learning new ways
It seems the best way to help students is be able to learn new ways of instructing a course. How does one do a self-check to keep from becoming to stiff in a classroom?
I really like this idea. One of the ideas that I use is to have the students become presenters in the lectures. This gets them involved rather than sitting on the sidelines.
I like this idea because it blends spontaneity with brevity--both aspects that contribute to honesty. I also think the idea of breaking up a chat while it's happening is a good way to change the focus and keep everyone in the moment.
I have found that asking the students is one of the best ways of determining if the students are learning what they say they are.
Having little mini quizs during the chats also help. I have found that the quizs help generate dialog. From this dialog you can pick up little things that you can do differently to help the students.
Have you thought about asking your students? In other words, give them the opportunity to provide feedback.
You could also videotape one of your lectures and review it to see how you could improve.
And just because there are new technologies, that doesn't mean you should adopt them in all settings. Using clickers comes to mind--they might make sense in some courses, but not others.
Ed
Hi Terry,
There are at least three ways that you can do a self-check easily. Have another instructor sit in on several of your classes and then give you feedback on what they observed while you were teaching. Another would be for you to have your students give you anonymous feedback throughout the course so you would have input at different sections of the course which would give you a comprehensive picture of how you are coming across as an instructor. The third way would be to have someone video you while you are teaching and then you could look at them.
Gary
