Barry Westling

David, Sure, many instructors do use pretesting as a motivator in the way and for the reason you describe. Some think pretests have to be comprehensive, long, and all inclusive. Not necessarily the case. I have done pretesting by selecting a couple of key course objectives and then came up with 10 questions for students to answer. And I don't grade pretests, which I think allows the student more opportunity to try to answer questions correctly. Barry Westling

David, I agree. I think there's a difference berween role playing and role modeling, the latter which is very important. I also think there are traits every instructor could demonstrate regardless of course, profession or personality. Among them are patience, good sense of humor, being approachable, good listener, being fair to all, and kind and caring in all student interactions. Barry Westling

Kathy, I think there are many differing opinions about extra credit. In general, I feel if there is information I want students to know, then it should be required information, and not assessed as extra credit (which suggests "optional"). For me, I choose not to give it. However, I understand each instructor and institution has to deicide what works best for them. Barry Westling

Tricia, Extra credit is really about grades and points, and little to do (in most cases) with learning. Barry Westling

Kathy, You know, in medicine, having a baseline when the patient was healthy, and then being able to refer to it later on is wonderful information. I think the same principle applies with pretesting. Barry Westling

Kathy, I agree we can set the mood. It is also true that sometimes students arrive in a "funk" and regardless of the enthusiasm shown by the instructor, the students just ar'nt there or engaged. That's when I will do a change up - a different activity to get students up, moving around, involved and interacting. Someehow, keeping busy through involvement helps break the funk and class time is not wasted that day. Barry Westling

Kathy, Yep. We have one chance to make that good first impression. Students want and expect their instructors to be role models, and even if they totally care for the class they're taking, they desire guidelines and expectations to know what is acceptable, especially if they have had, or will have different instructors (with different guidelines). Barry Westling

Tricia, Yes, there is nothing wrong in letting students see that their instructor are normal, human, and subject to errors. I think being able to have a good sense of humor about it also goes to reinforcing authenticity. Most people appreciate when others are real, honest, and forthright. It builds trust and respect too. Barry Westling

Diana, Yes, frequent status updates allow corrections and improvements in a timely manner. Waiting too long may not leave enogh time for correction to occur. Also, we can encourage and offer suggestions for improvement, and this tends to show the students their instructor cares about their success. Barry Westling

Diana, Great. They call something like that "chunking", where the instructor will provide say, 15-20 minutes of one activity, then switch to another, and another, and another. This makes it seem that time flys by, the students rarely get bored, we keep their attention, and more information is retained because the students have remained focused the whole period. Barry Westling