I will implement 10-15 mini-lectures in the future to keep my students' attention. I will also incorporate other learning styles to reach all students.

Do you find the soft skills training needs of traditional and non-traditional students to be different, and if so how do you manage their different needs in a mixed class?

As disscused in prior module, after the first couple of days in class you will learn which students could use what type of teaching can be assessed.

This type of individual learners may need some extra assistance. Depending on what type of student you have in class. That's why the first day or two is very important.

Tom have a class size where it is very important that all the students get involved, individual groups do make a considerable difference in what the students wiil come away with.

When introducing a new subject, using all the types of contact (eyes, verbal, body motion, etc)may assist you as an instructor of what types of different individuals you have to be invloved with during cl;ass.

My greatest challenge thus far has been working with a young lady with Dyslexia. Not only does she have problems with reading, but that spills over into her writing as well. After discussing with her previous successful techniques, we decided to practice reading aloud together to build her confidence and focusing on short, simple sentences and editing those sentences several times before moving on. Her content is always fantastic and she is a smart girl, she simply needs more time and intense focus than the other students.

This past quarter, I have dealt with two particular students that required extra attention for two very different reasons: Learning disability and ESL learner. Actually, I was able to confront both issues with a similar fix. For the stduent with dyslexia, we work on forming short, simple sentences that that student can focus on and not get distracted. I used a similar technique with the ESL student who has also improved in writing over the quarter.

I've noticed that the amount of student cyberstress is directly proportional to the quality of the course design. I teach an introduction to computers course for two online universities each with its own standards of how the course should be set up, the number of assignments, grading rubrics and late assignment policies. At University A, which could use a little more work on their course design, I get quite a few emails every term from frantic students who are trying to finish an assignment and the instructions are unclear or the submission method is not evident. Since I can’t change the course design, I try to anticipate potential problems in announcements and discussions. I also create some quick online tutorials using Jing – a free screen / video capture tool. If you haven’t used Jing – it’s a great program when you need to show a student how to do something. You capture a video of your actions on your computer, it automatically gets uploaded to screencast.com, and you can send your student a link to that video. Did I mention it’s free? I know I’m digressing but I can’t help evangelizing some of these incredible software tools. At University B – which has an excellent system in place for course design and review, I hardly ever get emails from students; the course interaction focuses on the discussion topics because the students know the mechanics of the course and all instructions are very effective. Also, the university has a very good student orientation course which plays a key role in reducing the amount of “cyberstress.”

Hello Everyone, In addition to teaching traditional in-classroom courses with a Blackboard component, I also teach totally online courses with universities elsewhere. Therefore, I wanted to discuss the importance of building a learning "community" within the classroom in an online situation. I believe building such a community with and among students is, of course, essential within the traditional classroom setting, it is critical to the success of an online class. Online education, when it is done well, links students with teachers and other learners who may have not otherwise had the opportunity ever to meet or exchange ideas. However, I think hearing or reading about other perspectives is not all that is important. Critical evaluation of what is being heard or read is part of the educational process. I think a large part of learning communities--whether online or in-classroom--is discussing and defending ideas, as well as evaluating and responding to what students learn from others. I think this type of interaction is vital in both online and traditional situations, however, because online students can often feel "isolated," I feel it is particularly necessary for them to feel "included" in the classroom--this is where an instructor can play such an important role as a facilitator and communicator. Renee Weeks

I love using group activities in my classroom! For some of the classes that I currently teach, many of the students are freshmen and still getting used to college life. By putting students in groups, many shy or unconfident individuals have more confidence in their own answers and speak up! As much as I love group work, I ALWAYS have an individual assignment so that I can hopefully reach a wide variety of learners.

As an instructor, I would really like to improve my communication skills in the disciplinarian arena of education. I think my biggest weakness is dealing with discipline issues. I welcome suggestions!

What methods or techniques do you use to make sure that your students understand what you expect of them? I use a grading matrix for each assignment. I then explain how each assignment demonstrates several of the course objectives.

What methods or techniques do you use to make sure that your students understand what you expect of them? I use a grading matrix for each assignment. I then explain how each assignment demonstrates several of the course objectives.

Motovational aids that relate to students needs. Show someone what they can do with the tools you provide.

I think that concentrating on making sure all 4 learning styles are addressed by teachers and instructors during curicullum delivery is the most important part of this module. I believe that even when your primary learning style isn't being directly addresed it is still a reinforcement. "Hit them from all sides and make sure it sticks."

I want to talk about VARK and how it improve students learning ability. The first key is to think in terms learns actives not lecture pointes. And think of how our students learn and are able to engage. V.A.R.K. is an acronym that helps understand explain the different way people can learn. VARK stand for Visual, Aural, Read/write, and Kinesthetic. Traditional classes use primarily aural (hearing) as the primarily learn mode for teaching and schools traditionally use Reading/Write to assess students understanding of the material. My student are typically Visual (you need to show not tell them how some this done) and by Kinestetic (student actually doing it them selves). While we can all learn by any of theses methods it important to undusted we have preferences (easier way for us to learn) with certain methods and so we need to strive as instructors to provide learning activities that use all these channels to teach and asses our students. A good instructor increases the engagement of the class by using all the channels of learning in nontraditional ways so student can easy grasp the knowledge and then make the student work hard than traditional classes to demonstrate a mastery of the skills listed in the performance objective in the course Syllabus. We need to use more simulations, activates, story telling methods to convey our message using Visual components and hands-on exercises. Ask yourself as you prepare for class the following question to help you prepare for class and create visual learning systems: 1. Who/What are you talking about? Create and show a portrait of who/what you’re talking about using qualitative information. Portrait = Who/what. 2. How much are we talking about? Create a chart that shows qualitative representations to explain. Charts = How much 3. Where is it that you’re looking at? Create a visual map showing the position in space where you are focusing on. Where = Maps 4. Ask yourself when is this taking place? Create a visual timeline to explain how it all fits together. When = timeline 5. Ask yourself how does it work? Create a flowchart to visually explain the cause and effect process. How = Flowcharts 6. Ask yourself why does it work? Create a multiple-variable plot and use deduction and prediction to answer why something works. Why = Multiple-variable plot By using the visual codex above of who/what, how much, where, when, how or why as the coordinates of your graphs it makes it easier for visual learners to understand. You must also ask yourself how to best show this data that can be examined by using SQVID slide bars that look at five factors in showing the data. 1. How Simple vs. Elaborate should I make the pictures? 2. Am I looking Qualitative (non-numerical) vs. Quantity (numbers) information? 3. Am I creating a Vision to understand or an Executable plan to follow? 4. Are you looking at an Individual item or a comparison of many items? 5. Are you looking at the way things could be (change-Delta symbol) or the way they are currently are (as-is).

Sharing my personal goals and how I attained them really motivates my students, sharing the pitfalls I encountered and how I overcame them helps the students to understand that resolve is one of the most important tools they will use in life.

When I look back at all of the teachers/instructors that I have had, I have learned a great deal from each of them. One of the biggest lessons was on how to treat each student equally. I have never forgotten how I felt when I was not treated equally. This is a big part of my teaching philosophy.

I did enjoy this on line computer class. I do feel that too much info is given prior to a test. Less information with more mini quizes would be better for me, considering I have an old brain and it is retaining info less and less these days.