Open ended questions
How does one incoporate more open ended questions the first time teaching a course? There may be a few concepts here and there that the instructor doesn't fully understand yet so the tendency is to only ask closed questions. Any tips?
Victor,
This is great. On the first day, I let the students know that I do not have all of the answers and I encourage them to share experiences in the classes. I also let them know that I learn from them and that is just a part of the classroom learning environment.
Judy Mohammed
Terry,
Questioning can work excellently for you since you can draw from the wealth of experiences brought in by your students. You are the facilitator who is guiding and leading them as they explore the class material and other learning opportunities in the classroom.
Judy Mohammed
I have recently started teaching classes for auto technitians working in the field, where I was teaching classes of new students. It was a little intimidating to say the least, but, I have found it best to let them know that I don't have all the answers (no one does) and that their experience is just as important to the class. I then ask for some of their experiences with the subject matter and how they resolved the issue, which will lead right into the topic of the day. It has been very useful for me as it often brings in new ideas that I can pass on to future classes.
I am in fact teaching a course that I am not familiar with. The students that I am teaching are experienced so I am asking them to give some examples of what types of problems they have fixed as it relates to our subject matter.
Jeanne,
I start a discussion at the beginning and let them know that I do not have all of the answers and sometimes, we may need to research the answers together. I draw from their own experiences in the subject area and you may want to teach from the book initially since most answers will be there.
Judy Mohammed
