James Anderson

Try and make the lesson as active as possible and use a variety of teaching styles to mix it up.  If appropriate use case studies to take to higher levels of learning.

I understand it makes students feel more comfortable if they know some background about the instructor and his background/qualifications.  Plus, students need to get to know each other as well.

When I was helping organize the logistical concerns in a conference in the Air Force, I was told "If you don't have coffee, there will be a riot."  LOL  I understand for learning to take place, the students need to be comfortable.  From a very real point of view, coffee was necessary to have a good conference.    Also, I like the idea of having a checklist and notepad in the classroom.

I joined the professional organization called Association for Talent Development (ATD).  They are the industry leader for instructional designers to further their professional development.  I have not paid too much attention to all the information they put out, but I will now start to look at that material more closely now. 

Understanding all of the resources that are available is a daunting task since there is so much information out there to access.  Knowing where to go to get the correct information is very important.

Audience, Behavior, Condition, degree.  The more specific you can make the objectives, the more clear that will be in what actually needs to be accomplished to reach the goal of the objective.  The student will know exactly what is expected of them.

Plan your work, then work your plan.  Having a solid lesson plan with good pacing will help with being an effective teacher.  Additionally, and especially with adult learners, giving them rationale as to why the lesson is relevant will help with motivation.

It is the responsibility of the instructor to manage his time well and keep the class on track by having a solid lesson plan.  Plus, it is the student's time as well and you don't want to waste their time by being unprepared.

It was good to see the strengths and weaknesses of different types of assessments.  Using negative grading also looks like an interesting tool to help keep students focused on what needs to be done. 

I like the informal knowledge checks that can be performed in the classroom to check for understanding.  At times, the instructor will verbally ask students questions to obtain responses.  This is good for the instructor and to see where they are at and good for the student to hear the correct answer and reinforce learning.