encourage participation and discussion of relevant life experiences to the course objectives

I realize that factors that motivate myself as an instructor do not fall too far from the tree as my students would desire. Students have their own individual reasons that motivate themselves in a classroom, hence extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation. It's an instructors role to allow the students some autonomy in the classroom in order to empower the student and make the class subject more conducive to the students learning experience.

I teach a modular program, so a few students are always completing their education as new students are coming aboard. I find the students who've been through the program, or have been in it longer, have established their own type of peer pressure. They are constantly asking the other students how they will proceed once out of school, and encourage them to take the national exams in addition to receiving their state license. They even "pressured" my new co-instructor to take her national exams. Seeing all of the success of these students has driven some of the newer ones to want the same success. I find they do most of the motivating, and I do more of the reassuring of those not quite confident enough in their own ability. It works well for our group, so I'm content to provide support to those people that aren't sure of themselves, and let the cohorts do some of the motivating.

I recently took over a program that was a bit in the "dark ages". Many students complained when the former instructor retired, even going so far as to say the company "forced" her out. Since then, I have moved the program onto the standard curriculum, and updated much of the information given to the students, including lectures, activities, labs, etc. I've also integrated use of computers whenever possible, as the industry is heavily reliant on computers and technology. For a while now, I've been hearing students comment positively that they are pleased with the direction of the program, even if they do feel it is more difficult than in the past. Hearing me and my co-instructor discuss what is the current trend or standard in the industry, and how we want to present that to the class has cemented that we truly do want them to have the most current and relevant information available. This also solidifies that they will have an advantage over others competing for jobs once they graduate. Both my co-instructor and I have a lot of enthusiasm for our industry, and that carries out to the students. They now see that change in itself can be exciting when it makes their education a better experience.

Sometimes upon ones' own personal reflection, I ask how will this subject or topic relate to a specific profession, i.e. Physics to become a Radiographer. Upon being advised by a career services representative and/or the instructor, they can provide an informed reasoning as for its application to that specific profession or subject. As an instructor, it is my duty to fully inform my students as to the relevance of any subjects/topics in order to make the student more informed. This is just one of many techniques such as becoming a better listener and providing insightfull verbal/nonverbal cues.

As an instructor, I do focus on both intrinsic and extrinsic practices within my classroom. As a whole, we do live an extrinsic world with k-12 students getting many motivators of candy/rewards/etc. For adult learners, this is "taught" by rewards from credit cards, focusing on getting "points" on bonus cards, etc. To help explain and teach other practical aspects to students that not all "extrinsic" motivators will be there in the working world I try to help bridge the two motivators by focusing on helpful feedback to students. One thing that instructors often do not do is give helpful feedback to good students. Research has shown that even good students would like to know what they did really well so they can repeat this on future endeavors. Do you give helpful feedback to good students? If so, what are some examples? If not, how will you plan to implement in the future or why will you not implement this practice?

How do we keep a student motivated who has very low self esteem?

What can we do to help homeless students be successful?

How do we help students who say they cannot attend class due to being in an abusive relationship, no gas money, or no child care? We do provide resources, but some of the students really just need to know that everything will be ok.

What I would like to know is what can i do to keep intrest in my class when I present information that is over 20 years outdated and is no longer relevant?

Confronted by tests, many students get nervous and forget concepts because their anxiety over test performance is so great. Motivating students involves giving them the preparation skills they need to succeed. Success is not the same for every student so you have to find what motivates each student to their level of success. I can vary between Intristic factors as well as Extrinsic factors. This involves you as the instructor being very engaged with your students. Being engaged allows you to see what helps the student and it gives the students a great sense of security.

A very important message was sent here in the form of "think what you would want for yourself and then deliver it to the students" or something on that line. I'm a firm believer in this. Even though I'm now an instructor I'll always consider myself a student. Lack of sound information, and lack of truly caring where one of the factors I felt affected me most as a student. I've always felt a lot of instructors work on the "show-off" mode rather than the "show-me" mode. I want someone interested in teaching ME, rather than showing off to me what they know. Motivating my students to me starts with pride. They need to feel a sense of pride for what they're doing and they need to feel accomplished not by me showing off but by them doing it themselves.IT WORKS!!

I find that I must be careful to remain active to student needs when listening to them. It gives value to their question.

My thoughts on Customer Service and Students. ED209 Facilitator: Patricia Scales By Randall Aungst 12/5/2012 How is customer service defined in an adult setting? According to the instruction module there are some issues with customer service as it pertains to students. One of which is the notion that “the customer is always right.” This issue, from my perspective, is not an issue with customer service as it pertains to students but rather an issue of understanding, or should I say perception, of the meaning behind the saying “the customer is always right.” Further I would go so far as to say the criteria by which most people pigeonhole customers is inherently flawed. The following will discuss my thoughts regarding both of these issues. In the module the term customer is linked to monetary compensation for services or products. This notion limits, considerably, the people that fall into this category. Before we tackle that issues any further let’s discuss what we as customers of others expect when it comes to good customer service. I think that most people would agree that from a customer’s perspective there are three issues of interest. As a customer I expect to be treated with respect not indifference, that my concerns be heard not ignored and that I am attended to not dismissed. All of these issues of interest are geared to one key issue and that is that as a customer I must feel that I am important. When looking at the aforementioned list of issues that a customer expects, and if we accept this to be true, this list also looks like another list of expectations; that of what might be expected from a relationship. While specific expectations might change based on the nature of the relationship you are speaking about these same issues would most likely show up on that list as well. As such there could be an argument made for changing the criteria by which a person might be considered a customer. Under this new perspective a customer is anyone that wants something from you and you want something in return from them. In a relationship you want companionship, friendship along with a variety of other desires from the other party and likewise they have a list of wants and desires from you. With the student teacher relationship the student wants the knowledge that the teacher has to offer and the teacher wants the best efforts of the student. As such, under the new perspective, the student is the customer of the teacher and the teacher is the customer of the student. Both parties expectations are the same to be treated with respect not indifference, that my concerns be heard not ignored and that I am attended to not dismissed. This brings us to the issue of “the customer is always right.” Most people misunderstand this statement to mean that as a provider of customer service one must always give into the customer. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The easiest way to understand the statement is to alter it, for explanation purposes. The statement should read “the customer never should be told they are wrong.” This is a more accurate depiction of what the saying means. It also is why customer service, when done correctly, is extremely difficult. The reason for this is that under the new understanding it is incumbent upon the customer service representative to construct communication in such a way so that the customer comes to the conclusion that their position is incorrect. In this way the customer is not being told they are wrong but rather guided to the correct conclusion so that they are always right. This is not an easy thing to do. In the student teacher relationship, under this new understanding of this statement, a student as a customer does not seem as contradictory as it is an instructor’s job to guide the student to correct conclusions as a matter of course and nature of the position. Just food for thought. Randall Aungst, MBA

I have to agree with the content of this training, however I question how to apply alot of this to my institution. Being an Automotive technical institute with limited pre entry testing, I find myself often dealing with students that appear not to have the ability to perform to an industry standard and are not capable of comprehending the the technical aspects of current automotive technology. In a setting with 6 hours a day, 30 students per class, 3 week phase, rules that limit my interaction with students, How do I apply this?

This will play a vital role in any classroom setting. Undestanding student characteristics is the key to any successful instuctor.

by end of semester I am burned as many other instructors because of the unrelenting administrative duties imposed by the institution. Does anyone have any suggestions on staying focused and separating administrative duties?

What should be the steps taken if one warning does not help? Would another warning, removing from class, and then reporting to admin. be good?

In addition to not tolerating drama from younger students or disruptions, they tend to be more rigid in new learning techniques. However, they do try to be open to learning.

How do you use reinforcement with a student who do not have a good grasp of the material even after several week?