Jeffery,
As a result of your effort in the area of learning theory and instructional delivery I know you are going to enhance your abilities to reach students and help them to grow in their knowledge and skills. I wish you continued teaching success.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
It will effect my training because I will provide several different types of learning for students. I'll provide both synchronise and asynchronise content along with downloadable instructions for those that learn best by reading.
This is what I try to do as well. I have also begun testing in the same manner. Half of the test is based on lecture and half is hands on based on lab.
Laura,
Good balance of how you are assessing your students. By being able to show their knowledge and skills in different ways you are letting them demonstrate their mastery in multiple ways.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
With so many types of multiple intelligences, teaching in an online environment can be a challenge to incorporate. By using verb, visual and intrapersonal intelligence are best in my opinion for online education.
What struck me about this lesson is the people that would profit the most from having this information are the students. I see the power in the teacher's hands but so much more power in the student's hands. I wish all my student were doing some formal introspection on their inteligences.
Being part of the private sector has helped me create an environment in the classroom that mirrors the workforce and what the students will be expected to know. The strange part is that many of the adult learners need to be made aware that companies will train/shadow you for weeks at a time in technical/business areas before you are ready for the next challenge. The support system and culture of an organization is have staff there who able to help. The proverbial being "thrown into the fire" is not something that is part of industry, albeit I do realize there are exceptions to any rule.
Fotunately our program naturally lends itself to utilizing the multiple intelligences in learning. In dental hygiene the students will first listen to lectures that are presented with videos, power point, models and demonstrations (auditory and visual). They also have reading assignments from the text books (written). Finally they go to the lab or clinic and perform what they have learned (kinesthetic).
Brent,
This is a great delivery format for the reasons you state. The more connections between the different senses and application of content the better. This keeps the students engaged and growth occurring.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I believe being more aware of the student's learning style will assist me in adapting the content delivery to match the needs of the learners. In a student centered environment, the deliver should meet the needs of the learner. This may or may not be the easiest presentation style for the instructor.
Understanding multiple intelligences is a benefit for me in my instruction, because this allows me to ensure that the information I am presenting gets to the learner. I might have to adapt my instructional strategy when I have a learner in my class that is not getting the information. Understanding how that learner best adapts to receiving information will allow me to adjust as needed to meet the needs of the learner.
Because I have many ways of learning myself I use power point for presenting many topics, videos, as well as handouts. I like to make sure that I've reached 100% of the student body in my class. I understand how it feels when someone is teaching and you feel lost. I will never allow my students to walk out of my class without fulfilling their understanding.
Understanding multiple intelligences will allow for me to customize content better for a variety of learning styles. It will also give me a reference point to assess and engage my students at the beginning of the learning process to be able to better reach them.
Understanding multiple intelligences helps us to see how others approach problems and learn new things. By using a variety of instructional methods you are more likely to "key in" on at least one method that each learner prefers.
I also utilize all of the learning styles in my classroom and agree that you can't use all of them at once, but making a concerted effort to use them on a rotating basis satisfies all students plus it ensures diversity within the learning environment. The students really appreciate that!
Walt,
You make a key point about using different instructional deliveries in your classroom. By rotating them you will be appealing to the different learning preferences of your students and this helps them to stay engaged and moving forward in their learning. Good strategy to follow.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I utilize all of the learning styles, by rotating them, which keeps all students engaged. I also test in the same way which works very well.
Angela,
Students like change of pace and variety in their instructional delivery. You are doing both with your approach and as a result you are touching on the different learning preferences of your students throughout the duration of the course.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I try to teach to as many learning styles as possible. Some of our training is power points and lectures where other parts are hands on demo's while a later portion is hands on repetition lab task of earlier demo's.
I try to incorparate a variety of teaching methods to target the various intelegences and learning preferences. I bubble maps for ignition testing and jeopardy to review, while also using alot of hands on activitites.
