Hi Nicholas,
It sounds like you really sell them on the course. We have to keep things interesting and exciting for our students.
Patricia
On my first day of class I briefly outline my extensive experience in the field and I explain the relevance of the course and how it can be applied to their daily lives. I make the course content sound interesting.
Hi Leslie,
At my institution medical students take courses such as buiness math, business English, and accounting essentials, simply for the very reason you just stated. The first day of each course we have a PowerPoint to explain why they are taking the particular course and how they can benefit from it.
Patricia
To help get "buy in" from my students, I develop group projects into my courses. When providing the groups with the projects, I empower them to develop the project around the objective I have given them. They seem to really enjoy the empowerment and they always do a great job.
Hi Susan,
The tips are very effective.
Patricia
Hi Susan,
I try to use the potential of their income to get buy ins.
Patricia
I try to find out their concentrations, or major field of study, and then to make the class as relevant as I am able to their chosen field. This is not difficult if it is already a major course; it is more difficult if it is a general education course that is broad in scope.
Hi Patricia, This looks to me to be an excellent "sales pitch" to the students that I would like to pass on to my institution. Students are investing a great deal of money in these classes, & some of our classes are "general electives" which may not have obvious application to the student's job field..getting students to "buy into" these classes is challenging.. all the tips I have read so far are very helpful! Thanks, Susan
My expertise falls more in medical business, but our school has to mix clinical students with business students now and then. When I get clinical students in my business course, the question is always what they need to know this stuff for. I use teamwork a lot. Without both the business members and the clinical members of the medical practice working together, we cannot serve patients because we will no longer be in business.
This is similar in many ways to getting students to see the relevance of course content. Most students are motivated to succeed in the course and obtain the qualification. Sharing with the students how the course content helped me in my practice always helps. Concrete examples are always better than hypothetical ones. However sometimes it comes down to a carrot and stick; if you do the work, you'll get the qualification, though that is a last resort!
Hi Maureen,
I always remember that effective leaders are not always your strongest students academically. I have known some intelligent students, but they did dot have leadership abilities.
Patricia
I often find that a student who may have average academic grades is often more willing to take a leadership role in my kitchen lab. These students may have not had the greatest amount of status in a secondary situation where now it can be a level playing field. These folks will rise to the top and play a hard game with awesome results.
We employ a syllabus questionnaire that is part of the first day's homework assignment. The student is "forced" to read the entire syllabus and then answer the questions. the next class period we read and answer the questions and often other questions are brought up by students which further engages everyone in the course.
Hi Robert,
I understand! A leader doesn't have to be the best academic student, but must possess strong leadership abilities in order to be an effective leader.
Patricia
Hi Luis,
This is the moment you want to go I told you so.
Patricia
MAking sense to students is very hard to them. I visited with a student yesterday on clinical rotation and was told how much fun it was and how hard certain things were. I asked the question will you pay more attetnition in class now versus horsing around, and the answer was yes. I was told everything ou told me has happened. So sometimes it takes students being placed in the trenches to get them to understand.
Yes I do understand that. In my full time job, I am used to working in an atmosphere where changing activities is a must and that rubs off of me sometimes in the classroom because there is a lot of information to learn in such a short amount of time.
That is why having a syllabus for myself with how much time that I should be covering each so that I can make sure we are getting all of the information in within a timely manner for class and leave time to facilitate questions or allow for continued hands on instructions.
I love this approach. By that student not being the best academic student you are actually assisting them to excel with this approach.
Once a person/student feels that they belong to something bigger than themselves they will usually become more involved and succeed!
Teaching Graduate courses I have group projects. I'm usually able to find the most motivated student which doesn't mean the best academic student. I find a "leader" for that group who reports to me and we work on what parts of the group project a student is lacking or needs help with. Group project success has increased. I also explain I've walked the mile in their shoes having completed my B.S. and M.S. in a non-traditional classroom environment. Relate as much as possible, be honest and fair.
Give concrete examples of how the course objectives are used in both personal and professional aspects of their lives. For example, a beginning keyboarding course: texting, emails, Twitter, Internet, etc., gets immediate reactions from students.
