Hi Robert,
Good use of visual aid, hands-on and auditory learning. You use a variety to capture your students attention. I like the idea of how you put your due dates in bold print for your students. The bold print makes it pop off the page.
Patricia
I make sure the syllabus step up is easy for the student to understand, by the bold print on do date for the requirements. I also use power point in my class when I do lecture. I also do demos in lab.
Hi Penny,
How thorough! Students really appreciate step-by-step instructions. You leave no stone unturned when it comes to clarification of course requirements.
Patricia
I have a syllabus that lists what we are studing for each day and when to expect tests. I then explain to them the skills that they are going to learn with hands on experience. They recieve a list with step by step instructions of what is expected for each skill.
I agree heartily that explanations need to be brief and especially when dealing with adult learners. Reminding with frequency is essential. One of the agreements I've had to reach with my fellow instructors using the same room (at differing times of the day) is a "sacred" area of the dry marker board dedicated to communication with our classes reminding of approaching due and exam dates. I suppose any type of notice board would work for this assuming confidentiality is not breached?
Hi Jeanne,
Actually you made some valid points, you did not ramble. I am sure your students appreciate your thoroughness on the first day and throughout the grading period. I can tell you produce quality medical graduates.
Patrricia
I review the sylabus and curriculum content on the first day. I tell them about the course objectives,how this class is important to develop their ability and skills to become a nurse,the focus of the areas of study in this course, the grading scale, tests and final, how skills lab and clinical experience fit into the class and then give them a great deal of time to ask any and all questions. I teach early in the curriculum and the first session with a clinical component so they are usually very anxious with a ton of questions. I talk about my background as a nurse and as a teacher at this school.
What I try to do a lot is get the students to focus on the learning rather than a grade point average. I find that the ones that focus on the learning rather than grades actually get better grades overall. This is really hard to get some students to do because they get so focused on how much grade point averages are used as they climb the levels of nursing practice. Sorry, I've kind of rambled on.
Hi Ron,
It is only professional and fair to let students know what is expected of them so that they can do well. Students do look for requirements and expectations on the first day of class.
Patricia
Clearly written expectations on the first day that are gone over and discussed will help each student understand the requirements and what needs to be done to pass the class.
I try to make the course requirements clear by going through the syllabus on the first day of class. I also give the students a calendar which indicates what they will be doing everyday that they are in class, so they know when the tests are and when assignments are due.
Hi Vicki,
I like the consistency your institution uses with the MCO. Also, I am sure your students appreciate getting models to help prepare for papers and projects. I've always found out as well them examples are extremely helpful to the students.
Patricia
Hi Wilfred,
Students really appreciate knowing how various concepts are going to benefit them in the real world. If students understand the revelance of learning a concept, he or she generally becomes interested.
Patricia
I would normally write the daily activities on the board and reinforce it with the objectives. I would then discuss the benefits of the material and how it will help in the real world.
We have a standard MCO (Master Course Outline)taht is very extensive which we go over both on a power point presentation and a hard copy for students.
Also, I give handouts as models for the papers and Capstone project that they will need to complete.
I find the models extremely effective
During the first class, we discuss the sections of the syllabus which are unique to the course. In Design classes, we review student projects from previous semesters and discuss the grading rubric.
Hi Suzanne,
It seems like whenever you get the students' signature it seems more important to them; and they tend to latch on to what was discusssed.
Patricia
This next class I will teach will be the first time I will be teaching a class from the beginning. I believe most of these students have completed some of modules so they are familiar with the course requirements. However, I plan on verbally going over the course requirements the first day of class and have the students sign a document stating they clearly understand the course requirements.
Hello Brandon,
I use the same procedure of going through the syllabus on the first day of the class with students. This is a best practice in my classes! I look at it as doing a bit of 'housekeeping' up front before the course gets underway.
Hi Instructor Scales,
I use the course syllabus and instructor expectations documents to make the course requirements clear for my students.
This is a great idea. I always go over the syllabus and post their assignments on both the board and our e-forum but this makes them also responsible to read the syllabus. I am going to do this as well. And I like it that they take it home to do...I have a lot of material to cover in only 6 weeks, so ice breakers and even syllabus review times are very limited. Our first class is 3 hours long. We are encouraged to review the syllabus, then get right to work on lecture and cover a great deal of material in class one and not do ice breaker activities at all...oh well, the airplane team building sounded like a lot of fun!
