Jeanne Green

The power of the written word can be more relational when using positive language (so word choices) to get that humanistic or affective component with feelings within the message. This invites a sense of belonging among the group, establishing better rapport, trust and overall more motivating to learn so would help to improve retention rates as well.

Technology will continue to evolve, so as educators and administrators, one must learn new ways to effectively use it for solid communication and to make those personal connections with others. I have learned so many different, new technology resources in the past 8-10 years, it gets overwhelming as to what would be the best fit for my courses as "too many" different formats can be "too many" within a curriculum design.

Technology has changed the way curriculums are designed and the way in which educators teach and in which students learn. Online learning is not for all students, but may be used as a quick, efficient way to learn while working full time, seeking an advance, promotion, etc. so may not be engaged fully in what is required with online learning due to both internal and external motivators or barriers. Plagiarism is an issue that constantly arises for me in online courses even with the Turnitin program as students 'copy' more than in prior years so educating on research and proper… >>>

Building relationships with students requires many skills as the different genarations of learners have different expectations when it comes to being engaged, feeling that they belong at the university and how they learn, so also considering the culture of the organization weighs heavy on the retention process. Retention is a 360 degree process involving all in the educational setting :-)

Communication is part of 'soft people' skills that sometimes get overlooked with more favor on content, concepts or skills. However, those soft people skils are what influences quality, efficiency, critical thinking to resolve problems and influences decision making so a win-win skill to have with being successful in what you do on the job and in life :-)

It helps to emphasize the importance of the overall curriculum design with how educators are setting up the framework with how learning can be enhanced by building in flexibility to meet the diverse learning needs of the students while working at their own pace. As with words of wisdom from Penn Foster with curriculum design = learning concepts, the practicing those concepts, then applying a working knowledge of those concepts for more active learning :-)

Great points through validation with teaching strategies with using Simulation [with patient care scenarios] that I apply with my clinical nursing students. I stress it is not just about their selected 'action' during the SIM, but to also share the 'why' or reasoning behind what they are doing (or missed doing/implementing) while the scenario was unfolding in real time with real life like experiences so a need to 'think on their feet' while collaborating with other students. Collective knowledge is power :-) I often add in 'complications' for the SIM patient so the students need to reflect, analyze, think and… >>>

Students will be more engaged, motivated and inspired to learn when they can develop reasoning skills to understand how it is relevant to their field of work so it has value with learning it. A good tip to share with students [the most common mistake in problem solving is trying to find the solution right away] so no processing of potential outcomes so one needs to see verify the logic with each step of problem solving and decision making :-) Asking 'why' and scaffolding the concepts is great teaching strategy.

Many options and resources for online labs, many which were 'new' to me as I'm used to skills lab and utilized several of the techniques mentioned and also human patient simulation for nursing courses. The rest were interesting as to the possibilities of what could be incorporated into the design of the course when labs are part of the required learning outcomes. Thanks for that information, a wealth of knowledge there ;-)

Lab learning can be effective with the right design with allowing for creativity. Using small 'chunks' of content, providing examples of quality work can open the doors to better learning and retention.  As a faculty teaching, there are so many different technologies ith digital software that I would need to take training sessions on how to use some of them as I was not familiar with several of those identified in this section of the course. Students who self-paced with completing learning activities may run into time management issues (and many do) if there are not a set of expectations… >>>