Barry Westling

Ben, It would seem that the culinary specialty would lend itself particulary well to senses. Touch (hot and cold, texture), visual (creamy, lumpy, over/under cooked), etc. Actually, many of these senses could be applied to other classes as well. Sensory stimulation, although mostly cognitive and visual, is a primary way students lean. Kinethetic activities, along with teaching others and problem solving (critical thinking) also contribute greatly to students effectiveness, both in class, and as graduates in the workforce. Barry Westling

Theresa, I imagine there are many specialty areas in nursing that students would be fascinated by having an expert come in and elaborate on some aspect of their area of expertise. I agree too, that student really enjoy a good guest speaker. It breaks up the routine, generates interests, motivates, and may even inspire students to do better in class as the result of the presentation. Barry Westling

Dale, Yeah, I liken this to a journey. First, we need to know where we're headed. Along the way, we need feedback as to how close we are coming to arriving at our destination on time. So, in the classroom setting, the more frequent, accurate, and sincere we make our status discussions with students, the better they will understand where they are at in achieving their goal. Barry Westling

Dale, Right on all three points! In fact, a good way to design a pretest is to use the course objectives as a guide. The last point is important too. Students can get extemely motimated by redoing a pretest (I guess it would be a post-test) at the end of the course to see their improvement. That's been my experience. Barry Westling

Dale, Great! What you're doing is stimulating their interest. This can be done with non-lab activities as well. I will often begin my presentation with a question, an interesting fact, or an unusual situation. This piques the students interest, and they're all ears! Once you have them hooked, the remainder of the presentation goes a lot smoother. Barry Westling

Jason, I see. And I agree that the teacher who basically tells "war stories" at the expense of planned curriculum is wasting everyones time. It may show a lack of planning, and may result in diminshed respect for the teacher too. Really, too much of anything (educational strategies) is going to get tiresome rather quickly. Thanks for your commentary and clarification. Barry Westling

Jason, Nice sentiments. For me., I have to recognize that there are areas that I will always need to improve on , but I lean on areas I know our my strengths. For all of us, we have to accept we are who we are. But having a recognition of, and a willingness to make an effort towards continuous quality improvement will produce the "better tyeacher" in all of us. Barry Westling

Julie, These are good strategies. It is really difficult for some students who take night classes to stay fully engaged the whole time. I think a real key to keeping them engaged is to keep their interest by reminding them "what's in it for me". Relating what needs to be learned against a backdrop of how it relates to the workforce is usally successful in keeping interest. More generally, if folks are tired, timing frequent short breaks and varying the activities usually help keep students on task. Barry Westling

Julie, Sure, when we provide segments of instruction, we know that's just part of the picture. It's great when we can continuously reference the big picture, and liken it the current topic to how that will be applicable to the time when the student is employed. Barry Westling

Marlene, Reviewing test results is always a good idea. Evaluation systems in general should be designed in such a way that the most important topics or assignments get the most weight. We want to make sure we are focused on learning, not points and grades. Barry Westling