Sharing resources and knowledge is an expected practice for instructors in higher education. Being able to present best practices with new faculty is key in sharing ways to increase student engagement and to discover new ways to facilitate classroom discussions.

Imagine you are part of the Faculty Conference Planning Committee for your content area at your higher education institution. You have been asked to prepare a break-out session for instructors new to your content area discussing student interaction and classroom facilitation. In a 500-750 word outline for your break-out session, explain the following:

At least two research-based instructional strategies for teaching adult learners in your content area.

At least two research-based best practices to facilitate classroom discussions in both the online and traditional higher education settings.

• At least two research-based differentiation strategies appropriate for adult learners.
• At least two research-based instructional methods effective for both online and traditional higher education classrooms. Explain in what circumstances each method would be appropriate in your content area.
• Support your outline with a minimum of three scholarly resources.

 

Effective Teaching Strategies

Instructional strategies have been a useful technique for teachers in helping their students become strategic students and independent. Instructional strategies are useful to the student as it aids them to come up with a solution independently without relying on their teachers. While sharing my content I will utilize cooperative learning where instructors of different abilities will be discussing and sharing information on the best way to achieve student interaction (Nilson, 2016). Secondly, I will also incorporate inquiry-based instruction whereby I will be presenting provoking questions to my adult learners on the best way to achieve our goals as each of them will be coming up with their problem-solving ideas in the long run enabling them to understand our content area in depth.

While educating learners it is also important to incorporate both online as well as traditional higher education setting settings in aiding students to achieve a better learning experience. Covid 19 outbreak has also brought the need to invest in our online educational setting as learners were not allowed to come to school physically, while in other universities classes were offered simultaneously for both physical and online students. To facilitate classroom discussion in both of these settings I will utilize interactive tools such as polling and quizzing as it will engage both online and classroom students discussion. Some learning platforms such as Kahoot offer playful and competitive quizzes to students as well as encouraging them to participate both online and in class (Doghonadze, 2020). Additionally, it also tracks individual student performance helping the instructor remediate certain students or ensure both online and classroom students are performing equally. Chat mods can also be effective for both online and classroom learners. For chat mods to be successful there is a need to assign moderators to filter questions from online platform chats as well as student contributions. A teacher may also award marks to student's contributions on this platform thus encouraging students to participate.

It is important to note that there are no two students who are the same while teaching adults or children. Each student has their weakness and strength that dictate how they learn. Differentiation instruction is a teaching approach where instructions are tailor-made to meet specific student's needs. It is an effective approach in teaching as teachers can make each student achieve their academic potentials.  I will adapt the content in my break-out session so as instructors may change the complexity of their lessons, use interactive resources that may be narrative/informative while teaching and the context of their lesson should vary from classrooms, virtual environments, and communities (Tomlinson, 2017). Secondly, I will consider adapting the process in my differentiation instruction. This will require instructors to change how they deliver direct instructions; change how they structure their cooperative activities and lastly change the way they structure inquiry. These changes are essential in realizing each student's potentials.

To achieve good teaching, there is a need to develop educational planning that is effective for both online and traditional higher education. The lecture is one of the most common and effective instructional methods. Most instructors agree lecture main purpose is to lay the foundation for learners as they work through the subject. Good lectures know their student's needs and lecturers to student's needs. it is an effective way to lay information both online and in a physical classroom (Kazanidis, 2018). Most lectures usually leave links to their related website that learners can review after their classroom lecturers. Discussion is also an instructional strategy many adult learners prefer that can both be conveyed online and in a classroom setup. Discussion allows learners to analyze alternative ways of thinking and learning. The internet provides a wide variety of discussions that include mailing systems and course management discussion forums among others.

In conclusion, all these strategies are important in achieving an effective learning experience for the learners and ought to be implemented in all learning institutions for better conveying of information to learners.