Barry Westling

Ob, Right. To plan accurately we need to have some idea of the students prior knowledge. Barry Westling

Ob, I agree. I think two other factors are very importatant: professional attitude, and crtitical thinking. If we iunleash our graduates with these they will be well prepared for the world of work. Barry Westling

Ob, Also, they need to feel their instructor is taking the course seriously, has expectations, and is prepared to deliver consistently superior lessons. Barry Westling

Novella, I think the more we can share grade information, the better the student will understand where they're at in the course. I also find that this is a great opportunity to offer support and encouragement, while giving advice, suggestions, and assistance for achieving better than average student outcomes. Barry Westling

Novella, I sometimes say "taliking is not teaching". My meaning in this post is that there is a mistaken notion that if we say everything that is stated as course objectives we will have done our job in teaching students. Boy, what a mistake that is. To get students to learn requires effort, time, planning, lots of variety, trial and error, patience, and a willingness to be flexible and a tolerence for students who require more time and attention to learn what'[s required. Barry Westling

Novella, Right, there is so much good media to choose from these days we have to be selective in what we choose to make sure what we give hits the mark every time. Some material may be OK, but if something better exists, we should be looking for that. I feel ouir time (and the students) is so valuable, using something that is "just OK" may have impact on successful student learning outcomes. Barry Westling

Novella, You're right, we tend to gravitate to what we're comfortable with and to some extend, shy away from what we know we need work on. Yet experienced instructors know that once we identify a weaker area, that gives us the opportunity to begin to chip away at the barrier and work towards making the weak area one of our strongest. My observation is that this is an ongoing, ever-constant need for effective instruction. Barry Westling

Novella, This is a great way to involve past graduates and inspire your future ones. There's something about "former student-to-current student" discussion that makes for interesting and effective classes and usually creates lots of pertinent questions and sharing a unique work perspective that students would not ordinarily receive from their instructor, or most any other resource on campus. Barry Westling

Kevin, This is a perfect opportunity, when we know little about students prior knowledge. I look at the course objectives, select between 15 to 20 questions that I'd expect these students to know when they were through with my class, and see how many are fairly clear on some of the material. Greater emphasis can be given in the class to needed instruction, and less emphasis to areas students are already familiar with. I also don't grade the test. Therefore, students are more willing to try their best if they know their performance won't affect their grade. Barry Westling

Kevin, Of course, our students must be job ready, with the skills and knowledge, along with the attitude that accompanies a professional worker. Barry Westling