Jeff Stephens

Good suggestions on managing challenging students

Provide a welcoming personalized environment to students encouraging buy in day 1. Set standards within the syllabus, be available for group and individual feed-back, and assure them you are there to guide them in achieving their professional goals.  

Protecting students' information/records is an important mandate for faculty. Ensuring confidentiality builds trust. 

Motivating students can be difficult when content seems overwhelming. I try to make the information relevant and practical by providing life experiences. I will use additional reinforcement by providing timely feedback to motivate student learning.   

Developing student rapport is key to buy-in, and using alternative methods like small group participation keeps learning fresh. 

Enthusiasm, personal attention, providing feedback, and respect lead to an environment that promotes active learning. 

Its important to identify student demographics i.e., age, culture, disabilities, etc... and tailor learning to meet their needs fostering success.   

Delivery of course content successfully, requires that the instructor consider learning styles of the audience and use a variety of pedagogy. 

Meeting students for the first time can be intimidating for both parties. By employing strategies that make you human and approachable set the stage for collaborative learning environment. This allows the student to 'buy in' to the information presented and accept the knowledge as an integral part of their career goals.

Course preparation is integral to student learning. It gives students and the instructor a clear picture of course objectives, student learning outcomes, logical progression of content, and insight into application.