Hi Tina,
What a great way to bring out discussion and to get students to understand the relevance of the course.
Patricia
Hi Jason,
Make theory as real as possible, and students get it, and they have a better appreciation for it because they understand the benefits.
Patricia
I usually compare what we are doing in the classroom to real work applications.
Hi Patricia,
I think passion is great for the subject that is being taught, but most student feel they must take the course and move on to the next level in their schooling. In order to have the student buy in, you need to peek their curiousity. I found having student talk about past experience and getting them to open up really helps break the ice sort to speak. It is not possible to have everyone buy in, but most of the time you can get the majority of the group involved.
Hi Patricia,
I think passion for the subject is essential. I teach accounting and composition and am passionate about both in different ways. I've written a couple of books which I share with the classes and I'm excited about the ideas I teach. Most of the time they have relevance and if relevance is vague I spice the topic up - talk about the economy, inflation, unemployment in accounting and in writing I have students write about their favorite books or movies, or a hobby or interest.
Kelly and Patricia,
What a great idea. I've never done that.
I teach courses that aren't particularly popular - primarily accounting and some composition. Bringing in classified ads would be a wonderful motivator.
Thanks!
Cheri
The strategies I use to get the student to buy in to the course, to have the student talk about their own personal experiences on their current job, or previous job. This method is quite interesting when one class members feeds off of another students experience. Sometimes you have to stop the converstion and move on to the next topic, but this has proven to be affective with class involement.
Interesting "journal" idea, Jeremiah. You may be helping to reach students who learn through a more verbal media. I think this is one of the past difficulties for math instruction, that it was not differentiated for other learning styles. I'm fairly animated in front of the class and try to find problems that allow student movement even if it's just standing upand sitting down based on some statistical question like what portion of the students have birthdays in the first half of the year or last name begins with a letter from O to Z. Some math is by nature abstract but it helps to get stretching breaks even.
As for buy in, I turned a few outsider students into excited "math people" when they found out that they could do some real world math! I'm hoping this might have changed their last required math course into a new acceptance that math can be (and already is) a part of their lives.
Hi Jay,
I see your point! Students feel a sense of important when they are involved in the decision making process.
Patricia
Hi Kelly,
I also like to bring in classified ads that pertain to the skill(s) they will obtain in the class.
Patricia
I relate the subject matter to the work place. I teach health care related classes and I work in health care so I can provide them with real life examples which really grabs their attention. I also tell them up front that every assignment has a specific reason & purpose. I explain that I will never randomly assign something just for the fun of it. Each one has a very specific purpose. As they work through them, they begin to understand.
Sara Donevant
I agree with several others that this has been an easy process. My classes tend toward a more experienced student population that express their personal life experiences and apply them to the topic we are discussing. this is tremendously helpful to show how the "theory" is actually applied in real life situations.
Making sure that they clearly see how the course will affect them in their chosen field. I try to show them how the current subject ties in to their daily work day.
Demonstrating and discussing "real world" applications of the material to be studied generates interest and engages students. The relevance provides and stimulates students to want to learn.
I challenge students throughout the course to bring examples of where they have applied what they have learned to their job or life...this in turn motivates other students to look for practical uses.
I like to allow my students to have some say in class policies. I let students vote on certain (reasonable) policies for the class.
This lets the students feel a sense of ownership for part of the course.
Hi Benetta,
I like this approach. What a great way for students to see how the information relates.
Patricia
I always ask my students to give me a review of what we discussed the last class and to share any experience they had between class the relate to the topics discussed.
One of the ways I try to get my students to "buy into" a subject is to start the class by asking each student to share at least one fact or one experience they know about a topic. This allows them to incorporate some of their experience out of class while also giving me insight into their base of knowledge
I teach primarily accounting courses. I always begin by asking my students what they think accounting means. Most are able to give me some examples but not a definition. So I begin with a definition which then evolves into discussion of how accounting systems are not only important for businesses to track financial information but for individuals. Relating financial terminology to real-life situations is the most effective tcchnique. I give a lot of examples of businesses that have gotten into trouble over the years because of poor financial habits and as well give examples of businesses that have succeeded because of good practices. Most students can identify with most of those businesses.
