The mistakes I made the first time I taught was trying to cover too much material in a short time and not assessing the students knowledge before lectures and assignments.
Hi Earl:
The best idea when selecting course material is to employ as many teaching styles as we can in order to address as many learning styles as possible. Selecting material and presenting it in a visual, audio, and kinesthetic way is considered the most efficient method of delivery.
Regards, Barry
Hi Kathryn:
The best idea when selecting course material is to employ as many teaching styles as we can in order to address as many learning styles as possible. Selecting material and presenting it in a visual, audio, and kinesthetic way is considered the most efficient method of delivery.
Regards, Barry
Hi Theodore:
The best idea when selecting course material is to employ as many teaching styles as we can in order to address as many learning styles as possible. Selecting material and presenting it in a visual, audio, and kinesthetic way is considered the most efficient method of delivery.
Regards, Barry
I agree with this approach; I discovered after teaching one of my courses that rather than go from chapter 1 through 5 that a more intuitive schedule actually indicated starting with 5 and working back to 1, and I explained to the students the first day of class what we were going to do with the order and why. I think it worked out much better reversing the order.
I find that too often my students simply don't do any homework, and our classes are very long--five hours once a week--so I have focused on getting as much work done during class time as possible. My students have jobs and families, and they know if they get their work done during class, they don't have to worry about homework. Knowing they can come to class without preparation and that they will be productive if they come to class, I believe, reduces absenteeism. My students appear to be very task-oriented, and they like to be able to leave class behind when they go home.
Some mistakes made in selecting course content are including content that is either too elementary or advanced for the learners, not ensuring that the content is applicable to the overall course completion or career field, and introducing more information than can be adequately absorbed during the class period.
Hi Doris:
The best idea when selecting course material is to employ as many teaching styles as we can in order to address as many learning styles as possible. Selecting material and presenting it in a visual, audio, and kinesthetic way is considered the most efficient method of delivery.
Regards, Barry
Hi Elise:
The best idea when selecting course material is to employ as many teaching styles as we can in order to address as many learning styles as possible. Selecting material and presenting it in a visual, audio, and kinesthetic way is considered the most efficient method of delivery.
Regards, Barry
I have found that I will over power the student with more information than they need to know. It is like when a 5 year old wants to know where babies come from. You could explain all of the body parts that a woman has in explaining where babies come from. Or you can just say the hospital, which is probably what the five year old needs to know. When I try to include a lot of extra facts and information it is confusing to the students. I have learned that if I have that information, as resource material, when a student wants more knowledge I can direct them to that information.
Hi Jacqueline:
Maybe! However, one school of thought is "keep it interesting". If we can do this on a consistent basis, it shouldn't matter what degree of education your student has. They will be entertained, and maybe still learn something new anyway.
Regards, Barry
1005 and kudos to you Arlene, we need to instruct to the objectives not to the text. have a great day
we tend to get books with more information than what is required by the syllabus. we then tend to think we need to get through the whole book or we are not being fair. We need to teach to what the syllabus and the objectives are and not to the whole text content.
Hi Nancy:
One thing that might help reaveal the level of understanding your student will have is to use pretesting before the class begins, or on the first day of class.
Regards, Barry
I teach a six week session in psychology and find it difficult to determine how deep to go with the content. Knowing how to insure learning and keep it relevant without becoming too technical is challenging
Hi Rebekah:
Indeed, to be the most effective instructors that we can, we need to be flexible and make the kind of changes you are describing all the time. This will ensure we are keeping the needs of the student as our primary concern.
Regards, Barry
As an instructor, I find myself gravitating toward material and tools I am already familiar with instead of using materials that will apply to my student's learning styles.
Hi Tom:
One way to verify if the student is getting the information they should be (as listed in the syllabus), some instructors have found that reviewing portions of the syllabus, say right before a mid-term examination can help identify the items that were missed.
Regards, Barry
Arlene, I agree with you that you need to follow the syllabus, and stay on track. Textbooks do have alot more information in them than what the syllabus covers. That makes it hard to stay focused on the syllabus because you find yourself wanting to cover everything in the book and that is not necessary. Students can read the information that is not covered in class on their own time.
As a brand new instructor, pacing the material was one of my initial problems. I covered too much the first lecture, and then had about 3 more classes for the same material. The class was initially overwhelmed because they were concerned that every class would cover this large amount of material. I quickly learned how to assess the syllabus and pace the material. I was always amazed that no one ever had a question at the next class about previously covered material? Were they not understanding or not studying? I still don't know.
