Alberto Vasquez

Active learning requires preparation. Know your expectations for the students for each active learning activity. The more specific, and clear the better

True interaction requires that students contribute to the story of the lesson in order for it to move forward. If students input does not move the lessonforward, then it is not interactive. 

Namesand faces is hard on the first day of class. I try to memorize names before the first day. On the first day I do the normal ice-breaker of Your name, why areyou here, hob by. Then I activley say each students name as they share with teh class. By the end of the first day Ihav names and faces memeorized. its a lot of work forme but its part of my job. It comes easier to some other people and good for them. It takes anactive engagement for me and that's what I'll do. 

Clear expectations is critical. Consistency is also crucial. I tried early in my teaching career to be relaxed about certain policies until the students got the hang of my style and told them each time the standard would be increased until we reached our goal. It worked for some, and for others it was a reason to bargain. They will take advantage. Make it clear, make it consistent. 

As far as looking at students who look at their phones or tablets in class, I welcome it. So in teaching programming, I teach how to create an app on a mobile device like a phone or tablet. If students have phones, and it;s now part of their arsenal of technology, I incorporate it into the lesson. If you don't teach programming, there are many apps already created so you can have the students use the phones to enhance their education rather than as a distraction. Telling a student not to bring or use their mobile computing devices is like… >>>

Icebreakers can help the instructor set up the students for success. I usually give an assignment where there are no wrong answers. Its an ehtical decision assignment that lets me know how the students think and what they value. 

The assignment is the one with 5 people standing on a bus, each with some reason you should or could give up your own seat for. Students give a good reason for why they choose one person over the other and they always give away the vlaue system from whch they were brought up. 

There were lots of great examples in this chapter that pertain to engineering technologist working in healthcare and with medical/laboratory/radiological equipment. I plan to start with the BINGO (blackout version) to have students motivated to work with several biomedical engineering technologist as they look for common problems address those issues with a qualified engineering technician. The categories(columns) can be 5 different but very common medical devices and the rows can be the individual problems that occur with each device. Students will end up addressing 5 different devices with 5 different common problems giving them a skillset of 25 total problems… >>>

I like the idea of having students pick which blood cell type they want to be and travel through a make shift heart in teh classroom. It gives me ideas for having students be Venous blood, traveling through the heart, other students act like the valves coordinating the movement. Also for the students to travel to another part of the clasroom acting as the lungs where they drop off a blue ball and pick up a red one. A good activity to wake everyone up and would make a great visual. 

I want to establish some non-verbal cues for electronic engineering technicians that work in and out of patient rooms. Talking aloud and mentioning that something may be wrong with a piece of medical equipment can alarm a patient. Hand gestures can eliminate that slip-up and prevent patients panicking. 

This was a great idea and I can't believe I hadn't thought of using it.