For the past several semesters I’ve have had students in my border community college classes who are part of our grant-funded migrant student program, known as CAMP. These students are usually first-generation college students. Their parents work in the fields from dawn until dusk, and
Unfortunately, all too often performance on the first exam predicts performance throughout the course, especially for those students who do poorly on the first test. Faculty and institutions provide an array of supports for these students, including review sessions, time with tutors, more practice problems,
For the past couple of years I have been using some technologies that require setup before the class starts and have found that the setup interferes with my ability to converse with students before and after class.
A recent and excellent article that proposes a model for “building teams that learn” recommends that teachers have students develop a team charter early in their interaction. “Completing a team charter encourages team members to set goals and discuss how they will work together; it
Most teachers love teaching metaphors—the teacher as guide, as coach, as gardener, as maestro in front of the orchestra. At some point in our careers most of us have been asked to pick or create a metaphor that captures how we view the teacher’s role.
Students nowadays can be pretty demanding about wanting the teacher’s PowerPoints, lecture notes, and other written forms of the content presented in class. And a lot of teachers are supplying those, in part trying to be responsive to students but also because many students now
The concept of universal design for learning (UDL) was initially developed in order to provide equal access to learning opportunities for students in face-to-face courses. It has since been adapted for many learning situations, including online courses. However, there is still a widespread perception that
Adult students in particular want instructors to show their humanity, because they view instructors more as colleagues and coinvestigators than as the “sage on the stage.” This is why it is critical to establish a rapport with students right at the beginning of your online
When Sheri Litt became dean of arts and sciences at Florida State College’s Open Campus, one of her priorities was to address the issue of online learner satisfaction and success. “We started looking at the data,” Litt says. “We looked at students’ comments on surveys
Many of us instructors take it for granted that students know how to read for understanding, but I find that this is not necessarily the case. In order to lessen their anxiety and make class readings less intimidating, a few years ago I put together
