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

Adapting Your Instructional Strategy

Hi Tom, Good point. We need to know where the student is coming from and how we can relate to the learning issues they are experiencing. When we do that we will start to see more engagement. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Valuing Student Opinions

Hi James, Simple effective and supportive advice for instructors. Thanks for sharing it. By handling a discussion session effectively and listening carefully instructors can earn the respect of their students and assist in moving the learning process forward. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Learning from Instructor and Student Introductions

Hi Linda, The key to expanding your instructional expertise is to concentrate on a sequence of items you want to learn more about and use in your classes. With experience will come knowledge of additional strategies you can use with your students. Keep good notes on what was successful in your classes as well as those things that did not go as well. This way you will continue your professional development while becoming an instructional delivery expert. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Comprehensive Planning for Instructional Success

Hi Cheryl, Wow, what a great example of preparing for class. Your description of all the elements of attending a gala of this kind is what we need to think about when preparing for our courses. The key is making sure we have done all we can to make it a class that will be informative and engaging just as the gala should be. Thanks for the helping instructors to see the value of preparation on all levels from the content to the syllabus. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Sharing Comprehensive and Clear Course Requirements

Hi Norman, Good job of laying out the course expectations clearly for the students. This way they know what they are going to have to do to be successful. In addition, the use of the pretest tells them what they have brought to the class in terms of previous knowledge and what they are going to have to work on during the course. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Student Motivation Factors

Hi Ian, Good approach and an excellent lesson in social interaction and cooperation as well. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Understanding Learner Characteristics

Hi Timothy, Good approach. You are customizing your instruction to meet the different learning preferences in your class. This is a good way to keep the students engaged and earn their respect as well. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Understanding Learner Characteristics

Hi Ian, A case is a story/example/situation that the students work through and come up with solutions. The kinds of cases depend on the course you teach. You might have a case that has students trouble shooting a car engine and another might be a medical case involved working with a challenging patient. The cases can come from your own experiences and you put them into case study format. I have a number of them that I have put together to use in my classes. They are two pages in length with a list of 10 questions at the end.… >>>

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Understanding Learner Characteristics

Hi Ian, Way to go in reading your students and then adapting your instruction to support their learning preferences. This is what good instructional planning is all about. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Comprehensive Planning for Instructional Success

Hi Cynthia, Good point and a miserable place to be. If you have not prepared for class it is going to be a looooooong class session for everyone. You are right about the road map because everyone is trying to ride a bicycle down the middle of an Interstate with not idea where they are going. The result is somebody is going to go off course and meet with disaster. Learning is to valuable to let that happen. Gary

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