Start each class with a quiz from the book... they'll read it.

don't be afraid to issue a failure for not reading it.

I do!

Likewise, also use a few of the textbook homework problems (verbatim) in their exams. Tell your students in advance that you will do this, but of course don't reveal exactly which problems you will use. I taught chemistry at community colleges for several years, so I know that many students need extra incentive to study the textbook and try the homework. Strange how strongly they resist using the book. I attribute this behavior mainly to two reasons: student laziness, and excessively detailed textbooks (resulting from publishers' greedy habit of publishing new editions too often).

Labyguy is exactly right, start each class with a quiz over the reading...

Good Idea, thanks

My first grade teacher used to give us gold stars.

In college, the only time I ever bothered to read the book was when my grade depended on it. I'd try that route.

If the class meets more than once a week, then, each week, compose a quiz question (or a combination of quiz questions) that requires use of each of the most pertinant sections in that chapter for an open-book weekly quiz, and lecture on the other day(s). Make sure that each such quiz requires more than the available class time to uncover the relevant information to answer said question(s), if starting from "scratch" with each chapter. Then, couple that with closed-book midterms.

Also, I once took a DE1 math class where the tests were graded right-minus-wrong, and there was no partial credit given for any of the questions. Typically, there was ten questions, and the grading scale was the standard 90, 80, 70,... was an A, B, C,... Just to clarify, that meant that when I made one minor mistake in only one of the problems, I got only a maximum of 80 on that quiz. That class had my FULL attention right after the first quiz.... (Yes, that was at a private school...)

Let me clairfy, This is an Air Conditioning Class (Vocational) and most students are of minority culture. It doesn't seem that they have a good background in study habits. I try to make it interesting and present the class in lecture, visually, group discussion, problem solving, etc. Sometimes I think they take this profession just for the money and they think it't going to be easy. I teach controls, Pneumatic and Electronic and the required prerequsites are kind of weak as far as I'm concerned but it's not my call so I have to dumb down as much as I dare to and still present an acceptible program. I don't need this job but I have a need to contribute my education to others and help them if I can. Thanks to all of you for your answers

This is an Air Conditioning Class (Vocational)

That explains alot, when it comes to vocational, hands on practical lesson have always been more interesting than the reading part.

If you could link the hands on part with something that had to be read.

Of course your right and my class is 50% classroom and 50% shop work we have training boards where they learn practical fit, calibrate, and adjust the controls with system simulators.

I recommended that you consider using http://www.SecondLife.com to introduce students to more interactive and engaging style of learning where students are in control of their own learning environments.

Another item to consider is something known as VILOS (Video Interactive Learning Objects). Visit http://www.ivyvilos.com for more info. VILOS have proven critical to student success at Ivy Tech because they present materials in a format that is interactive and interesting. They are made available 24/7 year-round to help students prepare for labs, entrance exams, and skill assessments. They are exceptionally versatile, and may be both streamed online and distributed via CDs, DVDs, iPods and/or mp3 players. Benefits include helping students practice and refine complex skills outside the classroom, giving continuous on-demand access to skill demonstrations on video, and saving on supplies by promoting first-time success on labs, and review lab skills on-demand. Often, adjunct faculty office hours are very limited, and VILOS are therefore valuable for teaching students lab skills. They can repeatedly and consistently teach standardized skill procedures that are compliant with college and board policies.

What are VILOS?

• Demonstrate clear objectives (generally 1 or 2 objectives at a time)
• Very brief (5-10 minutes long)
• Longer shelf life
• Can be used in face-2-face, online, hybrid, two-way video, and Second Life classes
• Interactive
• Can contain built-in quizzes
• Accessible to students 24x7, via CD/DVD, iPods, CATV (cable access television), and multimedia streaming server
• May be viewed repeatedly

Benefit of VILOS

• Improves retention of an objective
• Improves grades and performance on skills assessment
• Appeals to a variety of learning styles
• Excellent for students with disabilities
• Presents challenging topics in a new format
• Engages students, who participate in the development process
• Available to students 24/7!!
• Increased instructor availability (particularly in courses taught by adjuncts)
• Lower practice supply costs (lab materials may cost as much as $12 each)
• Cost of video production is a one time investment
• Benefits an unlimited number of students!

Why VILOS?

Ivy Tech's Medical Assisting Program has been facing some real challenges including:

• Facility expansion continues to lag behind enrollment leaving students without adequate lab space.
• We needed to standardize skill sets students were required to demonstrate for certification.
• We needed to standardize skill sets to be taught by numerous faculty across numerous course sections.
• Some of the lab procedures cost up to $12.00 or more per student, and students usually practice the procedures multiple times to achieve mastery.
• We needed to provide opportunities for remediation despite lack of out-of-class availability of adjunct faculty.

How VILOS Helped Address Our Needs

A set of 25 VILOS were created for this area of study and fully implemented during the Fall Semester of 2007. They were initially distributed to students, at no cost to the student, on CD/DVD to be used on their home PCs. Later in the semester, the multimedia streaming server was in place to allow the development of a website to view the VILOS online ( www.ivyvilos.com ). A collaborative effort was implemented with IPFW (Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne) Cable TV to air the VILOS at a prescheduled time to coincide with course work. As part of a separate initiative, these VILOS have been made available through the HealthInfo Island in Second Life.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/213/204/22

Featured Benefits of VILOS

According to Tova Green, Medical Assisting Program Chair, some of the benefits to adding VILOS for our students include the following:

• Standardization of a technique across all sections of the course
• Students preview the procedures and come to class better prepared to practice the skill
• Students will have ability to practice and refine complicated and complex skills such as microscope usage in an out of class setting
• Minimize damage to equipment such as the microscopes caused by student incompetence
• Students will have ongoing access to video that will allow them to review and master skills; benefit students that are absent and/or need extensive remediation or enter an action plan for remediation
• Students can "virtually" review lab skills, saving money on supplies ($2-12 or more per video procedure) that the program currently provides.
• Allow the instructor to utilize the video in class to point out skill aspects that are difficult to capture when the skill is performed live
• Prepare students to work with equipment that is unique to the lab and not presented in text-prepared resources
• Allow incorporation of new instruments that are not yet addressed in written formats
• Improves access to all students, regardless of financial need

The success of the project as demonstrated by the end of the Fall Semester 2007

• Lab material expenses have decreased by 1/3
• Faculty in all sections taught the standardized format
• No Remediation Plans were needed – self-remediation was adequate
• Students expressed appreciation of the VILOS and made suggestions for other course study projects
• Students came to class better prepared and less apprehensive when performing invasive or complicated skills
• Skill Competencies were achieved at a greater rate

--Andaz

DON'T EVEN TRY IT!

If the writing doesn't match your in class contributions and voice, The instructor will likely run it through the schools plagiarism software, which will show evry other time that same paper has been turned in at other schools using that software.

The majority of the people that I flunk, I flunk for submitting other people 's work (ie purchased or plagiarized papers) as their own.

Why are you going to school? To prove that you can purchase other people's work to use as your own?

What's up with that?

Let me describe my way in exactly the same subject:

My students (the smartest ones) requested to know from the beginning what are the courses/subject requirements, so I spend the first hour to introduce to idea of A/C, way to learn in my class (could be different than yours) be graded at the end, vision of their future (quality first, speed the second value). I included some "propaganda" to make feel me and them a little more important in the technical world.

Usually I did emphasise Troubleshooting That Requires Higher Knowledge with Details to be Found in The BOOKs.

Note: A/C course was a cycle of subjects including Electrical Basics, Physics (including Pneumatics), Math, Lab Exercises, Large A/C Systems etc.

I confess - not to much time was spent on discussions. Team work is OK so I made some competitions and winning team got my pizza (usually from Domino Pizza).

The toughest was to teach them Schematics / Diagrams Reading & Understanding. So before I was more than 50% exhausted I tried to go through this subject showing on available demo training units meaning of each symbol on the diagram as a device in the system. I had some good video to help me. I tried also to select 1 to 3 assistants.

Most of my tests were as: an open book section + multi-choice answers.

The one most successful course ran in Teams Assignments - practical works - final presentation in front of "three judges". This educational experiment was adapted later as suggested way in the technical education.

Hello JohnV.

I, too, had a calculus based physics instructor that graded likewise. He was, of course as you say, absolutely right. He made sure that we understood that small errors were VERY important in real world engineering and could have disastrous effects. Consequently he would grade accordingly. A tiny error would easily cost you a test grade. Funny, my instructor was also at a community college (wonder if we had the same Mr. White?)

I would certainly hope that current instructors would have the same attitude toward teaching their students.

In the field of HVAC, as has been discussed, certain things (fluorocarbon recycling comes to mind), students need to be held accountable for "small" mistakes. What they take away from class could impact a lot of people.

No matter how one teaches, and there are many different approaches, an instructor should absolutely never dumb down a class to the lowest comment denominator, especially in the engineering field!!

-John

I too had a physics instructor who was dressing down the class on proper spelling and proceeded to burn a lab report, needles to say we all cringed , then he put it out and called out my name "get over here" I mispelled "moter" opps I did it again!

I think this one's been around for awhile but I recall the case of a chemistry prof. who dipped his finger into some supposedly "poisonous" solution and then licked the finger and remained alive to describe the experience to his dumbfounded class.

I believe the point being made was careful observation, since he dipped his index finger into the solution but then licked his second finger, which went unnoticed by the class.

Whichever finger he was licking, he should have been cited by the safety officer for a really stupid move.

No, no, no, no!

The solution was only presented as poisonous! It was probably no more harmful than sugar water.

The whole intent of the experiment was to teach careful observation!

I remember our instructor telling us that the minus sign was the difference between the space shuttle going up and the space shuttle going down...

In our application, it was the difference between A's and B's...

In engineering, a number without units IS a meaningless, and possibly misleading, number, even if it is pure ratio. Supposedly "unitless" ratios should always be clarified as much as possible, so as not to be misinterpreted now, or misapplied later.

In Engineering, like other specialties, the (devil) IS in the (details)....

Relatively recently, NASA sent up a mission that (crashed on Mars?) because the units were calculated in (feet?), instead of (meters?). How "little" was that multi-million dollar error ?...

I agree.

Not only did our instructor (Mr. Rudy Lynn) want the units in the final answer, he also wanted them listed throughout the calculations. He stated that you could then see how they would cancel or combine, so if you were looking for a volume your answer better end up with cubic meters.

Put them in your position at least once a semester. Require them to demonstrate a procedure they have to learn from reading the book. They can do the presentation to you privately, if you have an appropiate place, or to the rest of the class. The presentations can also be done by individual students or by teams of 2 or 3.

Good point. I just gave you a good answer point.

First of all, is the book relevant? Do the students have to read the book to learn the material or can they get everything they need from the lecture. What is the "why?"

One way to create the Why is to test.

Second, can your students read and comprehend? It may be well to test them on instruction manuals to see if they can process written language. Remedial instruction in the basics may be indicated.

Does the book have problems and examples? Assign homework and make it part of the class grade. The educational benefit is learning unfamiliar material and solving problems with it.

The "Why" is technological change. During the course of their career, technology will change and they will have to learn different procedures, machines, or systems. It is not enough to learn today's systems. One must have the tools to adapt to the future as well.

Another good practice comes from your observational skills. You spot the dynamics within the class and choose groups for them accordingly. You then set tasks in a competitive manner to each other and to you ultimately. Let them unite against you and make them feel they have to work together to beat each other and you. Set a question they do not know now and they have to find out the answer for them self as a group.

If the material they need to know is from books, they need to be aware of this. No reading is low score in the task department. Also involve other more pleasurable means of information finding like computers and invited people from the trade.

Ultimately they need to have motivation first, no person learns without wanting to.

It should be obvious! Are the students not tested on the course material?

Actually, if you are failing students and they still do not read the material, then you have other bigger problems.

Dare, Dare, Double Dare!

Students love challenges and competition; segregate them into teams or groups and have them work on topics and chapters that will lead to some common goal or idea.

I once was given the task to teach Engineers a class on Instrumentation and Controls. I noticed that many were not interested in the fundamentals so I divided the group and assigned each a control project (processes).

I can't tell you how amazed I was to see these guys go at it like a real life experience and formed debates and clarified to them that it was not all Wizardry and Dark Science.

Thanks, good stuff I will try it!

Thank you for sharing your experience!

I have seen not too many instructors to care of the quality of delivered knowledge and responsibility on their student's behaviour, specially in safety/security aspect of the professional activities. Technicians are the most important element in technical world to keep personnel, equipment and system without threatening life or injury.

What is really wrong in the some community college systems that instructors' superiors have lack of technical background, and they receive their position in "good boys club membership" or Administrator in Education degrees - in this case evaluation of the instructor is done using "points / factors" that have nothing to do with real world requirements

What is really wrong in the some community college systems that instructors' superiors have lack of technical background, and they receive their position in "good boys club membership" or Administrator in Education degrees

How true that is, I couldn't agree more, government organizations are full of this dead wood. What happened here in Australian government departments was that if a person held a degree in management they could run any department without having any knowledge of what he/she is managing. What a load of crap. Boy am I glad I am teaching in a relatively small private organization, it's not "too bad."

It really should be becoming generally apparent that the current academic (arena?) is becoming more and more of a work environment of (creeping credentialisation). Academic administrations seek to attract (lecturers) of higher and higher credentials because that is what makes them "look" better, and even more (over-)promotable. This could be called "Academic Bureau-itis": the creeping, pervasive condition of academic lethargy feeding on the fear of job insecurity throughout the academic (apparatus). Concern for actual teaching talent is a frequent victim. No wonder even successful students become (academically mobilized) while also becoming (academically de-motivated) at the same time...

It's the result of academia's version of "survival of the fittest" but such supposedly successful academic (survivors), as a group, are less and less talented at teaching, as time goes on...

Doubt it? Then just go register for a class at a local community college and observe silently, for yourself, the (lecturer) and the students, from the student's perspective, and draw your own conclusions...

University is no better.

Having research published is what gets the university a profile, so they all want the best researchers. These researchers are required to teach some courses to be considered faculty, and unfortunately, some of them are horrible teachers.

The result is painful for both the researcher who does not want to teach, and the students who want to learn, but can't due to the researchers total lack of teaching ability.

I sat through a couple of courses like this myself, not a pleasant for anyone involved

And so, maybe the next question should become something like, "... since typical (school) practice is to screen for academic (dogma-absorbing drone?) researchers over academic (boat-rocking, self-motivated,) entrepeneurs, why has there not emerged a more progressive school that actually rewarded teaching talent in the process of providing potentially more capable practitioners in the various fields, instead of merely a few submissive, non-threatening, researcher candidates, per each graduation ceremony?"

And why doesn't the private sector collectively mobilize to organize new, non-profit, tax-deductible, schools to (produce) more effective potential practitioners to compete more competitively in an ever-more technologizing, and globalizing, business world?

In short, in order to compete, shouldn't you be competitive?....

It would most likely be true that, if the potentially hiring company was looking for a researcher, then the most likely hiree would have a research background from a research-oriented school.

However, if the potentially hiring company was looking for a (practitioner) who would be more likely to require a minimum of on-the-job training before generating increased income to said company, then that company might well prefer a (practitioning) non-research graduate, especially if one or more of the (lecturers) at the (practitioning-oriented school) were a (semi-)retired senior engineer who had previously identified the hiring candidate as (one of the/the) "sharpest" of the leading interview-ees, (based on previously observed classroom efforts while that engineer had been lecturing at said practitioning-oriented school himself/herself,) to be currently applying.

Researchers simply do not all make good practioners. Why not have a school, or at least a department, that is specifically tasked with developing practitioners separately from developing researchers?

The awareness of the need for such a re-orientation is being partially reflected in the increase in the number of project-management-types of curricula being offered recently. But, those are not the complete answer...

Or, will a non-amercan school have to first demonstrate the effectiveness of such an practition-focused approach outside the U. S., so we then have to play "catch-up" (again?)...

.

I agree, if you read a paragraph and don't understand one word in it then you may not get what the author is trying to convey! It's imperative that if you don't understand a word, that you look it up for the proper meaning. I don't have time to give an English class when I'm trying to teach a technical class on the physics of thermodynamics etc... Thanks for the response.

Absolutely. You cannot hold back a whole class to teach someone comprehensive reading, and are probably not trained in how to teach anyway...I'm not.