Implementing Relevant Course Content
What strategies have you implemented for making a course's content relevant and applicable to the learning needs of students?
After presenting a 10 - 15 minutes lecture, provide the students with a freewriting activities where they are brainstorming the information they heard during the lecture.
Bettye,
Good strategy because it lets them reset their brains and use the content that has just been covered in a relevant way.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I teach adult learners. A strategy I use for making course content relevant is to provide practical applications of the theoretical constructs that I am teaching. This is important. Adults learners, as a rule, want to know how what they are learning can be applied to their jobs or future career path. Incorporating examples of current events as well as my own life experiences enriches my presentations and emphasizes the point that what is being learned is relevant AND applicable to real-world situations.
I try to engage my students as much as possible. This helps them understand and comprehend the material better
I teach military students, so I always try to find scenarios and examples that will apply to the students. If I am going to use a business example, I explain why this is a best practice that should be considered by military leaders.
Kent,
I commend you for your effort to connect the life experiences of your students to the course content. This way your students can see the value of the content in relation to what they know based upon the career area, in this case the military.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I always try to apply everything that was taught to the clinical setting (physical therapy). I try to engage them and get them to use critical thinking skills by bringing up certain experiences I've had in clinic. They always appreciate real-life examples and that, ultimately, makes them aware of the fact that what they are learning will be highly applicable in the clinic.
Marina,
Real life examples increase the value of the course content for students. They see the reason behind teaching what you are teaching and the lab work they are expected to perform. This is their ROI due to the relevance and application that comes out of sharing these stories.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
In my experience repetitive repetitions on a manikin eliminate fear of live client interaction with minimal mistakes from over excitement from first time experiences.
Shelly,
This has been my experience as well. They need to get really comfortable with the manikin so they don't "lock up" when humans are involved. These procedures need to become second nature to them so they will make the patients comfortable as well.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I have made the content more relative to their everyday life.
The two main areas I focus on to make the content relevant and applicable are real-world application and assignment application. It's fairly obvious that adult learners in a career-focused program want to know (sometimes demand to know!) how material applies to the workplace. And, focusing in on the ways that the course can empower a person in the workforce can be motivational and even exciting.
But, I think just as important is how the content will apply to course assignments. In other words, I often will pause to note how a particular subject or learning nugget applies to the assignments for the week so that students know what is most important to their demonstration of a level of mastery of the content. I don't give them the answers. I do offer suggestions on ways to approach assignments so that during content delivery they can begin to compose the week's work. I might say something like... as you are reviewing this information, you may wish to consider using it in your paper this week in this way or that way or a third way. By doing this, they know what to focus on and can continue to absorb the content in a way that will later serve them in demonstrating an understanding of the material through their submissions.
Kareme,
This is not only talking the walk but is also walking the walk. You are showing them the ROI they will receive as a result of being successful in your course.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I like to employ multiple short lectures followed by an actual demonstration of student activity. For instance, in the phlebotomy class that I teach, I taught a quick lecture with both Powerpoint and a Youtube video showing the reasons for and proper way for tying a tourniquet. Then I had the students actually perform the exercise of tying the tourniquet on a dummy arm followed by their actual classmates.
Jessica,
These are fun ways to keep students focused and to let them use the content that has just been covered. Students really like change of pace and variety in their instructional delivery and you are doing such with your approach.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Brainstorming -asking learners leading questions of their experiences and what they did about it and then present the Course Content and show them the relevance of their experiences to what they are learning
I try to make my course content relative to the real world. When I teach anatomy I try to do it in a way that the students can retain the information and use it in the real world settings for which they are preparing.
Judy,
The more connections like this you can make the better. This is what gets the students engaged so they will start to see themselves in their field and why you are teaching what you are.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I teach Verbal Communications and we have tried to make the course relevant to the culinary world. One of the presentations they give is a demo. We actually book a kitchen for this learning strategy. Two weeks before we demo, they have to give an ingredient list with conversion amounts. I have a discussion about accuracy for purchasing and also preview their Cost Control Class. They write a presentation outline that lays out their mis en place. When they demo, they learn how to develop a patter, how to practice so they can meet the time limit. So much learning takes place in this one assignment. They see what they need to work on. We then go back in to the classroom and discuss how demos can be used in the interviewing process.
