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Meeting Learners Needs
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Meeting Learners Needs
To function effectively, instructors must become comfortable with the idea of teaching and learning at a distance. The delivery system must be modified and adapted to best motivate and meet the needs of the learners, in terms of both content and preferred learning styles. Consider the following strategies for meeting your learners’ needs:
- Create ways to help students become comfortable with the delivery technology and prepare them to resolve any technical problems that may arise.
- Make learners aware of and comfortable with new patterns of communication to be used in the course.
- Become familiar with learners’ backgrounds and experiences. Discussing your background and interests (as an instructor) is equally important.
- Be sensitive to different communication styles and varied cultural backgrounds. For example, humor is culturally specific and won't be perceived the same way by all. What you think is amusing may be insulting to the student.
- Make students aware that they must take an active role in the distance delivered program by independently taking responsibility for their learning.
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