Barry Westling

Hi Anthony: I think well prepared courses will have student learning outcomes, course descriptions and objectives, and maybe a listing of the resources needed. From there, it's up to the teacher to find creative ways to present the material. The main thing is to ensure that students learn the material and I'm sure there are a hundred and one ways to go about that. Keeping it interesting, challenging, and informatative should give the tescher enough motivation to fill all the missing parts. Facilitating the students learning can just as effective as providing the material. In most cases, students who are… >>>

Hi Julie: Establishing a fair and accurate grading system takes some thought and consideration. It's true, more weight should be given to more difficult assignments. In some ways, it's a balancing act because not all students learn or test well in the same way. So, I try to plan for fairness, and a collection of grading criteria that, in the end, truely measures student learning, in a way that can be justified and objective. I want students to earn the grade they've earned, but just as import, regardless of thye grade, my focus is on the instructional strategies and learning… >>>

Hi Chris: I can see that a few extra points is probably not going to make a big difference. I like the competion among classmates. Great idea! What I believe is teaching is not about points or grades, but learning and imparting expert knowledge to my students. Personally, I don't give extra credit. But I do try to be creative, have fun, make class interesting, and bring out the unique personalities hidden in each student. A key trait: be natural, genuine, honest, be yourself. Students will appreciate all your efforts more when they recognize you being you, and usually, students… >>>

Hi Chris: Students lose interest and need some reengaging for several reasons: tired, bored, not interested, lost their attention, can see no benefit to them (WIIFM, if you know that that is; "what's in it for me?"). If we can identify what the primary cause might be, then we have a clue about how to deal with it. One thing I think works effectively most of the time is sharing a personal experience or telling a story. People like stories, maybe because they can relate to the situation or characters , or I don't really know, but stories always work.… >>>