Student Involvement
Student involvement in the classroom is so important today. With all of the technology and information readily available through the internet and other means, students want information and stimulation quickly. Therefore, some things I've done in the classroom to encourage involvement includes simulation exercises with critical thinking case studies, lectures delivered by the students, online debates (which help save time), etc.
Hi Crystal,
At my institution we have a participation goal for each class as well. This serves as a great motivator for students. Students are more eager to participate if they know that they are being graded on participation.
Patricia Scales
I also have a participation grade of 100 each class. They receive a zero if they are absent and points are deducted if they do not stay for the entire class.
Hi Jeff,
I have a participation grade that encourages students to participate. If a student is absent for the group project, points should be deducted and students should do a comparable exercise.
Patricia Scales
Do you have any suggestions for getting the entire group involed? Many times group activities have one or two active members and rest don't do the work. also, how is make-up work done? If a student is absent, does the instructor just give paper and pencil to the student to cover the actiity?
Hi Harmony,
Super activity to generate great learning. Students love sharing their clinical stories, and others can certainly learn from these stories.
Patricia Scales
Active learning is so very important in my classroom as I teach in the evenings, and most of my students have been at work all day long. I lose them VERY quickly should I lecture all night. We do lots of case studies and I have them discuss a "cool case" of the week to share with the other students from their clinical rotation sites. They love sharing the stories and discussing how the staff dealt with the case, pros and cons and often times, ask questions of me that they were too unsure of to ask at the actual site. Great application of real-world professional experience in the classroom.
I suppose I kind of "torture" my students when I tell them to do what they read and learned about in the classroom. If I can break something I want them to try and fix it, or at the very least give suggestions and think out how or why something is not working the way it should. I've said before in a previous reply that I don't pretend to know it all, but the trick is in showing the thirst for knowledge and put the fear of failing second when it comes to getting your hands dirty and learning what the book teaches you and then applying it to real-world problems. You'll never fail as long as you keep on trying and asking questions. That's how you learn.
Hi David,
Love it! What a great way to get student involvement. Students feel a level of importance when we specificly ask them to participate in the lesson. Visual learning is the absolute best.
Patricia Scales
good call! I currently teach a cuisines across cultures class where I encourage the ability to use resources such as the internet, magazines, books and recipes to research different topics and gather information outside of the classroom on top of what I and my powerpoints can provide. If I am teaching about Mexican cuisine and have a student from Mexico then that student is involved in the lecture part of the day as well. He or she is told ahead of time, may bring in food and other items from their home. This really seems to get everyone involved. There is so much instant information out there to use and it would be closed minded of us as teachers not to utilize it!
Hi Brandy,
Awesome activities to get students involved! I like to do role playing, scenarios, mock learning, peer teaching, and simulations to generate strong student involvement.
Patricia Scales
