It is important to have a brief eye contact to see that students are getting what is being said.

Love my students when they get excited about the subject matter and learn from each ithers styles............takes a while to figure out the individual needs........would like more on this topic to more quickly determine each students style.....they are only with us for a short time........better results if I could assess them more quickly.......

I ask alot of Q& A.......looking for more interactive questions and perhaps games to involve student more in the content they struggle with.

I have learned valuable data regarding the new test I will be writting.........bravo....

I fund testing in our format challenging and sometimes inefective to the subject matter.

I teach both online and onground courses. What are some strategies for assessing learning styles in both formats?

Dr. Meers, I recently began teaching for the first time. I believe I have the confidence needed to succeed, however I have a few students who I believe try to intimidate me. Since I am a younger instructor, I know they try to see what they can get away with because I am a "rookie". Is there any advise they you can give that will help me gain a little more control over my class?

There is a major problem with visual learners I believe... Here is my theory; The action of spoon feeding your students (or anybody for that matter) with visual elements like video or picture driven example, will not be as effective as you think. You are actually crippling them for the future. By giving them a finished product or a processed piece of information, you are not allowing them to use their thought process to reveal this information for themselves. Our society has become lazy in teaching of our children for the future. I could expand, but I would end up writing a book. Example: Watching a movie vs reading a book... I also note that, I myself have been categorized as a visual learner, but I acknowledge my weaknesses and plan to correct them.

Since students learn through a variety of different techniques it is important to include a variety of delivery methods. The method of delivery also depends upon the level of proficiency of the students. I have found that the proficiency plays an important role in deciding which delivery methods will be most effective.

I used to teach in the veterinary technology program for the school I work for and found it difficult to incorporate different styles of learning because the very nature of the class is demo/hands-on. In order to cover different learning styles, I make sure to mix up my styles with each class. I lecture, have hands on sections and do group activities. Most of my students were very hands on, so lecturing really bored the students. I tried to spice up the lectures by adding more visually appealing things, by using videos and real pictures to illustrate parts of the lecture. For reviewing for exams, I have each student come up with three questions/answers. We would review as two teams with prizes available for the winning team.

I try and find ways to show my students how they will use the information I am presenting when they are done with school. Sometimes students roll their eyes at things, when this happens I tell them about a personal experience with the topic we are discussing. I have had graduates come back after they have been out in the real world and tell me how my personal stories helped them to deal with situations more clearly.

For the first day of class I try and dress professionally, but I don't like to look too intimidating. Most students are nervous enough during the first day of class, they don't need to see a big scary instructor in front of them too. During the first day of class I share something about myself and then ask each student to share something too. I usually do an icebreaker before diving into the workings of the course. This helps to introduce students to each other and see who they can relate to.

In my teaching I try to list things in the course addendum that will help students to be able to utilize their skills to their full potential. I also talk about having confidence in the classroom and assign project for the students to boost confidence.

I like to integrate multiple choice, true/false, short answer, and essay questions into each of my assessments. This way, I feel that I appeal to each different type of test-taker, as well as test the information in a variety of ways, which allows me to get a very accurate view of what the student knows and does not know.

I have many years experience in my field and many times the couse book is to me sometimes miss leading in the way that I have found to be more successful. Would this be going somewhat a miss or just add to the instruction?

At my school there is a student that all the instructors find to be 'difficult'. He thinks he knows everything and is constantly challenging his instructors, which often disrupts the class. At first I found this student to be difficult myself, until I noticed that whenever I agreed that he was right about something he didn't interrupt again for about half an hour. This gave me an idea, and from then on I tried to ask him questions periodically that he would be likely to get right, and this has kept him engaged in the class and no longer disrupting the flow of discussion.

I first wrote my name on the board and what I perfered to be called. I wrote the course name. I shoke each one of their hands,and introduced myself, and asked their named. I then asked each one about their goals and what they hoped to achieve with this course.

These ideas covered some good ground, with the different types of tests showing different advantages and disadvantages. Writing that great question is satisfying and ultimately helps the student! One thing that should not be forgotten is the readability of format, not just content. That is, using white space effectively, having proper indenting, readable font size and type, and not crowding the margins. These are often forgotten and can result in just as much frustration as a question that's worded poorly.

Does anyone else find test-writing fun? Writing a good test takes a lot of time but if you can write an effective one overall (not to mention fun questions throughout), it is strangely fulfilling. (Especially when the students seem to have fun taking it ...)

I had a situation on a new job where, teaching the last class before graduation. The problem was that I had to fail a student in this course. At that point I was suddenly labled as the professor that "failed the senior". The next semester the class I was teaching was so nervous and fearful based on the semester before...how do you go about changing that label? How can you make a good impression when you have already been judged?