The instructor is the leader of the class. The mood of the instructor is easily noticed by the students and can be contagious. It is important for the instructor to remain enthusiastic and interested because that attitude will carry on to the students. Signs of disinterest and apathy will easily transcend to the students and may compromise student retention.
Instructors who have a passion for teaching will develop a way of sharing that passion with the students. Students will come to class excited about learning.
Enthusiasm is contagious! If one is excited and confident about their subject and committed to helping students succeed, being enthusiastic optimizes the effectiveness of the learning environment. Creating this environment is a priority objective for all instructors that have high expectations of themselves, their institution and their students.
Hi Michael,
Well point. I like to be around people who have a passion for what they are doing. This gets me excited about wanting to learn more from them. This is true for students as well.
Gary
Instructor enthusiasm is a view to the instructors passion. If this passion for the field can be translated in to the class room it may help a student through some tough parts. "This will be fun when I have mastered this"
It is important for the instructor be passionate about the subject matter. Enthusiasm communicates value, and will serve to inspire and engage the student in the learning process.
An instructor lacking enthusiasm may project a negative image of his field, discouraging students from continuing their training.
Students may percieve the field as unrewarding due to the instructors indifference.
Instructor enthusiasm plays a very large part in student retention. When an instructor has passion and shows enthusiasm in the class room, you can see the student's faces light up with excitement as well. Keeping that enthusiasm going along with the student's excitement will pretty much guarantee the instructor that the students will return the next class meeting. Because now they are intrigued and anxious to see what is in store for the next meeting.
Hi Marc,
Good cautionary point about using enthusiasm correctly. It has to be genuine or it will be more of a turn off than it is a motivator because students won't buy into it. New instructors can really benefit from this advice.
Gary
Incredibly important, so long as that enthusiasm comes across as honest and grounded, with a heavy does of maturity. Forced or fabricated "enthusiasm" is immediately noticeable, and enthusiasm that is too "kindergarten" or patronizing is a real turn-off. These are adult learners after all.
not only a performaer...but cheerleader and salesman...
on end of course surveys the instructor will often be graded as enthusiastic or not...if you love what you teach there is a natural enthusiasm...
simple...students can tell the good teachers from the bad teacher very easily... those teachers that bring 100% everyday and are excited and passionate about what they teach make great teachers and students pick up on that very quickly... remember for a lot of voactional type schools... you as a teacher are doing or have been doing what they aspire to do.... you are their role models
Hi Lisa,
I agree about the need for development in the affective domain. The way I promote development in this area as well as increase student retention is with the use of case studies. My students really like them and I am able to set up situations that has the students thinking through solutions that involve talking about decisions that deal with the human development and understanding.
Gary
Hi Marilyn,
Your example is a good one for motivation. We have to remember that many students have never spent anytime with a professional in the field so their instructor may be the first such person they have a chance to observe over a period of time. So when the instructor is motivation and excited about the course and the day's topic then they will be as well.
Gary
The environment the instructor creates can make or break student retention. The instructor has the unique opportunity to create a safe, loving, nurturing, fun, educational environment. Within this type of environment amazing things will occur that are not a part of the mandated curriculum. We are talking about soft-skill development, which every employer values. Soft-skills are very much related to emotional intelligence. Many educators focus heavily on tapping the cognitive and psychomotor domains but largely ignore the affective domain. Perhaps this is because the affective domain is harder to measure. Nevertheless, this domain is vital to human development and understating how to use it to your instructional advantage is key to increasing student retention. Your thoughts?
instructor enthusiasm influences your class in astronomical proportions, to my belief, because, not only do your students say, wow, she has such zest for life, for work, for making cookies, or for just the minor details of baking, if she can do it, I can.
If you are enthusiastic it helps the students to pay better attention and they also will get enthusiastic and want to come to class.
An enthusiastic instructor can make even the driest and dullest subjects interesting.
I like teaching some of the less interesting courses in our curriculum. It is a challenge to make them fun but rewarding when students actually began to like a subject because of the way it was taught.
Hi Frances,
Well said. Excitement is quick to spread to others and that is why teachers should enjoy being teachers.
Gary
