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Ask a question from your peers to help you in your professional work. Seek different points of view on a topic that interests you. Start a thought-provoking conversation about a hot, current topic. Encourage your peers to join you in the discussion, and feel free to facilitate the discussion. As a community of educators, all members of the Career Ed Lounge are empowered to act as a discussion facilitator to help us all learn from each other.

Non Confident Student

What makes a student not confident and how do you reach them with out pushing to hard?

Student's with Learning Disabilities

My institution provides all students' with learning disabilities an acommodation plan, when requested, to help them succeed. I am always in tune with my students, and offer tutoring to all, with or without special needs.

Motivation

Keeping students motivated to learn is a skill instructors must apply always. If you are not motivated yourself about the subject you are attempting to teach or if you are not in "tune" with your students, you are cheating your students form attaining their full potential in your subject matter.

Monitoring

I employ the same methods described in this module with my students. The information is correct in that student's interact better with each other and with their instructor when using group dynamics.

Body language

Body language, speech, tone of voice, etc. all play a part in how well students receive subject matter information. As instructors, we must always be aware of these things, including our moods.

The value of the faculty observation

How much does the faculty observation an instructor receives from the chair contribute to that instructor's development? What do you consider to be the main metrics in a faculty observation for it to be an evaluation document as well as a tool to develop the observed instructor?

Is "Follow Me" a good instructional technique?

When teaching a computer related course, for example MS Office, especially when I reach the intermediate level of Word, Excel or Powerpoint, I found that 15-20 min of lecture, including an instructor demo of the excercise (like working with textboxes, customizing charts, using powerpoint animation) followed by a period of individual student lab might not be most effective. The technicalities (what button to click...) might be too many for the students to follow in the individual part. Many times I have used "Follow Me": I set the stage explaining with a schetch the desired outcome and the basic procedure, then I demo with the projector 1-2 steps at a time with 30-40 sec periods for my students to do like me, and so on to the end of the exercise. There are immediate advantages: all students get the exercise done. There are disadvantages: some students have to wait while I halp the 'slower' ones. Does, in this case, the lecture loose its value?

Impact of leniency on Discipline/guidelines during first days of class

Being a new instructor, I have come to realize that (during my first few days of teaching) my initial approach to cover disciplinary measures and be clear with these measures were delivered ineffectively. There was lack of force in how I 'layed the rules' for discipline in terms of keeping silence during class hours. Approaching almost the end of the term, I have observed that 30% of my students would talk frequently during class lectures despite my attempts to get their attention, telling them in the politest manner and terms (language) that they could possibly understand to be 'students that need to pay attention and allow the rest in the class to focus and not be disrupted'. Personally, I believe that students are not perfect and get side tracked like anyone else, so I try not to embarass them with maybe a loud piercing voice and tone that would be just ready to reprimand them or pounce on them when I see them talking. Should I be firmer the next term and show myself less forgiving in this area? I want them to learn to respect the instructor and their fellow students without the implementation of fear of outright abrupt discipline. But I have qualms if that would be the right way to implement discipline. The rest of the students comprising 60-70% are focused, no issues with them. Would it be too late to implement stricter measures in the area of discipline right now? I would appreciate comments and suggestions. Thank you.

testers

Any suggestions on how to handle the ones that have a hard time testing?

Professionalism

How do you help your studens become better professionals?

New Instructor

This information has made me understand more of what is expected from me, by not only my students but from myself

Critical /AnalyticalThinking

In the field of radiation oncology, since radiation beams are invisible by ordinary methods and potentially harmful.I try to implement the use of critical thinking, problem-solving, computation and written/oral communication skills in my class. Visual aids in teaching are recognized as important adjuncts to proper training in my humble opinion. As Ghandi stated: Be the CHANGE you want to see in the world.

moving

Moving around the classroom keeps students engaged

first class

does discussing your expectations on the first day really help?

material

is it ok to bring in material from other sources than what is provided by the school?

Preparing for Online Instruction

Most of the preparation methods discussed are well aligned with online Instruction. Each method minimizes the time spend in preparing for a course, regardless if online or onground. Instructors may sometimes compromise the time based on 'being at home'; thinking they are prepared because they know their environment. This is far from the truth because there are more distractions at home, versus student distractions (welcomed), in an onground environment. One, you can prepare for (onground), versus the unexpected (at home online). Again, applying these preparation methods in either learning environment is key to instructional success! Vera Davis

Using Multiple Methods of Instruction in an eLearning Environment

How is this done? How can an eLearning Instructor apply mixed methodologies for Instruction, in an online course? Solution: build course content in module content areas, instead of clumping into a full page. Also, instead of posting an entire lecture in one are of the course; try breaking the lecture into mini-lectures - structured in Discussion Forums. This will allow students to digest in chunks; while allowing Socratic feedback, as a way to demonstrate their learning on the topic at hand. Any thoughts? Vera Davis

eLearning in the 21st Century

Any thoughts? Initially, most of us are faced with the challenge of understading the structure of an online course - then comes demonstrating functional competence via aptness in navigation. Many instructors may be prepared in terms of the context they will present in the course - as well as the content for each week. However, how many are eally prepared for what it takes to be an Elearning instructor in the 21st Century? Multimedia, meshups, streams, content areas, links; all while providing instruction? How many are ready to teach in a non-traditional learning environment? Should traditionally methological learning techniques be used? Really?

analytical thinking

I believe that critical and analytical thinking is very effective in the learning enviroment, individuals can apply analytical thinking skills when tasks or projects are presented to them and they are to decide what approach they should take to complete the challenge. It is a way of thinking that I feel any instructor to should have their students apply.

Creating Effective Assessments

Effective assessments are critical between students and instructors because without them how can