Issue link: http://ncumarketing.uberflip.com/i/740850
Valerie Glass, PhD Full-Time Foundations Faculty, Department of Marriage and Family Sciences Working in an online environment, I have found it is really essential for me to remember details about each of my students. I am not seeing their faces every day, so finding a technique that helps me connect names to details has been essential for me. This helps me in several ways. First, it helps me individualize my teaching during the course. Second, it helps later when I may receive them as students again or if they request recommendation letters. Third, it helps me connect my students' learning goals with their professional goals. I have developed an excel spreadsheet where I generated columns where I can take notes on different elements of students' personalities, backgrounds, experiences, and academic strengths Teaching Tips - Engaging Students Mindi Mull, PhD Associate Director of Faculty Support and Development, SSBS As Kristopher and Valerie so thoughtfully discussed, engaging students is critical for student learning, and it's simply more rewarding as a teacher! I think one of the biggest barriers can be a student's hesitancy to engage – to ask the question, make the phone call, etc. I think the welcome letter can play a pivotal role in breaking down this barrier. While we are expected to include a lot of information about certain policies and procedures in our welcome letters, starting the letter off with a warm and engaging message is really important. Share your enthusiasm for the course, discuss what students can expect to learn, let students know a little about you. Read through your welcome letters and ask yourself, "Would I feel welcomed and excited about this course after reading this letter?" If not, then add some of your personality. Once students acknowledge there's a real person guiding them through their course (not just a computer), and they feel connected to that person, they are more likely to schedule that welcome call, reach out for help if they need it, and appreciate the feedback you provide. and weaknesses. I ask students in my welcome letter to send me a picture of themselves that I can put into this excel sheet. I receive pictures that really reflect students' personalities (pictures with their dog, their families, at their favorite vacation spot, etc.). I will go to this sheet if they mention significant personal details or professional goals in our face-to-face meetings or in papers. I might enter areas of growth, if the student indicates that, and I note any challenges they are facing in the course. Finally, if the student really blows me away in an assignment, I will make a note of that and a couple details, so I remember the assignment. I have noticed that if I put a note in there about a student struggling, I can track their progress and refer to that in future work (i.e., "I see that you have been working hard on your APA formatting"). The extra couple of minutes that I put into this has really made a major difference for me. I will have previous students call me and say "I don't know if you remember me, but…" I will look up their name, see their picture, a couple details, and I remember quickly my connection with them.