Hi Nancy,
Good point. Instructors have to constantly strive to increase their professional improvement. By getting feedback from students improvement can be made. Feedback also helps instructors to keep variety and freshness in their delivery. What is the most effective feedback method you use from your students?
Gary
Gary
Straight up ask them. After each lecture I give them the opportunity to let me know what worked best for them .This also involves them and tells me if the materiel is getting across to them. We also have survey forms for them to fill out about us as instructors and our delivery.
Nancy Del Mugnaio
You should always keep an open mind as nothing is set in stone, changes are needed, listen to suggestions, asked questions from students to other staff, practice and have confidence in yourself.
Developing and refining my instructional style is perhaps the most central objective in my own pedagogical growth. I realize that my ability to "teach better" is connected largely to how my students "learn better." That is to say, learning, like the classroom materials emphasize, is more important or perhaps equal to teaching. When I focus on how well my students seem to learn, I am forced to adjust or adapt my teaching to achieve this end. In my estimation, refining my instructional style really involves gaining a more sophisticated consciousness about how my students progress or achieve specific course competencies. It is incumbent upon me, then, to make sure I assess learning constantly: asessment appears to be the primary way to ensure that learning takes place.
My inclusion of assessment in this discussion helps me to understand that not only do students need assessment, but I need to assess myself, or more specifically, my instructional style, as well. Am I presenting the information in a sustained, coherent way so that students of diverse learning styles can learn? In this age of instruction (which seems very different from the age I grew under), instructors must make the coursework relevant to students' lives. In contrast, I would say that most of my instructors just hurled information in my direction and expected me to learn it. That tradiitonal method is not effective today. A big part of the instructor's job today is establishing and reinforcing for students connections between the course and their ultimate career.
In order to answer the proposed question, I must use the following criteria to refine my insturctional style: creativity -- students must encounter information in refreshed ways; flexibility -- students must see that the instructor has the capacity to adjust how he/she presents material based on each individual class; assessment -- students should have the oppportunity to evaluate how the class is progressing, and instructors must assess what they do often; and incentive -- every now and then instructors must give students subtle forms of reinforcement. These criteria, coupled with the instructor's frequency to learn from and ask questions of more experienced faculty members, give instructors like me a chance to refine my style in the classroom.
I teach a Psychology class at a school of business. Many students enroll in my course merely to fulfill requirements. As a result, many are unable to see the relevance of the course material to their lives in general. Thus, I feel it is important to make real world connections when possible. In order for students to become interested in the subject matter they must feel that the information is relevant to their lives. As an instructor, I must provide a wide range of oportunities for students to creatively think about the material they learn in the class room and how it is relevant to other aspects of their lives.
Hi Elbert,
Thank you for your observations and comments about teaching style. You are right on target about how the instructor must adapt and change to meet the learning needs of students.
Instruction today is so much more targeted. Our adult students want to see relevance and application. Selection of course content and delivery has to have these two aspects woven into all the planning that occurs. It is easy to miss the mark if we don't.
Through it all instructors must continue their professional development. Your remarkes bears that out. I know your students benefit from your desire to constantly improve.
Gary
Hi Jessica,
You are right on the mark about making the connection to the "real world" for your students. The required gen ed courses can present a challenge for instructors as they try to make applications to the lives of their students. With psychology classes you have many great opportunities to make applications in terms of why we, as humans, do the things we do. For example, it takes 28 tries to change a behavior, 20 tries to remove the old behavior and 8 tries to develop the new behavior. I always use exercise for this example. 80% of the people that start exercising quit within 3 months, why? This will create all kinds of discussion. This discussion can range from dieting to purchasing (advertisements). You then can weave the examples back to the career world and why a course like this is important to their total educational sequence. Good luck with your efforts.
Gary
In order to develop and refine an instructional style, the methodology and techniques involved need to be discovered, learned and practiced. As you know, there is a plethora of resources available for the freshman instructor, including the PBTE program, CBSD program, workshops, MaxKnowledge courses, and so on. Once these materials have been reviewed, attempted and practiced, the instructor should be able to ascertain what works best for them and then "fine tune" those abilities for incorporation into the daily routine.
Hi Dr. Stover,
Well said concerning the various forms of assistance that are available to beginning instructors. If new instructors will take the time to not only look at these materials but observe other instructors and talk with fellow educators they can develop their own style and be successful with it.
Gary
After teaching more than eight years, I figure it out that you should be master of your subject to control and teach the class.
Class of student, size of the class and lot of other factors are very important.
Thanks
Hi Abdullah,
What do you think was the key to figuring out that you had achieved the balance you wanted between managing the class and having rapport with your students.
Gary
Ok I'm new to this? Can you explain how this works? I see a question here dated in 2004? Am I suppose to reply to this?
Hi Brian,
The Forum questions are not date based. They are content based, thus the reason for the 04 date. Yes, you are to respond to the questions in the forums based upon your professional judgement and experience. Then the other participants and I will have the opportunity to discuss with you your comments. This is where the exchange part of the course allows you to ask questions specific to your needs and the facilitator and participants and help you to expand your knowledge base.
Gary
One of the things I appreciated about my past instructors was the ability to make complicated terms and ideas seem easy to understand. I try to emulate that instructional style. As a teacher of technology, the books can often be too abstract or not easily understood by the students. I try to break things down to something the students understand. I use metaphors or give examples that they can relate to. And I see the results on test. A student may not remember a term's definition verbatim, but they'll remember the metaphor or example that I gave. So understanding how instructors taught me has been a big help.
Hi Brian,
Good approach. You are using different methods that help your students to use their learning preferences as they learn new material and then store it in their memory banks.
What are the primary sources of your metaphors and examples?
Gary
I would delivery to student learning abilities to plan, encourage, productive, care and confidence as a leadership.
I have tried a couple of different things every quarter, over the past 6 months. It has worked for most part. (1) using words from "their lingo" to explain a concept or mentioning funny and interesting examples from everyday experiences. (2)including a few anecdotes of my own studipity. (3) encouraging participation by working out problems on the board collectively and being able to beat the clock each time they solved a similar problem. (4) showing how they can solve a problem using their visual and mental faculties before putting pen to paper. (5) teaching them to pick out one word or concept and build on it layer by layer. I start off my mentioning a concept on the board and have all the students add to it. (7) have them state one example where they applied a concept(8) creating situations in the lab to force their creative and innovative skills.
I need to tweak my instructional style based on a plethora of suggestions made in this forum.
I am fairly new to the "formal" instruction environment and and came into my current situation shortly after (a couple of weeks) this phase had started. I didn't know the style of the previous instructor so had to learn (quickly) what was most effective for the class. I modified my style somewhat each day of the first week, noting reactions from the class until I determined what I felt was most effective.
Hi Jerry,
Congratulations on surviving to this point. The hardest adjustment is behind you. Just keep all of your options open as you develop your skills as an instructor and you will do fine.
Gary
After going thru ED 101, (have not taken Final quiz yet), I think that developing and refining your instructinal style should be two seperate items to conquer. For me as a new instructor, I am jumping into new waters. Having come from a technical background the material is something I am extremely comfortable with, but the method of delivery is still a trying process. Once a style is developed, to what level of refinement should you strive for? Will it ever stop?
