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

Instructor REFOCUS

Hi Eulalia, Good points all about how to encourage and refocus students when they wear down in the middle of the course. Also by introducing new activities and energy into the class at this point our motivation will increase and a motivated excited instructor does much to help the morale of the students. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Developing Student Rapport

Hi Heidi, Good advice for all instructors. Thank you for expressing it. Relationships take time so instructors need to work at gaining the respect of students over a period of time. As a result the development of rapport will follow which in turn will help the students to become more engaged in the learning process. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Understanding Learner Characteristics

Hi Heidi, Great to hear about your success with your students. You are going to have a great career as an educator. Keep up your efforts and enjoy your students. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Adapting Your Instructional Strategy

Hi John, You are correct about the content retention being higher right after receiving the information. Another time the retention of content is high is when the students have had a chance to apply the content. Application facilitates relevancy to career utilization so the more we can help them see how they will be using this information the higher the retention of the content is going to be. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Developing Clear Goals and Objectives

Hi Stephanie, Sorry to hear about the loss of the position as a result of not having the complete course content available to you as a student. The up side of this is that you have a great opportunity to share your example/life experience with your students and reinforce that what you are teaching them is content and skills that they will need to succeed. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Instructors as Role Models

Hi Michael, What are some of the strategies that you use to demonstrate your professionalism and how the course can help them? Thanks in advance for your input. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Adapting Your Instructional Strategy

Hi Sheila, You make a good point about needing to understand how the brain develops. The more we know how individuals process content the better we can target their support needs. This will help to make learning more effective and efficient. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Teaching to Multiple Intelligences

Hi Diego, Your comments reflect the need for an instructor to be able to "read" students. The more you know about them and their preferences the more you will be able to meet their specific needs just as you indicated. This is an essential instructor skill that we all need to develop. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Motivating Learners

Hi Andrew, I agree with your comments about the need for the instructor to be motivated so he/she can help motivate the students. A group will never raise higher than the leader in terms of excitement so if the instructor isn't excited for sure the students won't be. Gary

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Your Instructional Style

Hi Anthony, You have a good professional development plan laid out. I know you are going to continue to grow and expand your expertise to the benefit of your students. Keep up the good work. Gary

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