James Jackson

Location: chicago, il

About me

James is the Senior Associate at JAJ & Associates, Adjunct Faculty and eLearning Consultant at MaxKnowledge and member of the Board of Advisors of Dream Catchers Global. James was the Associate Provost of Faculty Development, President of the Online Division at Harrison College and the Director for the Center of Technology Resources for Indiana Business College. Because of his extensive background in technology and his entrepreneurial spirit and passion for assisting aspiring business owners, James has provided his leadership/project management skills in many start-up operations mentoring dozens of young leaders over his career. All providing great growth opportunities for his stakeholders.

James has developed more than 50 courses and dozens of programs in the areas of technology, business, progress management and general education. James has been an instructor for more than 15 years during which time he provided training to over 500 trainers and more than 5000 students. His academic background includes a Masters of Education in Occupational Training and Development and is currently working on his doctoral dissertation in Higher Education Administration emphasis on Strategic Enrollment Management. James enjoys working with students and assisting them through complex concepts which he is able to turn into easy to understand and usable skills.

A full profile of my professional career is available on LinkedIn:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesajacksonjr

Connect with me on LinkedIn and here in the Lounge.

Interests

my family, golf, tennis, swimming, and participating in youth sports.

Skills

faculty development, elearning, program and curriculum development, project management, business analysis and technology integration

Activity

James Jackson

Discussion Comment

Fear Factor with Tests

David, does your institution provide any formal training for students on the best practices for taking a college level test? Some students do not know what questions to even ask with respect on how best to prepare. Test taking is as much a learned process as is any subject matter and the more your students know about the mechanics of test taking the better overall they will do. This has nothing to do with teaching to a test, rather the techniques they need to know to be good test takers. James Jackson

James Jackson

Discussion Comment

Fear Factor with Tests

Jane, great post and glad to see your students have a resource they can go to when they have concerns about testing. For many institutions, too many in fact, they only see the side of student testing that assumes students are not studying properly and this is the only factor they see when test scores are not good. Some students just do not know how to prepare and take a test. Sounds funny but they may have some from a school system that did not take the time to prepare them for college or they have been away from college… >>>

James Jackson

Discussion Comment

Small Groups

Edward, keeping everyone on the same level of participation can be a challenge. One technique I have used is to keep the groups mixed up and each member of the group is to provide an brief evaluation on the contributions of each of their group members. Over the duration of a class cycle you will have several evaluations on each student and get a very clear picture who participated and who did not. James Jackson

James Jackson

Discussion Comment

School Discipline

Linda, excellent comments. The more students can be engaged with their own learning environment the more ownership they will take and self-regulate. Not that 100% of the time will this work but has worked in most settings I have experience in over 20 years of teaching. James Jackson

James Jackson

Discussion Comment

Improving Classroom Management

Ryan, experience is the best teacher and learning from our own mistakes is also a great learning tool. The more training and mentorship that is provided to new instructors the faster they will advance along the learning curve. What are some of the resources provided at your institution for those new to teaching? Thanks for anything you can share. James Jackson

James Jackson

Discussion Comment

Improving Classroom Management

Yvette, great topic. Nothing wrong with taking control over the seating arrangement of the classroom. Good idea to also explain to the students the benefits of getting closer together so they understand why you are taking control over where everyone is sitting. James Jackson

James Jackson

Discussion Comment

Classroom Discipline

Zach, well stated and you are 100% correct, students will push boundaries until they fully understand what they can and cannot get away with. A good guide will have command of the classroom. Students will be obedient out of respect for the instructor and their fellow classmates. There will be at times a student or two that simply does not fear the consequences and in those rare cases you may need to solicit the help of your administrators and other members of the faculty. In over 20 years of teaching I have only had to remove two students from their… >>>

James Jackson

Discussion Comment

Self-Doubt

Vincent, great point. It only take one part of an environment to be out of balance for the entire system to be placed out of sync. The more we as instructors are able to create a calm and safe learning environment the better our own experience. Thanks for sharing. James Jackson

James Jackson

Discussion Comment

Self-Doubt

James Jackson

Discussion Comment

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

Nydia, are there other ways students can demonstrate knowledge of a topic outside of their test scores? For some students they simply do not do well on tests yet know their stuff. Thanks for anything you can share. James Jackson

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