Suzie Goodenough-Lawson

I read a study that it is important for todays online active learning gaming generation that media formats need to have hyperlinks and power points must have color, animation, graphs, statistics,movement and sound to capture and keep their attention.

I definitely feel that structure and design are even more important for online courses. I taught an online class for students new to online courses and one of the challenges was to keep them engaged and interacting. I believe a Question and Answer format assists greatly with keeping students focused and on track and so distractions don't interrupt the learning environment.

I taught some online courses where we played games such as treasure hunt research games in Medical Terminology that created a fun interactive environment which I feel greatly enhanced the online learning activity environment.

I have experienced what a difference in quality an interactive online course versus asynchronous discussion forums. I feel that the asynchronous discussions create a lack of interaction that can negatively affect students engagement level. I took online classes that I felt left out from lack of interaction. I will keep this in mind when designing my online classes.

At our trade vocational school we utilize mixed media formats to enhance our power point lectures to better serve our auditory, visual and kinesthetic learners needs.

To practice problem solving skills in the classroom/clinic/lab environment we use case studies very much like the House M.D. t.v. series. Students are presented with a clents condition and must explore which technique will be best to benefit their clients.

Our students must find balance between the different types of intelligence to be successful in the natural health environment they will be working in. I have found that our clinic/lab environment is the perfect forum to teach these skills. Some students naturally have more emotional intelligence innately and by being mentored by other students and intructors they are able to mirror the emotional intelligence it will require to be succesful with clients and the community.

Our program is accelerated and intensive requiring the students to become quickly proficient at application of techniques. Our students work in a clinic environment to be able to practice their reasoning skills to determine which techniques they will employ for the benefit of their clients. I believe this workshop/lab type of environment provides the perfect format to practice the skill of reason and outcomes possible.

I am an instructor at a trade vocational college and have found immense benefit of employing the critical thinking style of question format in lectures. The students become more engaged in the lecture and are better prepared to process logical outcomes of why the material being covered is important to them and their clients benefit wise.

For Kinesthetic courses such as Anatomy/Physiology I have found the use of case studies as a great way to enhance both analytical and critical thinking skills.