About me
35 years as CEO and/or CFO of small hospitals; faculty at University of Phoenix since 2004; faculty at Briarcliffe since 2012; semi-retired as a teacher; recently took up fencing (electric foil)
David Hendry
Activity
Differention of instruction is easy if you DO get a short 'bio' of the student and BUILD on their experience.
Students feel flattered by being singled out and the learning becomes more personal.
Whatever experience a student has (military, a summer job, etc.) is a great way to make the material relevant to THEM and THEIR needs.
Discussion
I teach both on-ground and online at graduate and undergraduate levels.
Online, there is no reading of body language (which is a high % of "in person" communication) and no ability for the "verbal" student to ask a question and no way for the instructor to see that "blank" look that signals lack of understanding by a student. And yes, students do attend "live" classes and still play on their cell phones on the sly.
When an online or ground student does all their assignments for the week on the last due date I get the feeling that… >>>
Discussion Comment
The other aspect of "more than hoop jumps" and "both sides of their mouth" is MANY students get the "real" message. If their grade for a weekly discussion (asynchronous) depends on one main post and two replies to other students' posts, then MOST students will do just that and no more. When we set a "minimum" we must not blame the student for "doing the minimum" ... that is our standard and they meet the standard. We say we want "engagement" and "rigor", but that "minimum" is the REAL message to the student.
What a joy to have… >>>
Discussion Comment
Some of my classes are small and I never have a student attend the "chat" in real time. When a student is present for the chat, I deliberately ask questions and get the student's involvement/experience.
Discussion Comment
As the bumper sticker says "Stuff Happens"...or something like that. When a student is called to active duty because of a natural disaster, or the student delivers a baby in the middle of the course, it is fair to give more time.
Since I cannot discern the truth of a student's situation, and the exemption from the "late penalty" should not be awarded on the basis of "the best alibi", I allow students to post late for full credit.
So, for fairness and student retention, I do not penalize for "late".
In "The Shallows" Nicholas Carr states we are: "trading away the seriousness of sustained attention for the frantic superficiality of the Internet." OK, if I accept that as true (and I do observe it both in F2F teaching and in the little "chat" box during online sessions) then I must adapt to that short attention span. What techniques do YOU use to keep students engaged?
A growing number of books, including The Shallows, argue that the internet and digital gadgets are making it harder for us to concentrate. The Pew Research Centre in America recently surveyed almost 2,500… >>>
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Dan: if you would please, tell me more about the calendar in 3 week increments ...is that a running 3 weeks that is updated every week to incorporate changes (similar to weekly construction project management meetings that revise tasks/timelines and thus map out the next 3 weeks?)