From what I've noticed is that older students tend to be more active in their learning by asking more questions that may or may not be on topic. How do you control this without getting off topic or making it seem like you don't care about their input?

Finding way to help students express creativity is a great motivator. However, it’s not always easy getting them to express it. If you can have students expressing themselves this way I think motivation will elevate. One example I have seen that I loved. In pharmacology the medications can have long names, and multiple effects. A fellow instructor gave a assignments to groups to create fictional (fairy tale) type of story where the main character was the medication and the events in the story are based on what effects a medication may have. Finally, the story must include a portion where main character fights of negative/side effects of the drug. I found this brilliant.

I know this may seem counterintuitive. Allow me an explanation. I have found in many courses that group work of 4 - 5 students seems to increase participation as many already know. I also find that it allows students the opportunity to formulate their interpretation of the subject matter. Also, a known impact. How many of us on the teacher side have stopped to look at the impact it has with relation to the students. I have a theory. I think students are more accepting of ideas and feedback from the instructor because they are surrounded by peers sharing like experiences and this raises their individual comfort levels.

There are severalmethods I use based on the class size. One is to make name place cards for a larger class & then create a seating chart.I can acess the students photos prior to class & be sure I know "who is who" & I always try to have a simple in class assignment the first day that I can return to students so that I physically associate the name w/the handwriting & voice.

I'm wondering whether bonus points and extra credit are the same thing. Our school recently banned extra credit. I have occasionally added a higher level thinking question to my exams, for which I gave bonus points for correct responses. I considered these to be good indicators of transference of learning, but now I wonder whether I can still use them.

At the end of every class during wrap up I like to talk about what exciting things we will be doing/learning the next day. Then I encourage the students to "do a great job" at work that night as it all relates back to our overall learning. It makes a connection to the students that everything they are doing can be used to contribute to their learning.

I try hard to learn every student's name by the end of day three. I must read over there names 50 times before the end of day one. It's great to send the students off for their first weekend during your class and inspire them by showing you care enough to get to know them before the end of the week.

I usually quiz my students about every 20-30 minutes or after we have covered a difficult topic. Oftentimes students feel embarrassed when they are called on so I always assure them that if they don't know the answer they can say "pass" or I can ask someone else. I will ask them questions again in the same nonthreatening way to show them that I have confidence that they have the knowledge. This seems to work and students don't seem to be nervous or embarassed because of the way I present it.

I liked this section & the different ideas that were presented to keep students focused & give practical hands on experience. Additionally, discussion on keeping students involved and keeping all students involved was good to revisit. The 60 second term paper was used as a good example, but I've never heard of this. Could you please elaborate on what this is and how it is implemented.

Most of my students are very apprehensive about their ability in the course I teach, remedial math. Typically they have struggled with math for the majority of their lives. I've found that the best way to motivate them is to sincerely compliment them on their work when it's done correctly. For me, smiling and making eye contact while telling them how well they are doing goes a long way. If they make a mistake I gently try to show or explain where they went wrong and don't make a big fuss over the error.

There is a fine line when to let the students vent a little and when to stop them and return to the class at hand. I rely on the meeting moderator training I was given when I was working for IBM. There are many times when a meeting would stray a little from the topic at hand, we were taught to let it play out if it was constructive, but as soon as it became nonconstructive we would call to table it and either schedule a followup meeting or assign it to one of the participants as a work item. I have brought that to same training to use in the classroom by letting the students vent while they were being constructive (OK, not destructive) with in certain guidelines - I don't let them bad mouth a fellow student or an instructor. Terry

I hadn't thought of using these type of techniques. I can see their value and expecially like the crisis technique. I think this wuld be very effective in geting students invloved again as active learners. Kristi Meyer

I have a lot of life stories that I use to get my students involved and interested. They need and I think want to hear what life will be like in the real world after college and I have a lot of experience to supply to them.

I am a fan of the empower assignment with the 3X5 index cards. There are a lot of students that are not able to expredd how they feel and for that matter even get to answer questions about what they have learned because so many others plow them over with what they have to say. This is a great idea to get everyone involved and slowly work into getting the quiet ones to hopefully contribute!

Hi everyone, Occassionally I will have an online learner who will report that they are taking 27 credits!!! These are people who are working full time, have families and all kinds of committments. They are totally motiviated to finish. It seems that these learners are indeed internally motivated. However,their intentions speed them through class with little time to reflect or really integrate the knowledge. I often wonder about the wisdom of allowing learners to enroll to earn so many credits.... Does anyone have some thoughts? How do I ensure that this super achiever is really learning my material?

Create a positive environment with authentic communication. Authentic communication is when non verbals and verbals match and understanding of the senders message is acheived through feedback.

At the Career College that I work with, midterm grades are a requirement actually before the midterm spot of the course. I think this is a GREAT idea. This is one way for learners to see how they are doing at the present time and what they may need to do to improve. For me, it offers a chance to reflect on who is doing well, who do I need to encourage more, etc. For all learners, I also add a personal note with the grade. A "great going" for those with a solid A to "it is not too late to improve; you can still earn a good grade" for those with D's and F's. It is surprising how many learners have no idea where they are in the course!

In the vein of getting to know your learner, I think getting the name right is very important. In the online environment, we see the name listed in the courseroom. However, the learner may go by their middle name or a nickname. I try to pay special attention to this during the introductions in Week 1. I keep a little list of those learners who use a nickname or different name than those diplayed. This seems to be one way of showing that I care, and that I am paying attention to the learner's personal needs.

I always try to point out the little things that students do well because most of the time they don't take them into consideration. An example could be kneading bread. If a student that has been having trouble with it finally gets it I let them know. Again something as small as that can really make the student feel better about themselves.

Every student one way or another gets frustrated about certain things in class. If a student has an issue I usually take the time during a break or after class to address the issue so that it doesn't get blown out of proportion. Also it shows that the instructor cares about student needs and are not trying to ignore them.