The problem with SOME guest speakers
I am fortunate in the sense that I teach video game development. Fortunate that I work in an industry that is fun and interesting for the students (well ok... for me too).
But the time I tried a guest lecturer ran into a bit of a snag for me. The friend that I had log in happened to be the "hero" of the gaming world for some of the students and it was very tough for me to hold them back from sounding like Chris Farley on SNL asking them things like:
"Hey ... remember that game ? Yeah that was cool"
To prevent issues like this the instructor should post the rules of engagement for the guest lecture. One of the rules can be all questions must be related to the learning objectives of the lesson. If the expectations are provided upfront, the inappropriate questions can be greatly curtailed or eliminated.
Julie
Julie,
Great point, the trick is keeping the focus relevant to the class and not getting too far off point.
Best,
Jon
I think this is a good suggestion. I might build on it to alleviate the students' natural desire to connect with a hero, but explaining that when our academic discussion has concluded, students will be given the opportunity to ask the guest lecturer other types of questions. I think this may prevent some of the wandering, but it would certainly require testing to see if it works.
Since I am fairly new to online teaching, I hadn't thought about using a guest lecturer. I believe this is an excellent way to add variety to the online classroom. Great suggestion, thank you!
Lyn,
This is a great suggestion and one that students do appreciate! Give this a try!!
Shelly Crider
