having students know that materials must be turned in on time is very important. Often points being deducted for late work gives value to the student to be on time.

I like to use Powerpoint on a smartboard because it makes the class more interactive and lets you edit or write on the fly which also explans certain situations and examples to students.

Adult learners have an attention span, like everyone else and needs variation to stay engaged in the learning environment. To that end, I recommend The Rule of Twenty: "Ensure there is a change in classroom activity every twenty minutes." Whether it be lecture, lab, a video, whatever, the instructor should constantly plan to do something different every twenty minutes. To me, this reduces monotony and keeps things fresh and interesting. This also ensures an adequate amount of preparedness for the class because the instructor is only managing 20-minute blocks, which are a lot easier to predict than a 2-3 hour class session. -R

Back when I started instructing, I always have to have PPT to teach. Without them, well, I just couldn't teach. But somewhere along the way, I learned that when I teach information technology and lean heavily into the 135 slide PowerPoints, I created a dependence on them. And it was evident, particularly when the projector stopped working. So, I started getting away from them. I pared them down to the 5-bullet, 10 slides per 20 minutes rule as a start. Eventually, though, PowerPoints de-evolved to more trouble than they are worth for most teaching situations. The reason: I want students to pay attention to me and my antics while I teach, rather than look on the board at my goofy slides. I found it a lot better to connect with my students if I talk to them, not just broadcast to the air. The instructor or better yet, the student is the star of the show. Content should come from the instructor, the student, or both working together, rather than slides. If used, I would recommend them only minimally. PowerPoints need to be scripted to keep the instructor on track - sorta like an agenda of the lecture and lecture is one of those delivery methods that should only be used to convey concepts, terms, definitions, and whatnot. There is no earthly reason why PowerPoints should take the place of lecture by having them populated with all the material in the lecture. If that's the case, why come to class - why not just read a book? I am a big fan of Active Learning styles which really move away from lecture and go to methods where students create their own content. I know there are instructors out there that are worried about making them better. What I would suggest is, rather than focusing on making the PPT's better, improve your own skills and then, let the students revel in your awesomeness. And when PowerPoints become totally useless because your teaching is active, you'll save time not having to make a slide deck for every lecture. That's just my 2¢.

It's funny how the students react when I said: “Extra Credit”; they think that doing only the extra credit project,will help them to pass the class. I always remained them that extra credit doesn’t work like that. But always impress me how hard they work in the project.

Since we are dealing with such a versatile thing (food), we work off grading rubrics which will state exactly what we are expecting for each item. it's easier to grade, and then the students know exactly what to aim for!

Students are very motivated by "extra credit" allowing a small amount for creativity is a huge bonus for students. I like to apply it to the final exam score if they miss a few questions.

Has anyone else observed that the students don't take notes anymore? I am thinking about not giving the PowerPoint handouts to the students next term so that they will actually write something down. Has anyone else experienced this?

I will implement this great idea on the first day of class after winter break; it will allow me to collect insight about how my students perceive their progress in class as well as my teaching techniques and strategies. I don't have to wait until the end of the course to be evaluated and could make improvements immediately.

I find it hard to say no to students who turn in late work past the 3 day mark. any suggestions??

I try to look back on my training in my career. I think about my past instructors and pick the best methods that I found beneficial to me and utilize them in my teaching style. I also look at instructor styles that I did not like or found boring, and then try not to incoperate those styles into my teaching style.

I found this CEE to be most helpful. My confusion is that when we discuss soft skills here, we are told to list soft skills as "math" ect.. That seems "odd" to me. Woild you consider math a soft skill?

The first time I taught a class was a challange due to my expectations was to high of my students in a beginning A & P class. The lectures notes which I put in an outline style helped dramatically because sometimes I would not go into enough detail to explain a subject because I thought everyone was always on the same page.

To be sure my teaching strategy is effective and ensure my students are meeting the objectives I often review after every section in a chapter the key points and things they will see again on a test. I also give multiple tests on one chapter that are not cumulative but cover the specific information that was stated in the objectives. Through this practice I have seen overall grades increase and also students retain the information at the end of the quarter better.

When I first started I really struggled with my lesson plans and sticking to them, but now they have helped me to stay on track, cover all the required material, and are often used as reference with my students when they tell me I did not cover a topic or didn't tell them about their upcoming assignments.

My school has a set grading policy that I as an instructor have no input. We are a corporate school and they tell us what % each assignment, quiz, exam, and project is worth. I feel this is ridiculous because they are not in the classroom and they are not experts in my field. Why do they feel final projects are worth more than Exams!! The students have a national board exam to take when they finish this program. It is a test not a project. I think that corporate is taking away discretion of the instructor at this institution to try to make it harder for the students to argue with grading policies, but I think it is doing more harm than good, because now a student can fail every exam but still pass the course because of all the other assignments, quizzes, and projects that they are required to do. This policy will not help them pass their national board exam!

We teach through powerpoints. A new lecture every week being that it's a vocational school we have alot of lecture to cover making it impossible to have just 5 main points on one slide. What could be another tip to powerpoints and make sure things are being covered and I don't loose the student's focus?

As an adult vocational school we don't do many field trips or have many guests speakers. Our subject is dental related. What can I do besides sharing my own office expieriences to keep students excited and interested?

I learned from another teacher that the use of mini quizzes can really help students with material they consider difficult, as in math for example. During a four hour class, the students may take four tiny quizzes--one at the end of each hour--which each consist of four or five questions on the skill we just covered. The quizzes are graded right there over the break, and both the student and I get a good idea of where they stand right there.

I use an online jeopardy game to pretest my students on the first day of class. This way I can get an idea of where they are and they do not feel that panic of a written test. It makes it a fun experience for them.