Phil Finch

I have learned to keep my mouth shut.  That is blunt, but appropriate.  

Before taking this course, I did not know the legalities of making statements supportive of our program.  Now, I will refer any direct questions to those trained in legal answers.  I will not jeopardize my job or our program. 

I agree that we all need to know this information.  I was not well informed. 

Now, I will keep my mouth shut.  At most, I will refer questions asked directly of me to those who are officially qualified to answer.

I teach advanced mechanical ventilation, both for adult care and for pediatric-neonatal care classes.  I often uitilize past graduates from my classes, or at least specialists in the subject matter of the module at hand.  Some of my guest lectures come from past graduates who now work in critical care, and thus have the credibility to offer. 

I have known a situation that was demoralizing to my students.  A campus dean would walk to each class in session, coffee in hand, enter the classroom, look around to catch any student with coffee in a classroom, then return to her or his office to write a message to the instructor, threatening to terminate the instructor if another cup of coffee were to be seen in her or his classroom.  The students noted the cup of coffee in the dean's hand, and were more than a bit demoralized with such events.  Is this situation a question of faculty integrity,… >>>

Reply to Yolanda Puente-Benson's post:Yolanda, I will try your suggestion of asking students to restate what they have learned in class.  Possibly even I can share with the class what new concept was discovered or clarified through the class time. 

The courses are easy to navigate, but I have become lost in the "Lounge."   Having completed the lesson #ED-209, I appreciated the methods of evaluating types of advising.  I also strongly identify with the concept of Adult Learner, specifically "Self-motivated" or "Self-directed learner."  It has been my personal experience that the self-directed (often older) learner is the one most easy to instruct (teach).  It would be (personally) impossible to study such a course and not apply many of the concepts to myself, although I believe the emphasis was obviously toward our approach to our students, whom I believe are (or… >>>

Judy, Please review my earlier note. I observe (possibly I only infer) that my fellow staff do not wait long enough to allow a response from ESL students who are in our science-based instructional program. I believe we should wait longer, not shorter for ESL student responses. To give a case example: In my own home, my spouse is learning English, and I speak more slowly, wait longer, and re-state my question to allow the time necessary for translation from English to her native tongue, then translation back to English. I do not make the rules, but I do truly… >>>