Jeffrey,
I have added a similar activity to my courses as well. I have the activity listed on the student portal discussion board, so that the students' research can be shared with their classmates and discussed.
Tremayne Simpson
I want the students to become engaged in the career path they have chosen. I want them to use the internet to find articles and then discuss those articles including relevance, content, and the point of the article. Was it to sell a specific product or promote a particular idea?
I also want them to be able to use other resouces, knowledge is not everything you carry in your head, it is the ability to know where to look to find the answer quickly. We can't carry everything in our head, so we need to know how to access that information when we need it.
I also want them to use aids to help them in their jobs in the future. Carrying a notebook with normal lab values and when they see something they don't think is correct, find out the normal value, decide for themselves, "can this be real", or perhaps the lab test they just ran on a piece of equipment might be in error and the machine needs to be recalibrated. Don't just accept values, investigate - you don't want the patient to be treated from an error in technology.
I use powerpoint and incorporate videos into it, as well as comics related to the subject matter. I find the comics lighten the mode when students are being bombarded with so much information....I also incorporate crosswords & wordsearch puzzles as "pop" quizes. Mixing it up seems to be the key to keeping my student's attention.
I enjoy utilizing on line industry source for forecasting fashion, and create quizes and activities around the content presented.
I often add, as an optional non graded assignment, several topics for students to use the internet and do their own research if interested. I try to give examples which are fun or interesting.
I try to incorporate a field trip, if possible, because the whole experience expands a student's knowledge base. When I used IMAX as a strategic management case study, we went to see an IMAX film to identify its strengths and opportunities in the global entertainment market. It was so successful,I've made it a standard element of the course.
Making sure the college is keeping up with latest technology tools and social media opportunities for students is important. Instructors should share with each other new insights and tools as they find them.
I am going to try something new for this next medical coding class I teach. I'm going to have the students follow some real-time medical coding resource blogs and have them follow some of the posts to give them a feel for the real world problems coders working in the field have with the subject. Hope it will add some interest for them to see how people working in the field approach coding problems. Mindy Smith
Great idea to ask question to gauge subject knowledge, I think this is a good tool. Technology is great for helping to keep them interested, I like to find different game on the internet to help them inter act with the subject, such as I was teaching blood typing and I found a game that had the student decide what type of blood the patient should receive and then had to administer it to a cartoon, if it was the wrong type or if they missed a procedure the patient would die and be taken away in a cartoon car and to the morgue. Student seem to like to interact with video.
One of my favorite instructional resources is to have graduates come in and speak with my students about what to expect when they're finally out in the industry. A chef instructor can talk for days about the importance of speed, mise en place and sanitation, but the students tend to tune out our constant reminders. However, when a graduate comes in to speak about their experiences and what it takes to succeed in the field, it helps to reaffirm to the students that we instructors really do know what we're talking about.
At my school, we subscribe to an online library. I try to identify interesting articles that pertain to the subject discussed in class and email them to the students. This not only forces some of the older, less technological savvy students to become more comfortable with the computer but also presents the information in a different format than lecture.
adding instructional resources to your lecture will improve student profiency in class... also help student with different ways of learning
Finding videos and articles that relate to the subject matter is really important to give students real world examples and help them to understand what they are learning and what they need to know for their professional careers.
It is always good to bring back someone who has completed the program at a career college midway through the process for student that are in the program now. This way it removtivate them to complete, because half way through is when alot of them decide to drop out of the program. This resource helps to refocus them.
Rhina,
I implement current events into my courses as well. Students are generally fascinated, when they are able to see a direct connection with the material that they are learning and "the real world". Providing relevant projects of this sort, gives them an opportunity to make the connections, autonomously.
Tremayne Simpson
Effective instructors add resources to instructional content that make the lesson objectives come to life for the students. The types of resources should match the objectives of the lesson plan and the type of assessment.
For example, if the assessment calls for a demonstration on performing CPR on an accident victim, the types or resources can include patients, equipment, alternative "classroom" settings, a stop watch, and a video camera. During the instructional piece, the lecture can be acted out by students, then recorded, and played back for instructor and student evaluation of comprehension.
The best thing about many of these resources is that they are inexpensive, accessible, and built in our smart phones.
projects about current events relating to the matter on a weekly basis is what I use the most
I usually ask students about situations in the real world around them that relate to the work we are doing and try to schedule field trips around these problems. Plus I get a lot of input from students during these discussions about the real world problems they face that relate to our course content.
Robert,
This works well, as long as their are specific parameters for students, regarding the usage of personal electronic devices. Once guidelines have been set, the students will typically acknowledge them.
Tremayne Simpson
Using their cell phones for googling information related to class works great.
