I have learned that as instructors, it is important that we realize that adults learn differently from children.  Adults have a plethora of experience that can be used as a valuable resource for learning.  They can be more motivated and more successful if they are learning about topics that apply to their life, that they want to learn, and have a say in the learning process.  The key for instructors is to be successful when teaching adults is to create a safe environment for the adult learner to share their viewpoints and opinions comfortably, and try to meet the student… >>>

How can we better reach students who, under all circumstances, never seem to want to engage in online learning?  How do we appeal to the 'YouTube' and 'TicTok' generation that wants a faster, more entertaining way of getting information that deem as useful?

I think this course pushes me to think about every assignment my students have in each course and evaluate it for effectiveness from an online engagement aspect.  Are we giving them just 'busy work' to fulfill a course requirement so they can just earn a grade and move on, or are these assignments including student engagement that is meaningful and leads to real and useful learning after graduation once in their field?

Comment on Edgar Sanabria's post: mismo

I am a work in progress.  Today, I took over a class for a comrade who went on vacation.  As you might have deducted from the the word start there was no preparation for what I got myself into.  Keeping it real and just saying.  I was on slippery ice with the students not knowing them or me.  They knew what to do in class but equipment and supplies were limited.  I wanted the students to be in there perspective groups of three but fate would have it otherwise.

I though it was a matter of participation but it finalized… >>>

I can think of multiple ways that I could use Twitter to enhance the classroom. Asking students to follow a Twitter account that I post course content and reminders to is one. Requiring students to post replies to a Twitter account that makes posts appropriate to course content is another.

I like the idea of integrating YouTube videos into my course--I even had the idea of asking students to create their own YouTube videos (or TikTok videos) about course content and then posting links to their videos into a discussion or comments on a class announcement. It might be interesting to give an assignment in which students are asked to locate a Twitter post on a particular topic and make a comment on it, then screenshot it and post it into a class discussion. There are just so many possibilities--it all depends on the course content and the type of… >>>

So far, I can see from the material presented as well as just me taking this course how important it is to keep students motivated and engaged.  Having intermittent "activities" mixed in with the instructional sections was helpful. I appreciate that students all learn differently, and this is helping me to really think more about ways to engage students with different learning styles as well as different motivational styles as well.

Comment on Maria Perez's post: Comment on Maria Perez's post: Great comment. 

I plan to copy the RESPECT model for netiquette into my current online classes.