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

Joe, How do you go about getting to know the names of your students and their learning abilities? Thanks for your input on this. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Making Your Expectations Clear

Lindsey , Great support for your students. I use rubrics in my class as well with great results. Thanks for bringing this idea up in the forum. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Using a Well-prepared Syllabus

Lindsey , This is a great resource for you and the other instructors. The instructional designers can put the syllabus together in a way that will support your informational needs while sharing the necessary content. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Expanding Your Instructional Abilities

Jean, You have shared with us a very comprehensive list of ways to expand your instructional abilities. You are going to do a great job in the classroom based upon the methods you have listed. I wish you much teaching success. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Expanding Your Instructional Abilities

Duane, What was meant by specific courses to be taken and timelines for accomplishment was intended to convey the idea that you set up a specific professional development plan as an instructor. The specific courses would be those in areas such as cognition or learning preferences that an instructor wanted to learn more about. As for experience it is essential in the total process of professional development. You have a long and varied history in the classroom so I know you have extensive experience and expertise that can be shared with students as well as other instructors. Keep up the… >>>

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Expanding Your Instructional Abilities

Michael, Great list. Thanks for sharing it with us. I know this will be beneficial to other instructors as well. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Blog

Preparing for the Next Time

After completing a course it is good to take a moment and reflect on how the course went. Review the student evluations, scan your notes and think about what you want to do the next time you teach the course. Instructors should always strive for instructional improvement but it content or delivery so once the course is completed think about how improvements can be made. Ask yourself questions like:

am I going to introduce new content?
if so how much?
what if I use different media?
what about some new examples?
should I develop new assignments?
etc.

The idea is… >>>

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Adapting Your Instructional Strategy

Jane, Way to go in helping students to "connect the dots" between the class content and their everyday lives. If you can get them to start looking for how to connect content with their lives outside of the classroom you will have done a great service for the students. This makes learning come alive and demonstrates value to them. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Motivation Through Relevancy and Application

Kevin, Well said. From infancy individuals are seeking both application and relevancy. Sometimes I think educational institutions have forgotten this concept. No what age students are seeking relevancy and application so these two concepts need to be in all our instructional planning and delivery. Good points on this. Thanks for sharing them. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Strategies for Keeping Students Engaged in Learning

Coleen, For the record I love that movie. Good strategy to follow. I know your students will appreciate the way you lay out the course in a way that is logical and easy to follow. Gary

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