When facilitating an instructional chat session for an eLearning course, what approach should you take to stimulating student interest? Should you do a question and answer session or should you provide a lecture and then have a discussion surronding the key points?

Our institution is small by design. As the students progress, I see them more often. One student was enrolled in four of my five classes one quarter. Most first days are comfortable. That stated, I do have a natural excitment each new period. Even for courses I've taught before. This comes through; I can tell when it I've had classes I wasn't as comfortable with.

At my college we have over several years had progressive changes in the length of our classes. We started with 4 hour classes, then a compression of the number of classes total brought our classes to 4.5. Now recently our terms have been shortened by a week with additional time added to bring our classes to almost 5 hour in length. Our night classes actually run as late as 11PM. We do have almost an hour that can be used as break time throughout the class. However these exceptionally long classes, even with a large chunk of them being dedicated to practical hands on lab time, stretches the limit of both student and instructor endurance and concentration. I sometimes feel at a loss as to how to keep my students focused and engaged as 10:30PM rolls around, especially when I am feeling a bit burned out on the subject myself! There is no changing the situation, it is here to stay. So I am looking for ways to keep the students engaged and focused for as long as possible. I have done some things like splitting a class into 2 different lessons to at least make the subject matter more interesting with some small success. However, I would welcome any thoughts or suggestions!

I teach a college algebra course and often find myself doing a mini-lesson (lecture/explanation of content) followed by giving students work time to practice. I've taught math other ways (with activities that allow more discover or different learning styles), but have settled on this pattern mostly out of the need to cover a large amount of material in a small amount of time. Does anyone have any ideas for ways of teaching math incorporating more learning styles?

How do we identify learner expectations ? Do we ask the students what their expectations are ? Do you do this on the first day ? Do you ask them to write them down on a piece of paper and turn them in ?

One of my weak points is planning; the last time I planned an activity was 20 years ago, any ideas or suggestions on how to start? I really appreciate your help.

make eye contact

I have found that when I teach business, after just about 20 minutes, certain students can easily lose focus. Therefore, every 20 minutes or so I start a short 5 minute question and answer session that I have found to work pretty well...

I have learned that 4 hours of lecture time does not amount to 25 minutes of hands on work in the pro audio field. Students grasp better when they work hands on and I am sure some of you would agree with me regarding other trades as well.

I definitely have found that depending on how the first few minutes of class turn out, the students make their mind up on whether or not this is going to be an enjoyable semester. I definitely try my best to get a few laughs and break the ice a little on the first class.

Definitely a very important part of setting up for the entire semester. As a young faculty member, and a female, often times students try and size me up but this if I lay a first impression that is authoratative and respectful, half the battle is won!

Sometimes the speed of the students affects the way I follow the syllabus because I might slow down if necessary. I think this course outlays the importance of sticking to the syllabus

I have honestly never thought about actually changing or helping the environment or setting of the class... something that I will pay attention to from now on

In my classroom there is a very different level of student's all seeking to achieve the same degree. Some classes are a lot faster paced than others. Morning classes require more exitement than noon classes in my experience even when the subject matter is exactly the same!

I have found that your experience grows as you teach more classes and deal with a diverse variety of students. The problem then occurs when you have that one student in the class who needs that extra attention or has a different way of working and learning about your students individually and collectively as a whole would help take care of how you teach. I definitely think that the instructional style section was helpful!

I think it is important to notice that the way we present ourselves and the subject are should be consistent throught the course. Although the style can change through the course, but it should be like a learning curve.

I have found that this comes up in the higher courses that I teach. A student may have a philosophical question for me that they want answered immediately. I have to let them know that I'm not 100% positive, but I promise I'll get back to them in a short amount of time. I feel that to be honest with them and get the right answer to them is better than trying to make something up as you go!!!

Once again because we are in a hands on environment, building retention can come from hands on activities. Memory building from having a student practice repeatedly what needs to be tested over and over, not only builds memory but also builds confidence.

How do you communicate across the curriculum the need to respect college level writing formats?

Is anyone willing to share models of CATs for Humantiies classes, such as College Composition?