Claim When planning courses educators should take into account the interests and suggestions of their students Reason Students are more motivated to learn when they are interested in what they are studying Write a response in which you discuss the ext

Students interests and suggestions are useful in planning courses but they don't necessarily need to make contributions to the course content before their interests can motivate learning. Generally speaking educators are trained to motivate and create course content that appeals to students. There are several motivational approaches that can arouse the students' interests. In the following paragraphs I hope to examine ways that can trigger interests and enhance learning.

First and formost it's the responsibility of the educator to prepare a course content that is relevant and interesting to students. A good educator should plan courses that reflect ideas that appeals to the students' mind. A course content that buttresses ideas that are no longer relevant to the today's world may not arouse students' interests. For example, a Mechanics teacher that teaches about coal or locomotive engine instead of dwelling on electric engine that can drive the 21st century electric train may not be able to motivate the student to learn mechanics as their interests and lives are already influenced by the nature of technology.

Secondly, an educator can motivate the students to learn by carefully designing his/her teaching methodology. A course may not be interesting in the beginning but the style and method of teaching can help arouse the students interest, and there enhance learning. One Geography teacher can choose to spend all the time in the classroom teaching a course that is outside the classroom and possibly douse the students motivation to learn as the teachings may seems abstract to them. Another smart teacher may choose to occasionally take the students out to the rocks, hills, rivers etc., where the course actually belongs. The later approach will not only increase likeness for the ccourse but will motivate and enhance learning greatly.

Thirdly, a good reward and appraisal systems can help motivate students to learn without soliciting for the suggestions and interests of students. If a student knows that he will be praised and rewarded for excelling in a particular course, it will invariably steer the students mind to learn more to achieve the rewards and honors. This will also create a healthy competition amongs students, therby resulting into a wide sphere of interests across board.

Lastly, are we not going to make a caricature of learning when the learner becomes the educator or teacher? Why students still need to go school if they already know what they want from a course. The nature of learning is supposed to spur the interest, challenge the brain and expose skills and talents resident in the individual mind. If a course must accommodate the suggestions and interests of every student then the course is bound to teach nothing. For example, the US that was a force to reckon with in education but has become a back bencher due to loosely packaged courses that are convenient for students. Recently the US ranked faraway 5th behind China. This may not be unconnected with a system that tends to accommodate everyone's interests.

In closing, suggestions and interests by students are not irrelevant in planning but there is a tendency that it could create an easy or lazy route to learning, which may in the long run not be the aims and objectives of the course.