our instructional delivery. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Making Your Expectations Clear

Patricia, A number of colleges follow this procedure for the same reason as do you. This way the students can't claim they didn't get the information or that it wasn't explained to them. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Making Your Expectations Clear

Jose, So important because all students are concerned about how they will be evaluated and if they are going to be successful in the course. The more we can show them the course requirements and expectations the more they will be able to focus on the meeting the learning requirements. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Making a Positive First Impression

Luis, You make a number of good points about first impressions. We need to realize how important they are as we finalize our plans for the first class meeting. We need to make sure we set the stage in a positive way so we can build on that image throughout the course. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Making a Positive First Impression

Myrthe, Good points about first impressions. They set the stage for the upcoming course and help to give the students a feel for their instructor and how he/she is going to operate. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Learning from Instructor and Student Introductions

Deborah, It is critical to show that the instructor is interested in them as humans as well as students. What are some methods you use to learn the names of your students? Thanks for you input on this. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Learning from Instructor and Student Introductions

Deborah, The time taken to do introductions like this are well worth it for the reasons you cite. It helps instructors to put a human side to the students and for them to do the same with their instructor. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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Learning from Instructor and Student Introductions

Michael, You make a good point about respect. Through introductions instructors can establish their experience and knowledge with students and then build from there in creating a productive learning environment. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Developing Clear Goals and Objectives

Shonna, Right you are about the need for clear goals. When the students see and understand the course requirements and expectations via the goals they can focus on acquiring the needed content and skills knowing they will be able to complete the course with success. Gary

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