One exercise that I do that works well with breaking the class into small groups is dividing up the lesson based on objectives and assigning those objectives from the book to each group. Each group then has about 30-40 minutes to prepare and then they are the Instructors for the day. My students always have a lot of fun with this activity and really learn well from their classmates. I act as a moderator and help guides the learning lessons.

After every class, I review my attendance roster and email each student with what was missed and plainly outline policy for make up work. It is actually fairly easy given I mostly cut and paste from my lesson plan. I find this works well and also gives both the student and myself a document to work from if any discussions arise regarding missing class.

I teach Intro to Computers and find that my typical class features the 18 year olds who do not know life without a computer and can teach the class to the 50 year olds who have never used a computer before. During the first week of class, I can easily spot who is having trouble using a mouse and who is a wiz. I make all of my projects group work and assign tasks to each group member. We rotate with each assignment. This gives opportunity for all to help eachother learn. I find this strategy helps the learning process by giving the "computer wiz" an opportunity to practice helping others - which they will be called upon to do in the real world" as well as a great environment for others to receive assistance from multiple people. I find it difficult in a large class to give my whole time to 2 or 3 students. This seems to work well for me.

Greetings, One thing that I have found very beneficial in my usage of the blackboard/whiteboard is to not turn my back to the students. I try to face the class and write their thoughts on the board. This seems to keep them engaged while I am attempting to work toward group agreement about a certain topic. I also use multiple color markers when writing on the board to help keep the topic colorful and easy to follow.

Greetings. I am a part time IT instructor and a full, corporate IT manager. Prior to that, I was a consultant and did services for over 60 different companies around the world. I teach introductory IT courses and consider it the highlight of my day. When I am teach my courses, I always mention jobs based around the discussion topic is used in some of the various companies I have work for and give a sample job description and working conditions. I also mention salary and career paths. It appears that all of my students enjoy hearing about the various jobs and occasionally I have a student come by during break or after a class and ask for a little more information about the topic.

I find it ambiguous when deciding exactly how much and what type of extra credit should be offered. Some instructors add extra credit onto a test while others offer projects specifically for extra credit. What is a general rule of thumb?

Although many instructors go above and beyond to get their students exicted about learning it can still be difficult to get everyone on board and wanting to learn. Besides the suggestions offered in this module (e.g. relating new content to the chosen career, multimodal learning, various methods of instruction etc.) what can an instructor do to get students engaged?

Guest speakers and field trips are very helpful in the classroom. Students love field trips because they get a chance to leave the classroom setting. Guest speakers motivate them to do there best in school so that they can be sucessful in their field.

how do we know they are learning?

Does anyone have any good suggestions for multisensory learning for a language class? We already cover visual, hearing and tactile pretty well but I find it hard to incorporate smell or taste. Suggestions?

I love these ideas. It really gets hard at times to determine the best way to evaluate your students.

Although my college library offers both "subject study groups with a teacher" and tutors, I find that pairing a struggling student up with a successful student in that same class works very well.

My feeling is that varying overhead transparencies with powerpont breaks the monotony and adds to presentation.

I usually require cell phones to be completely "out of sight", - in pocket, bandbag, or bookbag.

I think that this idea is great!! Once you have determined the knowledge base of your students it will enable you to have a more effective impact on their learning journey.

I really enjoy using this method. I am a skills instructor and this type of method is great for giving teaching skills and visuals needed to do specific techniques. After the theory part and the visual portion we then go to the bedside and perform the hands-on portion. This really seems to hit the auditory, visual and kinesthetic students all at once.

This is a must to attain respect and trust with your class. If they feel you are ready to teach then they in essence will show you that they are ready to learn.

I find it hard to determine how to walk the fine line between letting students know you mean business and will stick to your guidelines vs. still being flexible and empathetic. How do you settle on a happy medium (i.e. not being a drill sergeant or a peacemaker)?

I would like to see continuing Education courses that were actually based on an Educators needs...not one that all levels are taking, and a blanketed cure all for education...

We use pretest here at my school and I find it very helpful because it gives me an ideal of what I need to focus on the most for my classes, helping me plan my classes where I can spend more time on the topics where help is need the most and not waste time on classes that the students already have good knowledge of.