I find it benefitial to explain time management as a tool to put the focus of success on the student.

Providing prior work as an example of assignments promotes expectations of work necessary to successfully complete the assignment

I work in a results oriented sales postision. When working with my potential clients, sometimes I find myself with expectations of moving through the sales process on my time schedule. This is a sure fire way to set yourself up for stress in the workplace. Many times the client has many other projects and outside environmental circumstances that I have no idea about and this will cause delay, but not rejection to my implementing my technology I represent. I am always setting myself up for a stressful day when I want things done on my time.

I feel that presenting a professional image as well as being a leader within the field of study are important aspects in creating an online setting. This approach is productive and supports student growth. Within an online setting the professional approach is being knowledgeable and sharing the course information effectively.

I found it very interesting that in fact students can also find a way to cheat within the online setting as well. Within many online courses there are elements implemented to discourage this type of behavior. I will be able to adapt some of this information for use within the online setting as well.

This module has provided great suggestions for creating a productive classroom setting. This information has also given me ideas for creating an effective online setting.

I have found that by setting due dates and creating effective expectations in terms of submission deadlines, student are more eager to participate. Taking the time to provide a penalty for late assignments and still accepting the work allows students to understand that their work is quality but will have penalties.

When I was in nursing school, we had a girl who had already worked as a patient care tech for a couple years and therefore, thought she already knew everything. She had a comment about everything, often contradicting or expanding on what the teacher said. We all got so sick of her! I like the idea brought up in the reading about having participation cards, where a student can only speak as many times as he had cards. I will employ this tactic if I ever have a student like this!

I anticipate having some trouble connecting with some students and relating to their struggles, due to being from different bacgrounds. I don't have kids, so I can't fully appreciate how hard that is and the problems it can bring up. I don't want to take that as an excuse for absences, but I don't want to be a jerk about it either. Any thoughts?

Given that this MaxKnowledge instruction explains that cheating is more of an opportunity based problem, I will disagree, and say I believe it's a culture issue. If you foster a belief that cheaters will succeed in the workforce, they will cheat in your class.

I really appreciated the coverage given to late homework submissions, especially the samples of wording pertaining to proposed late homework guidelines found near the end of Module 1. When I began teaching, my Syllabus fit entirely on one page. Now, each Syllabus fills at least five pages. I find that the more structure I add to the class up-front, the smoother the term goes. One particular incident that I have long considered is the policy concerning the late submission of homework. Teaching in a career orientated school, I repeatedly remind my students that they should think of me as their boss and each class as a meeting scheduled by their boss. Hence, they need to arrive and turn their homework in on time! Failing the preceding, I generally have not given them any credit for late submissions; however, thanks to suggested wording near the end of the first module, I am inclined to change my policy to a 20% deduction per day. I look forward to noting whether or not the new policy yields positive results.

Guided notes help students stay focused on the important components of the instructional objectives. They also serve as an outline for the instructor enabling them to stay on track during a lecture or presentation.

Is it a good idea to reward students with extra credit points to make up for points lost due to late assignments? Isn't this rewarding irresponsible behavior? Many schools do not allow extra credit work for just this reason.

I teach in the legal profession and think that policies should be developed for late assignments that mirror the profession. Each year we meet with attorneys on our advisory board. They beg us not to accept late work. They tell us that it gives the students a false understanding that there is flexibility with deadlines. They tell us that in the legal world, if you're late, you lose. They want us to have that rigid approach to prepare them appropriately. I tend to agree with them and seldom allow late assignments without documentation of their reason for lateness. Colleen

Although there are a few cases where I think multiple choice questions can work for math, I think they are often inappropriate for two primary groups of students: (1) students who are very capable often work backwards to see which answer "works" without having to know the concept or process being tested; (2) students who are struggling with basic concepts who cannot work the problem to the end often cannot find the answer in the possible choices...so in the end, it is often a frustrated guess. It is my opinion (which could certainly be flat wrong) that this weakness applies to both teacher-written and professionally-developed math exams (SAT, ACT, etc). Boot camps "teach" how to score high on these exams. Asking the student to "show your work" is essentially setting up an essay question type dilemma, with an even more unstructured format! I have tried both MC and "short answer/show your work" and definitely get a better effort from the low- and medium-capable students when they are able to show their work and get partial credit...but it takes SO much time. For the very capable math students, requiring them to come up with their own answer, and offering the chance for partial credit if work is shown has also produced positive results for me. Those students have to be more prepared and are not rewarded for "breaking the code". Besides "make GOOD multiple choice math questions", does anyone have a strategy for teaching (fundamental) math?

I include in my syllabus a "re-submittal policy" that allows students to re-submit any ON TIME work for regrading if they wish. This has had several benefits: First, if they misunderstood part of the assignment, they get a second chance at it with more clarity. Secondly, correcting your own mistakes has proven to be valuable for learning. This does create some additional work for me as the instructor, but we generally have small classes, and this has been manageable. This is not allowed for tests, of course, but for project-based assignments that are more creative in nature.

I have just set up my first online grade book. at first it was a challange, but now my life has been made easier, my students have feed back that they can use to keep themselves on track, and by keeping a tally on their grades, when i go to close out the class all it now takes is a click of the button.

sounds funny but even on my days off i make myself a to do list, by planning my work and working my plan, i actually end up with more free time!

I have found that adding passion and humor to your presentations is what will bring your students in and add to their overall enjoyment of the class.

I have seen where the more I tried to help a student it atually enables them and snowballed for me....they don't seem to learn to take control of the situation and you, the instructor continue to do all the work! It's a cycle I am working to get out of :-)