Knowing your population
Knowing your class make up allows you to be sensitive to issues that may effect one more than it would another group. What are your feeling on this issue.
Hi Robert:
I think if students sense you really care about their education and success, they will tend to be loyal, committed learners. Not that there are any guarantees, but if your students feel you're just there for the job or paycheck, they may reflect that attitude with mediocre performance.
Regards, Barry
I agree with Barry 100%. If the instructor has a "I've got to be here attitude" the students will pick up on it in seconds and this will set the stage for the entire learning and length of the class. Performance will definately be effected and student feed back will be negative. As a caring instructor it is our professional obligation to get the learning information into their heads.
Hi Keith:
Yeah, I think the more human and natural the students sense about the instructor the more open they will be to instructional process.
Regards, Barry
I agree. Knowing who my students are, based on study and demographics. The online students are not the same as those at a brick & mortar 4 year college. They have many outside repsonsibilities and committments so they are attentive and focused on learning. They want the most, best info clearly and concisely. This is one of the reasons I focus on the assignments as 'springboards' for my lectures. Sue
Hi Susan:
Bigger classes make it more difficult, but still, I try to get to know my students and realte to them as natural and personal as applicable. Not eveyone one wants to get too personal, and I can appreciate that. But I think everyone can relate and respect common courtesy, fairness, and sincerity in the classroom.
Regards, Barry
The best part about knowing your students is using that to see what they can contribute to your class - and share with others.
Hi Kassy:
Good point. I have found that some undetected students turn out to have many good ideas and end up providing great contributions to my classes.
Regards, Barry
It is very important to know they audience whenever delivering any presentation in order to meet their learning needs.
Hi Annarose:
Yes it's important. How do we get that information? New classes can have warm up or ice-breakers that tell something about class members. And students usually like these fun activities. We can also create and use a brief questionnare.
One tip is once there is something I know about individual students, I try to integrate that information into my lessons as frequently as possible. This personalizes the instruction, makes for a more memorable lesson, and often, makes some topics easier to relate to if they can think about some concept or technical point in a more relatable manner.
Regards, Barry
