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

Re: Effective Retention Strategies

Elmer, Not sure of your question. Can you expand on this? There are two forms of retention, one being retaining a student through a course and a program and the other is retention of content by students. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Understanding Learner Characteristics

Vanessa, The more you know about students the more accurately you can provide support to them. As a result you can target your instruction to be of maximum support to the learning preferences of your students. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Understanding Learner Characteristics

Elmer, So true and so important to their educational success. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Being Successful in College

Jeanne, I really like the way you build support for your students as they are starting your course. You approach them with examples and stories including your own so they can see that you have been where they are. Then you give them strategies for being successful and provide them with a thought process that can help them to move toward their career goals. From there on it is up to them to put forth the effort and success will come their way. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Motivating Learners

Diane, So important. Instructors need to have passion for their content and enthusiasm for sharing. As you say even if some of the content does not excite us we need to "sell" it to our students. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Strategies for Keeping Students Engaged in Learning

Jessica, Yes, they do because you are showing them value of the content through the application process. This also increases their understanding of the relevancy of information and how it is helping them move toward their career goals. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Strategies for Keeping Students Engaged in Learning

Bianca, Good observation and good tip. Thanks for sharing it with us. We instructors need to "read" our students so we can respond with the appropriate support and interaction that will get every student in the class involved. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Strategies for Keeping Students Engaged in Learning

Gordon, Good strategy to follow as learners like variety and change of pace in their instructional delivery. You are doing such with your method and this will keep your students engaged at a much higher level. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Making a Positive First Impression

Stephanie, A positive first impression can be made with students through activities that you introduce during the first class. Do an ice breaker or two that gets students talking and interacting with each other and you. Share a laugh with them and discuss how they can be successful in the course. This is of course in addition to being prepared, appropriately dressed, on time and professional in your introduction of yourself and your students. It is amazing that with a few activities at the beginning of a new class you can get the student focused on the class and excited… >>>

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Discussion Comment

Making a Positive First Impression

Stephanie, Right you are. It is so much easier to build on a positive first day rather than try to dig out of a negative hole. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.

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