Blog Entry #10

Using Existing Knowledge - Before reading this section in McKeachie, I never realized that instructors find it more difficult to teach introductory courses to students that teaching more advanced courses due to lack of prior knowledge. This totally makes sense. This helped me realize it is important to assess student knowledge in upper level courses early on during the semester. I am going to assess students prior knowledge during the first day of class. This will be considered a "pre-test". The results will help me identify as an instructor what areas to focus on during the semester. At the end of the class, I would like to have students complete a "post-test" to assess learning. Thomas Angelo and Patricia Cross gave excellent examples of how to assess college students. The Background Knowledge Probe is located at: http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/assess-2.htm

Teaching Learning Strategies - McKeachie mentioned that different disciplines have different ways to approach and solve problems. This really hit home to me when I started my PhD Program. The Human Development Program focuses a great deal of attention on the interdisciplinary approaches to Human Development. Many of the courses I have taken had wellness, gerontology, and counseling students. It was interesting how McKeachie was correct when stating that different disciplines have different ways to approach problems. In many graduate level courses within the department, we would do small group activities in which we needed to have at least one wellness, one gerontology, and one counseling student per group. Activities and discussion tended to be interesting and caused me to think outside my "wellness box". I liked the suggestions and am going to consider providing students with anonymous examples of past student's work and explain the "Do's and Don'ts". I also liked the suggestion of providing students with past tests as a review guide. I plan on doing this because if the students do not have a strong understand of the way I test, this could cause a great of anxiety a poor outcome.

Online Lessons - I liked this section in the book due to the fact that I have taught an online course in the past and plan on teaching an occasional online course in the future. Online courses can be a nice option for many students, but can be more of a challenge for certain students. As the book mentioned, some students can have a difficult time meeting commitments, managing time, and keeping students motivated. Tips that I found useful and plan to incorporate in my own teaching include:
Be sure students understand how to use the technology. For example, instructors use BlackBoard differently, and it is important to be sure that students know how to use BlackBoard and what is expected in the course. Do students know how to assess the discussion board, add to the discussion board. Before using the technology offered by the university I am teaching at, I need to be sure students know how to use the features and at the minimum I need to be sure to give good instructions/directions on use.
Time Management - Many students have difficulty with this while taking an online class. I plan on spacing out my assignments so students do not wait until the end to complete large assignments (which could mean feeling overwhelmed and not doing well).
Providing feedback - I need to keep in mind how important it is to provide feedback to students related to assignments and online discussions. This can help students stay motivated and decrease possible anxiety of the students due to uncertainty. An excellent online source on developing an online course is from the University of Michigan. The site describes various tips such as evaluating and designing an online course, delivery, and technology is listed. The site is: http://www.crlt.umich.edu/publinks/CRLT_no18.pdf

Making Ethical Choices - I wanted to list the following reminders so when I go back to my blog, these can be refreshed in my mind.
Autonomy - Am I acting in ways that respect freedom and treat others as autonomous?
Nonmalfeasance - Am I causing harm through either commission or omission?
Beneficence - Do my actions benefit the other person rather than myself?
Justice - Do I treat those for whom I am responsible equitably?
Fidelity - Do I uphold my part of any relationship?
Acting consciously - What are the assumptions on which I base my actions, and are they
valid?