It sounds like building trust is a big part of your communication process. Other providing the information that they ask, how can you build trust with your students?
Continuing to probe with more open ended questions usually allows you to obtain information from a quiet student who doesn't really want to open up much. Granting them the information that they request up front, allows them to build trust.
This is a great question Iza and can open a student up to talk about all types of things. What do you do with the quiet students who don't offer much up front?
What's happening in your life today that motivated you to inquire today?
This question usually works for me because it is an open ended question and it allows them to open up and share most of their underlying reasons as to why they are inquiring, thus, allowing me to take good notes while listening profoundly to everything they share with me to better understand their needs.
Great question Kristin! Your students are the expert on their lives and when they can answer a question like the one you present you have the opportunity to show your expertise about your school and how the attributes can benefit that student based on their response. Thank you for your post Kristin!
My favorite question to ask potential students is "What resources are you looking for in your ideal school to be successful?". This allows me to get a better grasp on what they are looking for. I can also use their answers to highlight exactly what we have on campus that matches what they are looking for in their ideal institution.
Your guess is right! I want to find more about the career interest of my students to make sure their on the right track as far as their career choice.
That's a good open-ended question that could prompt the student to tell you a number of things. What are you hoping to learn from a question like this Robert?
These are great questions, Andriana. I'm guessing that you are using these questions to explore your student's career interests and goals. When the conversation goes off track a bit try to remember that you can regain control of the conversation by asking another question.
What will this new career do for you and your family?
that's a great question to ask in beginning of the conversation to get to know the potential student that way you can kinda identify his/her ability to succeed in the program.
How long have you been thinking about pursuing this degree?
What are your future goals?
Why do you think Higher Education is important?
Most of the time the student are pretty good with answering most of the questions I ask them. Sometimes we get off track because the students may want to know more information of the school at the beginning of our conversation.
At what point in the conversation do you typically ask these questions? How can you use basic information gathering questions to build rapport with your students?
Their support systems, do they have children, married, currently working, did they attend any learning institutions after high school?
I think this question is brilliant, Jason! Describing your typical day clearly shows where your priorities are. Hearing about this would give me opportunities to help the studeint "find time" to fit college into their busy life. So many people don't begin because they are afraid of what they may "lose" when they begin, i.e, time with family, time for themselves. Looking at their typical day would help me to understand the challenges they will be facing, and to begin helping them to find creative solutions. Thanks!
Thank you, Hector, for sharing this direct, fresh approach! I think this up-front question sets the stage for the student to feel understood before the conversation even begins, and gives you a heads-up about how to help them in their stage of the process. Their answer will also allows you to customize your questions directly to those areas that are most important to them right now.
My favorite question is, "How did you become interested in..." The answer often provides information about the person's background, interests, skills and passions. Sometimes a person responds with, "I haven't really thought about that before," and then they have the opportunity for self-discovery as they examine what brought about their interest in the subject matter. A similar question is, "What do you plan to do with your degree?" This answer speaks directly to their goals and their dream, and gives me a glimpse of their "big picture."
Guy,
I like this quesition as well. 1 It confirms we are on the same page, files may indicate one thing but they are really interested in something else. 2 It's one of the main things that brought them to the school,we have ther program of interest. It what they are hopefully passionate about. It helps me gauge their interest in the subject.
Great question because it enables the student to visualize their goals, which gives them a sense of reality. This can also empower them to realize that they can make manifest their own dreams.
I like to ask them how long they have been considering going back to school, because many times they tell me it's been a long time, years or even decades. This leads to good follow up questions about obstacles and support.
