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.
It’s important that students have a good understanding of what they’re doing in the classroom and how it can be applied to working in the field. I’ve also learned that it is necessary to establish firm boundaries with certain policies to avoid losing control of the classroom.
I need to get better about ice breakers. I also need to clarify my late policy on missing assignments.
Use things to get the students engaged and comfortable in the classroom and with each other.
Setting the expectations so students know EXACTLY what is expected of them. This is made clearly on the first day of class. However it is important to remind people throughout the quarter of dates and time of assignments that are due. Some students are more invested in their education than others.
I have learned from experience people always remember how you made them feel rather what you really did for them to help. As nurses we are conditioned to always jump to help first but It is very important usually during first meeting with student opening the opportunity for communication and try to find out some information about themselves , this also helps me to kind of understand about what they like and interest them. When new topic is introduced finding something to talk about as ice breaker to engage them also is important.
The structure of creating a course syllabus is a great guide for students to follow through out the course.
I like the idea of setting the expectations early and having them in the syllabus. There has to be a way for the students to know how to succeed in each class that they take. Everyone wants to be successful and the instructor can make that possible with clear guidelines and expectations.
Setting the tone for the class by doing ice breakers, setting clear expectations, and showing students who you are as their instructor are all helpful as students try to figure out what's in it for me? That first day is the most crucial day because it can make or break the rest of the term. Showing students what and how and where and when are all crucial to student success.
Ice breakers are good to find out what your students are like with their responses. You learn a lot by listening.
I always work on teambuilding strategies at the beginning of the course. I learned to utilize more colorful illustrations of the most important content in the syllabus. I will apply this in my course.
I will revise our syllabus and add the late assignment rule
Ice breaker are good way for students to open up
It is imperative that the course objectives and learning expectations are presented to the students. Moreover, the instructors' methodology for evaluating students' progress (cognitive and technical skills) should also be included. This is to make students at ease and less anxious at the beginning of the class/clinical.
Use an icebreaker in the first class to ease students anxiety and help them feel more comfortable around each other. It is also a good idea to have a set time limit for turning in assignments, that is clear and gives boundaries to how late they can be, and what the cost for those late assignments will be depending on the time.
Setting the syllabus apart to grab the attention of the students. Enjoyed the ideas of psychomotor activity. Making sure students are aware from day one what they can expect to learn and late/missed assignment policy.
Preparation and constant communication
Comment on Shelley Freshman's post: Shelley - I really appreciate your idea for an icebreaker. Encouraging each student to introduce themselves to someone new no doubt sets the tone going forward for the class to interact in a more positive and collaborative way. Great idea!
Providing all essential information and expectations to students on the first day of class is beneficial to the students and limits problems for the instructors.
I find this material very useful. I sometimes struggle with the syllabus information. My courses are built for me, so I am responsible for delivering the material and making it meaningful to my students. However, the syllabus comes pre-made as well. It does not contain any due dates and directs the students to the academic catalog for late policies. At the beginning of my term, I asked if I could edit the syllabus, and the response I got was "It's pretty comprehensive, but here you go." I don't see how a syllabus that doesn't have an accurate timeline is comprehensive. I've created my own presentation and I deliver it at the beginning of every term. I even post the presentation so all my students have access to it. Still, my students rarely pay attention and usually have questions about due dates, lab dates, and exam dates all term.
