Barry Westling

Tania, True. Students enroll in courses because there's some nugget of promise that interests them. When the instructional cycle is complete, and that promise is fulfilled, the satisfaction of completion and starting a new chapter in their life is a wonderful event. Barry Westling

Penny, Too much of any one type of media will begin to lose students. The rule of 20's suggests that changing the delivery method or instructional activity about every 20 minutes will improve student focus and attention. Barry Westling

Penny, Students are observant and when they see a well organized instructor who appears for class prepared, that set a tone for productive instruction, and may serve as a role model for some students to emulate. Barry Westling

Tania, A good guest speaker can create an image in the students minds eye, and sometimes, that alone can be an inspiring moment that redirects a students focus to work harder in class. Powerful! Barry Westling

Renee, I think students sometimes begin to visualize themselevs working when they go on a field trip, and that can be motivating, even inspiring to the degree that some will work harder while in school based on their newfound vision. Barry Westling

Phil, Great. I think students appreciate getting a preview of material. Some more studious types might even begin to look ahead and begin preparing for more advanced topics that will appear later in the chapter, based on information they see in a pretest. Barry Westling

Janelle, Our classes are about student learning. Students are interested in extra credit because they want (or need) additional points to achieve a certain (or passing) grade. So, we are interested in learning and extra credit is about points and grades, which are really not the same thing. I feel each instructor has to decide how (and if) they want to include extra credit. Personally, I do not, I state it in my syllabus, and students know not to ask. Barry Westling

Janelle, I agree this can happen without careful planning. Like you, I approach a class with what is most important that I want students to get, planning that material might take half the class time. But if class does not go as planned, interuptions occur, more student questions, or I need to explain more or review, I know I will have planned for enough time. With experience, these events become easier to plan and map out the day's activities. Barry Westling

Janelle, Sounds great. Variety is always a better approach to take just because we know students will be more engaged, stay interested, and their focus is better maintained. And its a more enjoyable and interesting learning experience as well. By varying the activities we're bound to strike a good match with most of the different learning styles. Barry Westling

Ricardo, Yes, evaluations do provide a lot of valuable information, as you say, to both student and instructor. And both can use the information or not. Usually, the results will not as hoped if information gained from an evaluation is not used or applied in a productive way. Barry Westling