Cara Bianco

Good question! I currently have a colleague whose expectations seem to be shaped around her college/university experience. I was there once myself, but quickly learned that these students definately have roadblocks that I did not in school. The student population is completely different and many of them face more adversity everyday than I have in my lifetime. I think my colleague will soon see the light. Maybe she's a visual learner....lol!

Barbara Feemster

I do believe that faculty members should be involved with their students. We hould let them know that we are human being also. they will begin to take ownership out of the class. This will help ease the minds of the students, and this will increase their wanting to be a part of the class.

Jason Smith

Much of a new message we are getting from our leaders involves that we must not expect our current students to try to be like we were as students. We must embrace many of the new things about a current learning institution, especially since we were probably taught at a place with higher standards and presitge than where we currently teach. Having unrealistic expectations of them will lead to failure.

Lynn Haddad

I agree that faculty members should be involved with their students. The challenge is to do it during class time. My school has a fraternization policy which sets limits on faculty interaction. I would like to see, instead, an emphasis on what we CAN do to connect with students, and not just what our limits should be.

Stephanie Cotton

I agree that student involvement is really important in the classroom. One of the advantages to having students in a career college setting is that most of them bring some other skill to the table. For example in my massage classes I often find student that have been nurses. I try to bring out these skills in discussions and allow them to communicate past knowledge that they may already have about the health profession. This allows the student to feel like they are important and it keeps in the involved and validates their past work experience.

Susan Backofen

Jason,

I agree that the students we often see in class have had a very different educational experience. We need to work with them 'where they are'--but we should also work diligently to help them achieve higher standards. In the work place, they need to perform regardless.

Susan Backofen

Susan Backofen

Stephanie,

Excellent! Glad to hear you are facilitating your students to incorporate their past experiences and share with each other while they learn new skills.

Susan Backofen