Thursday, July 12, 2007

How to Make the Class Experience Better

Response to a query for suggestions on a SQL Optimization class I took recently:
**** ******* *********

Yes I enjoyed the class. Yes I have recommendations.

How to make the experience better next time:

Work harder at making sure each student is orientated to the page/exercise/script/folder/screen that teacher is working on at the moment: Too many students including self miss a beat, not know how they got to where they are, lose contact with flow of talk, quickly get discouraged and miss the exercise. When everything builds upon the previous thing learned, keeping orientated with where the class is supposed to be and getting there is paramount.

Spend time working with the students through the labs instead of just turning them silently loose for an hour and a half. Get them orientated again and make sure they get started right. Too many people are lost too much of the time. Just because a few basically already know it and stay with the teacher, doesn’t mean everybody does. Students are just too embarrassed to admit they’re not keeping up. It’s the Teacher’s responsibility to ensure everyone is onboard. Just asking, “is everybody with us?” and no one answering is not sufficient.


Orientation. Orientation. Orientation.

Ensure the student is orientated with where we are and how we got there.

Ensure it!

Look over her shoulder if you have to. If they’re not on the same page, they’re not orientated.

1 comment:

  1. Right on the money. Too often I find a book or class where it is ASSuMEd that you already know some piece of jargon or concept and I'm lost from the start. I ran into this with my first JavaScript book. Of course this was in the days before Google and Wiki.

    BTW, is orientated even a word?

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