Teaching core classes in animation, students often believe that their instructors might be lacking in some of the basic literacy skills as themselves. Students seek to identify with and in some ways imprint their own experiences onto the teachers they work with daily. Often students think that my math or writing skills are marginal because my degrees are in art. It is important that we capitalize on the desire to emulate instructors and help student’s develop traditional academic skills. One thing that I have tried to do is provide examples of those skills in my own work. Writing is especially easy to reinforce when students are trying to write proposals or production bibles. Showing students an example of my own, walking them through the process and allowing them to refer to it throughout the process provides a positive example that reinforces itself. Any number of aspects can be taught this way including project/time management, resource citing, and general language usage.

It common to find that a student may have multiple disabilities. The most important thing for an instructuctor to remember is that everyone does not learn the same way you do.

I have found that asking a question and then pausing draws students into the lesson. With the potential that a student may be chosen to answer a question, most students do not want to be caught off guard. Therefore, students tend to pay attention when they recognize that they may have to answer a question.

I have found as I teach longer that the student comes with a set of areas that they are struggling with professionally. Being there to help them not only master course material, but be there for them as a life coach they receive maximum benefit for the course

One pitfall I have run into is not matching my syllabus point values with the actual points the students receive. This has helped me as an instructor

I like to appeal to all senses of learning for students. One being Auditory learner, kinesthetic and visual. I use you tube clips for visual, stories for kinethetic, and powerpoints for auditory. all points of view are being attended to.

As a side-note, I want to give the example of an anthropology class I took as a undergrad. I loved the course, and the material, and deeply enjoyed and respected the professor. But the entire course grade was based on two exams, the mid-term and the final, both True/False, 50 questions each. Sounds simple enough, eh? False! An average test question was phrased something along the lines of, "In 1975, Dr. John Smith from the University of Somewhere discovered the Homo Something fossil in the Great Rift Valley, which had a brain capacity of 850cc, lived approximately 2.5 million years ago, and at the time was believed to be the direct descendant of Homo Something Else which was discovered by Dr. Joe Williams in 1971, which had a brain capacity of 600cc. True or False?" And any one of those elements in the sentence might be "false," rendering the entire sentence false. It might have been 1979 instead of 1975, or Dr. John Smith might have been from the University of Another Place instead. Yikes!

special needs students need some extra time but are amazing tough students

teachers have to teach to students and work with language barriers

groups are good and help students work together

to many times instructors talk to fast or to slow and loss their students. must have a good pace and range for keeping students involved

I am a culinary arts instructor, most recently during my lectures I am placingan emphasis in presenting information to my students in various ways. I am still amaze by the result obtain by my students on their quizzes and tests. My question: Even is the delivery methods are varied, are other external or internal influences may affect the individual learning process?

While the online course material's points on the value that group projects offer (through teamwork, forced participation, and diversity of experience) are well taken, it seems to me that this sort of project is better suited to upper-level projects. What sort of group projects seem most appropriate for a foundation-level course that is more fact, elements, fundamentals, and basic theory based?

those 5-10 seconds seem internal,I bring the subject back to the place in the book to find the answer

and what about the student that takes a little bit in from all these methods but never really excels?

I find that visual Hands on work that students participate in get the best results for retaining information.

In this evolution of technology everything is online. Banking, school grades, classes, shopping, bills, etc. You name it, its out there. But as I continue to pursue education further being adult or adolescent, I need to take in consideration some thoughts of being successful online. Steps to help this process are: 1. Plan your time - As an online learning student, planning is your best weapon against procrastination. Without the set schedule of a classroom course, you may delay working on the course assignments and activities. 2. Log on to your course every single day-...or a minimum of 5 days a week. Once you get into the online system you will be eager to see who has commented on your postings and read the fedback of your instructor or peers. 3.Participate and Communicate - In an online class nearlly all communication is written. You should feel comfortable expressing your ideas and opinions in writing. 4. Use Learning Unit Objectives to Gudie Your Study - Each learning unit in a course has clear objectives that tell you waht you should be able to do by the timeyou complete the lesson. Use these as a guide to focus your study and to measure your success. 5. Contact Your Instructor When You Have Questions About the Course - Your instructor is available to assist you with questions about the course. Take full advantage of the course communication tools to share questions, comments and concerns with the instructor anytime.

Does anyone have any advice on how to handle assesing a student who is clearly failing the course?

Many students at my school complain when a teaches uses a Power Point presentation and reads from it. What is the best way to use the Power Point to enhance the lecture without relying on it totally. This was not addressed to every instructor. It seems that certain instructors are able to use it effectively and others are not.

My school has had a couple of instructor changes and new instructors have to join mid-course. What are some suggestions to allay the anxiety associated with this?