Retention
By using personal experiences to provide examples relative to the course discussions, you will refresh why it is important to keep the information you teach retained
Christina,
You raise a good point about the use of personal experiences in the course. A guide to use is the experience has to fit within the course content at that point and be clearly an example for the students. Personal experiences need to support concepts not just fill class time.
Gary
I would caution not to overuse personal experiences. The students could get the idea that the instructor simply likes to talk about himself or lacks the materials/understanding to teach the course work.
How much personal experience embedded in the course is to much?
Very true. If you share some of those personal experiences in class, students seem to relate to what you are teaching more. It also gives students comfort.
