Instructional Style
How can you develop and refine your instructional style?
Deveoping instructional styles has been an area of concern for me, as the Director of Education. I have changed the way I deliver instructon(and train new instructors) by making sure that the instruction is more visual and stimulating. I believe this is necessary in the delivery of instruction as most students in the classrrom toady are best taught with the interaction of technology and end results. Keeping the class on task is easier if the subject matter is geared to the end result. Every lesson must include something that relates to the end result. Most students today cannot project for the long term and lose interest if the class is not stimulating and relevant. This requires me to prepare lessons with more content from outside sources such as websites and trade journals and always trying to provide information that is cutting edgenews.
You have captured the essence of instructional style in terms of keeping the student first. We all take in information through a variety of different venues. Instructors have to work hard to provide the variety that is necessary to keep the students' interest.
A challenge I see everywhere I do training is that instructors become so focused on their content area that they, in many cases don't provide the stimulation opportunities that are required to keep student interest for the duration.
Your point of keeping the end result in focus is a good one. One way of keeping that end goal real for all of the students is to "chunk" the information into bit size chunks of instruction that illustrate for the students progress in their learning and knowledge base. They then can string together these bits of information into a comprehensive knowledge base.
Also, the human factor for the instructor must always be a matter of consideration. A part of the instructional style must be the fact that you have rapport with your students and they know you care about their success in your class. This again may be a problem with instructors moving from business and industry where they aren't sure how much of their personalities to project into the instructional setting. They struggle with who they really are in the classroom and how to get the students to respect them. Again, I have found in my training that for the most part these individuals through role playing and group discussions can quickly get a grasp of an instructional style that will be comfortable for them once they have a clear understanding of what an instructional style really is and how to expand on it.
As I replied in the email, I believe I can best refine my instructional style by;
1. ensuring feedback from students, peers and
relevant others,
2. studying the styles of others and what
others have written (e.g. CBSD Modules)
3. being receptive to change.
Les
Les
I think you have developed a real good system of refining your instructional style by using the three points you listed.
The key point for the first item is the method of feedback you use. I hope you have developed a method that gives clear and concise feedback from each represented group. I would be interested in any additional information that you would like to share about your feedback method.
The studying of other styles is always a good idea. One thing I find is that by exploring other delivery options I can improve my instruction while maintaining a level of excitement about my course, even though I may have taught it many times before. This way it doesn't become boring. Also, it is through forums like this that professionals can exchange ideas that will help them to expand and improve their instructional delivery.
The idea of being receptive to change is always a challenge. We must be receptive to change but sometimes we are resistive due to the effort it takes to change or we are afraid of what might happen if we do change. Thank you for reminding us for the need to keep the change element in our personal improvement plan.
Gary
I have been in education for the last 17 years and my initial belief still holds true regarding instructional style and the development thereof.
Every class of students has its own personality. Knowing that personality, knowing who your students are and then seeking those ideas that will excite them in the classroom is critical to the development of instructional style. No instructor can have just one style of teaching, of mastering the ability to hold the attention and create a passion inside a student for learning. And that's what it is...a passion that has to be fired from an ember. Find the ember in the student, find success in the classroom.
The bottom line is that your students are your best source of development and the refining of your instructional style.
Allison,
You have captured the essence of instructor improvement with your statement about using your students as your source for developing and refining your instructional style. I wish other instructors would be as observant about developing and refining their instructional style as you are. Instructors must develop a method of feedback and evaluation that will enable them to gather and process the student feedback that they are receiving. Students will give feedback one way or another and if we are not meeting their needs, then the feedback will be negative and the class effectiveness will be lost. This is unfortunate since all we had to do was listen to the real message they were sending us. Congratulations for a job well done.
The other observation that you shared is that of recognizing that each class has its' own personality. So often instructors try to teach with a “one size†fits all mentally and this simply will not work as you well know. The end result most often is frustration on the part of both the instructor and the students.
Thank you for you insight about instructional improvement.
Gary
We have formal evaluations from our students every 6 weeks for each course. In addition I and other instructors do formal in-class evals on each instructor every 6 months. These are then part of an annual performance appraisal. Hope that helps clarify.
Les
How can you develop and refine your instructional style?
1- By taking continuing education courses (you need to learn more to make a change in your style and refine it.)
2- After teaching any class, analyze if students learned what they needed to learn and what else you can do to help students learn the material.
I teach in a manufacturing Institute and with Technology advancing, I must stay up to date with the newer technology in order to prepare the students in the job market. For me it's a continuing process which I have to stay on top of. I use trade journals and attend several seminars thru-out the year.
Hi Zafar,
Thank you for input on how to develop and refine your instructional style. Your suggestion about taking continuing education courses to improve is a good one. Sometimes it is hard to find courses that meet this need. What suggestions would you make to your faculty to assist them in finding courses that will benefit their professional development?
Your second point about analyzing student results will be of benefit to students. Each time we teach a course we need to evaluate how effective we have been and then seek improvement. A suggestion for all instructors is to have a system of soliciting feedback from students. This system needs to be different from the “formal†assessment process that most colleges use. The reason that the “formal†format is most often used as a means of retention for the faculty. This formal assessment forces in many cases instructors to stay within very narrow boundaries of instruction to make sure that they get evaluations that will allow them to keep their jobs. The use of a system to get student feedback on an ongoing basis allows instructors to shift, redirect, and concentrate on instructional improvement throughout the training time. This helps make the instructors better and the students to be more effective learners.
Gary
Hi Joseph,
Good ideas on how to stay current. In your reading of trade journals and attending seminars do you get exposure to instructional improvement?
I have found that most of information being put out by professional trade associations, etc. are content based. The real challenge is how to translate the new content into a teachable format that will inform and interest the students. It seems like an instructor just gets the problems and case studies developed for a course sequence when new content comes along and requires that a new format be developed. This is one of the exciting parts of education, that being the need for constant development and revision to insure that you are always current in your course.
Gary
I usually refine my style by watching other professionals teach or speak and then by reflecting on my current style. This gives me good little tidbits and tips for improvement as well as keeping me motivated.
Dale,
Great idea. From what you have written, it appears that you have a clear idea of what makes up a good instructor and you look for those characteristics in instructors that you observe.
We are all models and we have to remember that we never know for sure who might be observing us as a role model. Thus, we need always to reflect professionalism in everything we do.
Veteran instructors are great for having developing little teaching techniques that we can observe and will help us do a better job. Experience helps everyone to work smarter and more effectively if we model the right person.
You are on the right track in your professional development.
Gary
I have had the benefit of working in the "Industrial Education" field off and on since 1984. The longest continuous period was from '84 to '92 with the past 5 years as a part-timer for a local technology center for the tool & die industry. I also maintain a full time position in industry. At first, I watched others in my company deliver the course material both as a student and as an observer to create my own style. In the beginning I mostly just repeated what I saw.
Looking back, I see that my style of delivery evolved as my knowledge of the product or field of study and experience grew (and continues today). Every class gives you new insight on how to shape the information to the students' reasons for wanting to learn the material.
You can learn from the students by simply asking them why they are in the class. Some will not really know, but others will have definite plans on what they hope the class will teach them and what they hope to gain from this new knowledge. The ones who are unsure may find direction from those comments.
When I ask that question and listen to what the students say I can identify the motivated students and their interests from the start. This can help me tailor the class to their specific goals and help the less motivated find a good reason to pay attention and become more interested in the material. There have been times I have added material that would not otherwise have been covered because the students wanted or needed to learn "a little bit extra" for their personal or career goals. By finding out near the beginning of the class the extra material can be worked in at appropriate times.
My methods used to deliver the course material changed to fit the environment as well. Some courses were delivered at customer facilities with all the included interruptions for the students to "get _real_ work done". Never a good situation but sometimes necessary.
There have been many classes that failed to cover the material in the allotted time. These provided a good opportunity to refine the course material and methods/speed of delivery so that the absolute core could be covered in depth allowing the students to flesh out the topics through homework, handouts, and/or review sessions when they could make the time.
I guess after writing all of the above my own method of refining my style has evolved from basically regurgitating the material I learned to letting the students point me in the directions they need to go while maintaining the control to cover the required material.
After every class there is time to consider what went well and what didn't and to use that information to improve.
Hi Al,
What a great perspective on how to improve your instructional delivery. It sounds like you have followed a long term plan of improvement. Your key components of observing others and their teaching techniques, both good and bad, have helped you to pick and choose the methods you want to employ in your classroom.
My only suggestion in your process would be to keep a notebook of your observations and experiences. As you record them you will be reminded of the successes you have had and the areas that you want to improve on. In addition, when you are ready to teach a particular course again, you can look at the notebook and see how that section of instruction went.
Gary
Thanks for the comments Gary,
I have been keeping track of these things, not in a consolidated notebook, but as notes to myself in the margins of my texts and workbooks. But I have also lost some good ideas because a book got "borrowed". Guess I'll spend a buck at Staples and get comp. book just for this!
Regards,
Al
I'd have to say that the most important area of focus would include staying in tune with student responsiveness and progress. I agree with the statement that we need to focus on the learning and not the teaching. I find that when it comes to the application of a subject, I need to concentrate, for example, on those who did not ask questions during the classroom phase or lesson.
Steve
One can develop an instructional style after considering what kind of methods were utilized by one's favourite teachers.
Experimenting diverse class activities and having an evaluation feed back from students from time to time can be a sourse of refining your instructional style.
I teach as a part-time instructor at an institute where I am fortunate enough to have small classes. The advantage of that is that I can usually "mold" my course to suit the needs of the students. I use their course reviews at the end of the class to help me refine or change things that I do. I am a firm believer in "hands-on" teaching. I feel it is a good motivator and helps develop a student's confidence. I also listen and deal with each student individually to help with their particular "problems." The goal for me is to keep my students progressing with useful knowledge that they can also build on for success in their job.
I feel to be a good instructor,it helps to have been a student. That is one way you can develop a style of instructing; by learning how other instructors handle the task. Take their examples, and apply them to your own style. You also need to keep up with any changes in your field. Technology moves rapidly. I attend seminars, read trade publications, etc. These all help me develop my own knowledge and methods.
