Getting buy in from students
What are some strategies you use to help get course buy in from your students?
I tell them that I love the class, for instance, Math & Metrics. I tell them that it is fun and that I am the funny teacher.
Hi Debra,
Whenever you can relate the course to the real world, students buy in. They gain a keen interest as to what is going on.
Patricia
Hi Nancy,
Students will certainly buy into a course if they have experienced being on the other side of the fence. They get it because they have gone through it.
Patricia
Relating the subbject matter to an actual experience I have had in the clinical realm. It is important that students feel that what they are doing can be replicated in their career. I have found it I can't explain how they (student would be able to or need to utilize the information they are learning to care for patients they will not pay attention and try to move off in tangets.
I ask them if they ever worked in the field or a similar setting and also if they have experiences on the other side of the fence as a healthcare consumer. This usually helps them feel a "connection" with the course material and by sharing their experiences others usually add their's as well allowing for group interaction.
Hi Kelly,
I also like to provide my guest speaker with a list of things to cover so that I can ensure the guest speaker is relevant.
Patricia
I ask students to provide examples and I provide examples to them that are relevant to their career interests. I've been fortunate to have a diverse professional background, which allows me to use a lot of "real world" examples in my lectures. I also believe that guest speakers can encourage buy-in, but the guest speakers need to be relevant, professional, organized, and also entertaining.
Hi Thomas,
Students will buy into the course if they realize it will help them either or both personally/professionally.
Patricia
Hi Lauren,
Your students are very fortunate to have you as their instructor. You can really make your lectures applicable to the real world because you have experience in the field.
Patricia
Hi Sabrina,
It seems like you too are excited about the course. By the instuctor being excited about the course, the instrutor's excitement can generate buy in from the students.
Patricia
Hi Larry,
Great ways to get buy in from students. Students love it when they hear the success of former students. It gives them the motivation that they too can do it.
Patricia
Hi Susan,
Anytime you let students know how the course will help them with their certification exam, they buy into the course automatically.
Patricia
Hello Ms. Scales:
Demonstrating relevancy in an applied fashion to techniques and theoretical content in the course is always of benefit. Most of my students eventually become certified in their field, and relating content to what they might expect to be knowledgeable of with respect to a relevant body of knowledge typically engages them.
Best,
Susan Weiss
Guest speakers from the field to illustrate the releveance of my subjct matter (math).
Using examples from their course of study to illustrate basic math problems.
Stories of success from earlier students.
I always show the importance of the course to their program and especially to their chosen career goal in general. I generally teach Medical Terminology to first module students - they're usually so gung-ho and excited so I build on that excitement. They love all those medical shows and I tell them that hopefully, by the end of the course - and their program - they can have an understanding of what Dr. House (a consistent favorite among my students) and company are talking about!
To get my students to understand the relevance of the course, I relate it to the field as much as possible. I tell stories about my experience in private practice so that they can envision themselves out in the workplace too. I talk about what kind of employees I have hired and what some of them did to get fired so that they can learn how to be a good employee.
I discuss the relevancy of the course by pointing out how much the subject affects every student every day, and by comparing the scientific world to their own own social world.
Hi Kimberly,
I like the "Choose your Grade" worksheet. Students clearly see that they in in full control of their grade, and for every choice there is a consequence.
Patricia
Hi Thomas,
I love this spiel you give your students to get buy in into the course. You actually sold me on the course! :-) I am sure your students see the relevance after hearing this spiel.
Patricia
