Hi Jeannette,
It was good to work with you as well. I would be interested in any work that you have done in the area of EI. As I mentioned I want to research how EI and Multiple Intelligences and be blended to increase learning and student satisfaction.
I will keep your offer of help in mind as well.
Thanks.
Gary
This is different in online instruction. With face to face you have the ability to gauge each week the progress, but with online, the didatic is not as relevant, and the interaction is asynchronistic. What I do is do a Meet and Greet to find out more about the career goals and interests of the students
I send numerous e-mails to keep the students engaged in the process.
I try whenever possible to tie in my own professional and personal experiences to what I'm teaching.
Sometimes this seems to be the only way to "prove" what is being taught is relevant.
In the field of computer science, application to current case studies can help adult learners identify the business value of the course content. Teaching generic programming skills could lead students to ask what the actual relevance of such skills are. I prefer to introduce a hot topic, such as rich internet experiences on mobile devices such as smartphones. Getting students to begin discussing the business value of rich content on smartphones is a great way to get started with the subject. By asking leading questions, using pretests, and guiding students toward a more detail-oriented discussion of a given case (such as porting the Flash Player to a Palm Pre, for example), I then get the opportunity to discuss some of the programming skills that are requisite for actually realizing the business value of such cases.
This is a great way to find the opportunities to make material relevant to students. For example, if a student reports that they are working for Oracle, bringing in case studies of database applications as launch points for reports and discussion can help guide the student toward the relevant skills for programming databases. It could even help to ask the student to bring in job listings from Oracle to see who might be interested in developing such skills. There is always an opportunity for overlap with real-world motivation and programming courses.
These are excellent points. Case studies in career advancement are powerful learning tools, and time savers can help students understand the business value of learning certain skills offered in your class. This provides context for those skills, and highlights their importance in the students' overall educational experience.
Hi James,
You have given a great example of how an instructor can bring all of the learning components together. This mix of real world challenges and classroom applications really helps to boost the experience base of students as they get ready to enter their field.
Gary
You have to show them how what you are teaching is relevant to the discussion. You also have to bring their experiences into the discussion.
Hi Lawrence,
Relevancy and application are two critical elements of instruction. What are some ways you bring both of them into your teaching?
Gary
One way to make content relevant is to ask the students outright; another is to offer voluntary opportunities. In each of my online courses at CTUO, I offer a 'your call' chat, in which students select course topics for review, even if they've been covered already. Integrated into the topical reviews are questions that help me to measure what they know and understand. Another way, which I've used elsewhere, is to encourage students to lead online discussions or serve as 'field experience' experts on closing guest forums for other courses.
Lack of baseline assessments is also a key problem, and many institutions serving adult learnings are overlooking them. When admissions are nonselective, it's essential to have research/writing boot camps and preliminary assessments.
Hi Nora,
Great strategy. This really helps the students to feel involved and have a say in the direction the discussions can take. I really like the "field experience" experts idea because it gives them some status in the field plus lets them use their expertise.
Gary
Hi Nora,
You have hit upon a critical point that is the topic of discussion everywhere I go throughout the career college community. Faculty are asking for baseline assessments to determine where to start with their students. By having such their planning is much more productive. In my courses I do the baseline assessments myself since my college doesn't do them. This way I know from the beginning of the course what I can expect in terms of knowledge and skill from my students. This really helps me to be more effective and efficient.
Gary
As stated adult learners need to see the relevance to the content being discussed. I like to tie in real world examples to give the lectures or demonstrations real meaning.
Hi Todd,
This is a good strategy because it helps the adult learners to "connect the dots" between the course content and application. They start to value the content as a result of having examples of how it will be applied in their career area.
Gary
Baseline assessments are crucial. My institution does not have any type of pre-test or entrance exam; therefore, I feel I must get an assessment on each student so that I know who I might have to provide extra help to or who I should "keep my eye on" so as to not lose any student early on in the learning process.
Hi Jill,
This is so important. My college doesn't have one either so I have created a baseline assessment for each of my courses. This way I can, just like you get a feel for where each student is in terms of basic knowledge. This gives me a starting point for my planning of instructional delivery.
Gary
Career college students expect all of their program courses to have relevance to the career they are pursuing. That is understandable since, in most cases, significant money, energy, and time are on the line. I think it is important from day one to establish how relevant the courses are that I teach in our particular program, even though the courses I teach are not considered the main part of our program; however, they are still required academics. Some students don't realize until we get into the courses why they are even necessary. I do make it a point of stressing the relevance of these courses through shared business experiences, discussion of events in the "real world" (current events), and reading articles from industry journals that show or prove relevance from our classroom to their new profession. I find that reviews all through the course of the previously learned material are very helpful to students. Usually, if I notice students starting to glaze over (some of the students have already had a very long day before they ever get to school), I will take that opportunity to change direction for a moment (which tends to bring them back around) and start asking questions about things we previously discussed. Students seem to respond to this and tend to like to be the ones who remember what we have already studied. It makes them feel "on top of it." It's motivational for me, too, because I think, "They're getting it!"
As an instructor at a career college that does not utilize any type of preliminary assessment guide, I am faced with the challenges of adult learners that do not have basic knowledge of English, computer literacy, et cetera.
Hi Diane,
You might want to consider developing and using a baseline assessment for your course. By knowing where the students are in their basic academic skills you can then select the appropriate support materials in your career area.
Gary
