You need to be direct and print everything out for the student so that they have a reference. I find that you need to be very direct about what you are wanting them to get out of the class and expectations.

What strategies have you implemented for making a course’s content relevant and applicable to the learning needs of students? I try to use case studies and relevant local news to show how the material is relevant to the students everyday life.

Previous management was very clear regarding prepare for anything. Having enough materials if copies not made, technology failures and possible lack of enthusiasm. This has helped through the years. Similar to a restaurant; think on your feet.

While we should strive to cover everything in the syllabus, how much is "too much"? Will students take the time to review something more than 2 pages?

Often times I find it difficult to motivate online students. I try to emit enthusiasm through emails and discussion boards, but sometimes it seems like such a small percentage of the class "hears" me. Since I don't often get to see their feedback in the form of facial expression, or body language, I find myself calling students to build a rapport. Since I teach both residential and online I do my best at making the quality of education equal and setting the "bar" the same. However, with such different formats, they both have unique challenges. Colleen Norgren

My wife has her PhD in educational psychology and always gives me advice to improve my teaching. One of her easiest suggestions concerns passing out the syllabus. She never passes out the syllabus first; too boring. Rather, she piques the students' curiosity by presenting some particularly interesting material first. Only later does she finally pass out the syllabus. This way, it gets the course off on a positive note...

In the area of planning it is important to take into consideration everything that can go wrong in a class room and have a backup. Be prepared if your powerpoint projector doesn't work or if the video you just viewed doesn't work. Electricity goes out or bulbs burn out, speakers don't show or you take more or less time to go over a subject. Always think ahead. Always keep your calm and have a backup plan.

With my math classes, I have found that students generally come into class with very polarized views of the subject. In their prior education the have either found that they enjoy the topic and learning additional techniques and methods or they have struggled with the topic and have determined that they really will have no practical application for the material we are going to be covering. In order to keep the entire class engaged, I find the Motivator role of the instructor very important. Within this role it is important to engage the students who begin the class with a self-induced barrier to really engaging in the class for fear of failure ("This material isn't really useful to me" is a clear signal that someone has struggled with it in the past and is rationalizing). Keeping the tone of the class "light" and acknowledging the progress students are making as well as giving examples in their everyday lives that the concepts can be applied really seems to help dissolve the "distancing" some students do at the start of a quarter.

Teaching for the first time I am looking for some resources on good icebreakers, any suggestions?

A few courses I teach don't have any formal exams. The students basically are taught how to use the software applications, have tons of hands-on learning in the class, then construct a midterm and final project of what was learned. I used to give thousands of sheets of papers of handouts with keyboard commands and make them take a test but found it really didn't help them learn the application. Constant reinforcement in the class, asking questions, quizzing students on the fly, and getting excellent high quality projects out of them in the end I found was a good approach. After a year, the students may have forgotten many of the keyboard commands, but knew how to use the applications with ease. It is a matter of constant practice. Does anyone not have formal exams in any of their classes?

Do not be afraid to ask other instructors in your department for input, especially is one is not as experienced as another instructor.

I do realize we are to challenge the students in a class and have them think outside the box. However, numerous times I have seen Multiple Choice exams with "Trick Questions!" The questions are so close to the correct answer or could be swayed as a correct answer, yet the student fails, falls behind and becomes discouraged. Seems like some testing is more about trying to fool the student than to just directly give an honest and straight foward evaluation. Susan, how do you deal with this issue?

I like to engage the students in conversation about the industry of my profession. They ask "real" questions concerning working in the field, then I relate those specific questions to the topic we are working on. When real life situations are in question, it gets the student motivated to ask more questions.

I disagree with the order of things to do on the first day of class as given on the first slide of the activity for this module. I agree that introducing myself is the first thing but I like to take attendence second, handout the course syllabus third, then discuss my accessibility after that. I try to get students active and involved as soon as possible when the class begins. I have used techniques like leaving the door open and calling on a student, asking his or her name, then asking that student to please close the door. I do the same or something similar for passing out the syllabus.

After completing this module, I realize that I have been doing well developing objectives but not goals. That may sound odd since objectives come from goals but what I think I have been doing is combining the two terms and generating a single output. Based on my experience from this module, I am going to breakout my course goals separately from my course objectives goig forward.

I am glad I completed this module as it reminded me that learning often takes place outside the classroom. I am going to use this motivation to do a better job of helping students connect my course content with lives outside the classroom. Perhaps rather than assigning projects that I develop alone, I would ask students to complete projects using inputs from their lives such as their jobs, homelife, or other areas of interest.

I am very fortunate to be part of a school that utilizes its instructors to assist with the creation, development and ongoing "upgrades" to its day to day lesson plans and course information. Our school understands that WE are the people using it everyday. We even involve the students in an indirect fashion. We, as instructors still plan our daily lessons and meet to go over the days results to determine what worked, what didn,t and what can we do better. Our main goal is consistency of the lesson no matter who teaches it

As a teacher in the culinary field I am finding more and more students with this problem. They, the students tell me it's all about "respect" I don't feel they have the first clue as to what the real definition is. I try to be fair and consistent with all my students, but there are the few that test and push the authority that an instructor such as myself has in the class. When it raises it's ugly head I pull them from class and explain the situation briefly and ask them if they understand. If they do we're back in class if not they are asked to leave and the student will be spoken to by the Director of Education. How do you deal with this situation in todays young student population?

I tend to do lectures visually, but also give them a hand out with some of the lecture information on it. The lecture info that is not on it they have to fill in through the lecture. They tend to follow more thoroughly, not too much writing where they cannot learn while they write, and also they are doing somehting so no sleepiness.

y first impression that I really strive for day 1 is being early and greeting the students as they approach my classroom. I also try really hard to leanr their names by week 2 because helps them feel more comfotabe being a new instructor for them. I also always acknowledge my students in the hallway by saying hello once I know their names.