Barry Westling

Amy, A good field trip can open eyes, minds, and be very inspirational, even enough to get some students to begin to work harder! Barry Westling

Jon, Great! Web pages, reseach in the library, short media clips (i.e. You-Tube), newspaper or magazine articles. Getting students to find information from these kind of resources helps get them involved in their own learning, and makes learning more fun, engaging, and memorable. Barry Westling

Elizabeth, Integtrating short You-Tube video's into or along with the PPT is great. I have found shorter video's work better. More than a minute or two starts to have students zone out. But adding them helps bring the focus and breaks the static of one slide after another. Barry Westling

Deb, Yes, for classes wher the senses are the focus of the topic, simulating senory loss or limitation can be a great learning tool. And memorable too. Barry Westling

Jon, This is good if there is a serious, ongoing attention or focus problem. More often, students can get distracted and some easy fixes may be circulating around the room, calling on specific students, having students walk up to the board to explain something, or even breaking into discussion groups. This break in the action is often all that is needed to break the "funk" of the moment. Barry Westling

Jon, Right, no surprises. And when a learner knows where thy stand, they can make better choices about how to make needed improvements or continued progress. Barry Westling

Paulette, Sadly, that's true (blame game). Some students are quick to point to all the other people and reasons why they were less than successful rather than point their fingers at themselves (the real culprit). I think adult learners especially want (and deserve) to have current grade information provided or available in order for them to make the needed adjustments, or at least be open to suggestions for improvement. Then, it's up to them to follow through. Barry Westling

Paulette, Right, that can have a direct impact on the outcome. Related to that is not having enough, or even less wonderful is too much material to be presented in a given setting. Barry Westling

Paulette, My take on student centered learning is the instructor needs to willing to modify or adjust their pre-planned activities if there are special student needs or attention needed to get the point acoss. It can be a challenge if there is fixed time limits. Peer instruction (student to student) certainly can be a part of student centered learning. Barry Westling

William, Yes, we need to be good role models and practice what we preach. I think respect may come with some students, but preparation is required even if the students don't appreciate the time and effort needed to provide good instruction. We have to do our part, the students have to do theirs. Barry Westling