New faculty

PURPOSE


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Provide an overview of various resources available to you and important tips to help you achieve your full potential as you begin your journey as a new GCU instructor.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Identify preparation tasks to be completed before course(s) begin
• Examine teaching methods and planning strategies to prepare for classroom instruction
• Interpret how to plan and create activities for your course
• Understand how to balance life and work responsibilities

courses to begin

Untitled Slide

How do you want them to learn the content and reach the course competencies?
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What teaching methods will you use for the students to effectively learn the content?

Decide which engaging activities may be useful for each of the lessons, chapters, etc
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Plan lectures (verbal or written) to be short and to the point keep it to about 20 minutes and add an activity

Develop some activities (if possible group activities) or assess their knowledge activities or polls to help students retain content

A short lesson video using Powtoon or Tellagami to review particular concepts (good for online and ground instruction)

Ending the class with a muddiest point activity to assess whether students are grasping the content at the end of each class period

Muddiest Point Benefits

• Students complete a paper or card to answer questions about the day's lessons
• For large classes, break students up into groups to discuss the muddiest points, submit to the instructor at the end of class
• Assists in course planning and corrects any misconceptions
• Should be done every 2 to 3 meetings to avoid routine

Example Questions
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What has been the “muddiest” point so far in this session? That is, what topic remains the least clear to you?
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"What was the most important point in the lecture? (also called One Minute Paper)"
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"What would you like to hear more about?"
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"I was surprised to learn . . " and ask students to complete the sentence

Encourage students to answer 4-8 questions about a lesson or reading before the next to class to prepare them for next classes discussion (ground classes)
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-Assign questions from lesson or discussion generating questions
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-Have students bring their answers to class
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-Discuss the questions at the beginning of class

Create cloze notes handouts or have students use collaboration software...
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-follow along with lecture or video lesson by having them fill in the blanks
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-creates a paper or virtual notebook, such as Google Docs
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-add text from your slide presentation or video content or create review worksheet to follow or complete

10 Tech tools

Popplet

nearpod

haiku Deck

Powtoon

Plickers

Thinglink

Tellagami

Kahoot!

Cloze notes

tour builder

Extra Tech tools and Resources

• GCU Center for Innovation Research and Learning webpage
• Participate in the CIRT All faculty forum
• Sign up for the Teaching Professor Newsletter
• Sign up for Faculty Focus Newsletter
• Visit the CIRT Faculty Resource Center (also found in your LoudCloud “Course” and “Resources” tab

So remember...

• Know and understand the content of your course
• Review your goals for student learning experiences
• Plan short lecture sessions and incorporate activities to enhance curriculum delivery in a face to face format

....and

• Access and participate in faculty training offerings and resources
• Explore technology activities to develop engaging lessons from the set curriculum
• Prepare your announcements to include classroom policies and guidelines

The first day of class

-FILL IN THE BLANK ON YOUR CLOZE NOTES HANDOUT

to do

Arrive early, start on time, and end on time

For Face to Face (Ground) Instructors it allows you to:

For online instructors

• Send out a welcome letter email to introduce your course
• Communicate your enthusiasm for the course topic
• Create a video introduction of your course using a free technology video software

Plan your time in the classroom

Provides an outline of the content to be covered each class meeting

Follow and remain focused on the objectives
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Go with the flow of the class
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See where the students need further guidance

Let it go if you cannot get to everything

If you paid attention to your students and their learning, do not feel guilty for not covering every objective that day

Takes a few tries to orchestrate timing for tasks, lecture, and activities
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Example: A lecture, activity, and an assessment may take the whole class time or very little of class time depending upon the concepts covered for the lesson

Class time frame and tasks needed to be covered:

Provide a Welcoming Environment

For ground classes
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Greet the students casually when the walk in the door with a casual hello or good morning/afternoon

Share Information about yourself
...

-Educational
...
-Background
...
-Enthusiasm

Use Loud Cloud wall

• Share a link to a short video to introduce yourself -Photopeach or Animoto
• Add a paragraph about your educational background and your knowledge of the course

Icebreaker Activities

Examples
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Alliteration Introduction improv game

Photopeach or Animoto for online instruction

breaking the Ice

Syllabus presentation needs to be focused

Make a unique slideshow
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Develop a group activity for the syllabus

Helps students comprehend
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-Policies and rules
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-Academic responsibilities
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-Consequences of not attending class and/or not completing assignments
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-Scholastic dishonesty
...
-Office hours

Be prepared to answer student questions and guide students

Respond to all student inquiries within 24 hours

Guide Them

Student resources on campus, such as...
-Tutoring
-Accommodation resources
-Location of the buildings
...
Have some printed maps available and the interactive map open

Know your content for the course

If you Do not have answers to a question....

• Note the question
• Tell the student you will find the answer
• Respond in the Individual Forum with the answer to their question(s)
• Always find the answers

Indicate that you are available after class...

Always demonstrate confidence and passion in your teaching

Practice and make sure you have a good understanding of the course content before teaching

Consider the thoughts of your students and their ideas...
...
-Students may have not seen the content
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-Be ready to answer questions

If you finish all objectives early you may...

-Have an extra activity idea available to review what they learned that day
...
-Preview what they will be learning in the next class

Keep a schedule and list of tools for each class

• Summarize and make connections between your lesson materials
• Present or lecture focused material for short periods of time
• Activities must coordinate with the lesson learning objectives
• Prepare 1/2 hr to 2 hours to focus on your goals and student objectives

Establish relevance through...
...
Applying course content to real life situations, other subject disciplines, and careers or employment
...
Indicate how important it is to learn material because they can use material for a future course or career goal

Not to do

Providing personal information about yourself...
-Your relationship status
-Never indicate you just began teaching

Do...

• Share educational background and share your great personality
• Provide your email address and contact phone number in LoudCloud profile
• If you do not want to share your personal number, sign up for a Google Voice number to give to your students

Teaching the same way all the time, each class has their own “personality.”
...
Just lecturing and asking questions from the curriculum
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Provides a linear learning experience that fails to provide variety

Do...

• Try new strategies for teaching lessons
• Incorporate a variety of facilitation techniques
• If the current activity is not working, utilize another activity for a lesson
• Students who appear bored or not engaged in the learning method may need another method for learning the material

Avoid answering your own questions because of silent students

do

• Wait about 5-10 seconds after asking a question to see who will answer
• Rephrase your questions
• Utilize polling or assessment game software to engage the students in a challenge or game to mix up the review
• Incorporate a group activity or presentation that drives the class discussion

Avoid complaining about students behavior
...
Focusing on the negative takes away from the remaining students learning experience

do

• Focus on the positive aspects of your class, such as the students that are excelling and growing in the class
• Listen more and talk less about negative situations

Being insensitive or disrespectful to students

do

• Be kind and helpful in any situation
• Make sure you emphasize that you want them to succeed in the class with a “Good job” type of praise report in feedback notes or in-person

So remember...

• Organize your time effectively by planning instruction
• Develop relationships and establish a rapport with students through organization and time management
• Focus on establishing relevancy and excitement for the course content to motivate students

....and

• Incorporate activities and utilize a variety of teaching strategies to support student retention
• Become knowledgeable in campus resources and policies
• Demonstrate competency in instruction by knowing your course content, following objectives, and managing your time in the classroom

Time outside the Classroom

Organize your weeks strategically between...

Plan a schedule now and stick to it!

If you do not write down or type up a schedule, you will have difficulty planning your time

Plan lecture and activities for class two weeks ahead of time at minimum

Work-life balancing

Make sure you set up a realistic schedule that meets your needs and the students

Organize responsibilities effectively...

Enjoy your personal time with family and friends without any guilt

Avoid Procrastination

Do a little each day rather than grading and planning classes all at the same time

One recommendation is to grade early submissions on the due date

So remember...

• Plan your schedule and stick to it
• Organize the details of your responsibilities and goals for your students
• Balance your life and work relationship by developing a realistic schedule or timeline

....and

• Take time to enjoy personal time without feeling guilty
• Try to do a little each day, so work does not pile up

Kahoot! Game

Design Your Own Priority checklist

• Explore and use one of the technologies listed on your 10 tech tools handout
• Create your own priority checklist or mind map or video discussing at least three methods we discussed today.
• How will might you use technology for your class? Share with the group what you learned and your experience with the technology

Any Questions?

references

Anderson, D. M., McGuire, F. A., & Cory, L. (2011). The first day: It happens only once. Teaching in Higher Education, 16(3), 293-303. Davis, Barbara Gross. Tools for Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993.
Cuseo, J. (2010). Teaching & preparing others to teach the first-year seminar [Lecture notes].
Foster, D. A., & Hermann, A. D. (2011). Linking the first week of class to end-of-term satisfaction: Using a reciprocal interview activity to create an active and comfortable classroom. College Teaching, 59(3), 111-116.
Henslee, A., Burgess, D., & Buskist, W. (2006). Student preferences for first day of class activities. Teaching of Psychology, 33(Summer), 189-91. Knefelkamp,L. In Rubin, S. "Professors, Students, and the Syllabus," The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 7,1985.

McCann, L. I. (1999). Student perspectives on the first day of class. Teaching of Psychology, 26(4), 277-79.
McGlynn, A. P. (1996). Classroom atmosphere in college: Improving the Teaching/Learning environment.
McKeachie’s Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers. 12th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005.
Mosteller’, Frederick “The ‘Muddiest Point in the Lecture’ as a Feedback Device,” On Teaching and Learning: The Journal of the Harvard-Danforth Center, Vol. 3, 1989, pp. 10–21.
Nilson, L. B. (2003). Teaching at its best: A research-based resource for college instructors. Bolton, MA: Anker. Perlman, B.

Images: Free Vector graphics sponsored by Haiku Deck and Death to Stock Images