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.

Activity

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Defining Intelligence

Andrew, Good definition that is field specific. Helping your students to learn how to be disciplined enough to work through these steps will ease their transition into the workplace. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Making Your Expectations Clear

Mary, Being a good role model and connecting the expected behaviors and outcomes with their future employment opportunities is a good way to get the students to see the value of developing the self discipline needed to make them successful. This helps them to see the future and how they are preparing for it. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Using a Well-prepared Syllabus

Mary, So true and this is why it is so important to have a well prepared syllabus to share and then review it with your students. That gets everyone on the same page and moving forward together toward common goals. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Expanding Your Instructional Abilities

Mary, Being effective at preparation is a challenge that most of us in education face. I can appreciate your comment about having made preparation of something and not using. Make sure you hang onto this material or activity so you will be able to build a resource of these and then pull them out and use them after you have taught your classes a few time. This will shorten your prep time and keep the course alive and fresh each time you teach it. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Developing Critical Thinking Skills

Karla, They do need a foundation upon which to build. This is why they need to see the value of learning the basics in an area because this gives them knowledge upon which they can call when asked to solve problems. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Making Instruction Relevant

Joseph, There is because if the students cannot see a connection between what they are studying and the career they are preparing to enter then the students are not going to be engaged. The connections you can help them make the better. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Motivation Through Relevancy and Application

Holly, Sharing stories and examples from the field really gets the students excited about what they are studying as you know. These stories are what connect them to the content and why it is being studied. The more relevance and application they can be shown the more excited they will be about being in the class. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Effective Motivation Techniques

Alan, This is key connection to make and you are doing it with your approach. The more students can be shown relevance and application of course content the more value they associate with it and realize the purpose of them being enrolled in school. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Developing Student Rapport

Alan, Having such an environment makes a big difference in helping students to get settled into the course and focusing on the course itself rather than a learning environment that is not supportive of them. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Instructors as Role Models

Therese, You have laid out a very well developed guide for instructors to follow as they fulfill the role of models for students. They need to, as the saying goes "walk the walk and not just talk the walk". Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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