Know your audience
As part of my introduction to class, I always make time to find out who my students are, and a little bit of their background.
Many times I find out that, -although my class is a required class-, many of the basic principles are forgotten, or have not been applied in class enough to understand their relevance.
By asking simple questions, I try to understand the reason for that, and how I can best deliver the information to that individual group, as well as identifying at the same time, how much my students know.
typically, Age, and their work experience are the main factors that individualize each group.
I do the same approach to the first day of class in asking students what they already know about their subject. By allowing them to say what they know with introducing themselves, they have the ability to learn from each other as well as get comfortable with me as their instructor becuase we have allowed them to have a comfortable atomsphere in learning and it helps us (instructors) to know our audience.
Grace,
This is a great practice. In some cases, you will find that a few of the students have not met the prerequisite for the course and they would have ample time to revise their course schedules.
Tremayne Simpson
I typically start with describing the official prerequisites necessary for the course. By learning who has completed which skills and asking a few questions to test their information recall, I can learn whether to schedule additional support before we move into the course assignments. I recommend they pull out prior course textbooks and get re-acquainted with what they should know so that they may apply the it to the success of the present course. By knowing who may need extra knowledge support throughout the term, provides my students with the understanding that I am there to help them succeed.
Cristian,
I believe that this is a great form of "audience assessment". By asking the course-related questions, you can quickly gain a perception about your students' feelings regarding the class and subject.
Tremayne Simpson
