This segment discussed several important subjects, among them that much of the learning process depends on the abilities of the Instructor to make the content interesting, fun, factual, and relative to the modern world. Keeping the ideas and discussions flowing is a big challenge to Instructors, and I feel that this comes best with years of teaching experience and mastery of the subject, which seems to be forever changing! In my own online classes, I generally have a wide spectrum of ages and learning abilities. Understanding group dynamics is thus very important in order to maintain student interest. Material has to be tailored in order to arouse curiosity, one of the greatest gifts that humans have. I usually like to begin a class session with a new vocab word that is germane to the topic, and use it in sentences and refer to it as the class unfolds. Inasmuch as most of my business students do not read a business newspaper (like the Wall Street Journal) or a magazine (like Bloomberg or Forbes), I also like to give, at the outset of a class, a quick summary of the latest business events, and ask everyone to briefly comment why this or that is important and will affect their lives. Another motivational technique I use is to render a business problem that they can solve. I give them the particulars of the problem - such as a Marketing issue - but not the answer. Sometimes I let them work in groups to solve it. Another device I use is to bring a current event article about some important business event or issue to the Board for open discussion - such as how COVID-19 is greatly affecting small businesses. Lastly, on occasion, I show the class a thought-provoking video from PBS Frontline, such as learning about the life of Nelson Mandela for my Leadership course.
