Copy of Online Google Form Entry (Submitted 3:20 P.M. June 21, 2014) as part of Assignment #7: Self-Assessment
Classroom Management
Situation (Course Resistance): Some students enrolled in CONS-1005 Foundamentals of Construction Estimating class are asking whether or not they could be waived from taking the course. This is a night course from RRC continuing education program Building Construction Technician.
Proposed Solution: First of all, as a teacher, I would "practice what I teach". I show up early for every class and do what I am supposed to do.
My experience with the above issue shows the reasons behind such request as mentioned above were
Either students believe they alreay have the prior knowledge through experience/education or
Students are too worried about passing the course
In first class, I distribute and walk through the course outline. Under "RPL" section, I mention the option for the students to be waived for the credit, which is the challenge exam. For those people who believe they truly have enough prior knowledge, they can contact the program coordinator to initiate the process. Because every student will be more or less concerned about their final grades, I explain clearly about the "assessment" section and also what is actually expected. To make them feel more comfortable, sometimes I also mention the past successful performance of previous students in this course to give them more confidence (as I have been teaching this course for 5 times)
Overall, my experience with the night school students have been overwhelmingly positive, yet I have to say that classroom management for day-time students is still challenging, due to the different student profiles. I totally agree that the only person I can change is myself. One option for me is to scale down the day-time course and adopt the same instructional approach from the night classes, although I have to be really careful not to "water down" the materials or affect the outcomes.
11:00 - Heather and Kim
Interesting topic, great passion and attention to details, very good visuals, presenters alternating in talking is a very good technique (I used that with another person 2 years ago), perfect time management skills, better if using a variety of slide format. Overall excellent job in taking the initiatve!
11:15 - Emile
Expert knowledge, good eye contact in the process, many pictures, great work effort, obtained first-hand materials etc. Motivated students to ask questions. Would be nicer if the presentation was a bit longer. Good job.
11:45 - Terry and Blair
Good group work, clear division of responsibility and people alternate in talking, amazing video etc. The second video appears to be a bit long for 15-min presentation. Great work.
1:00 - MichelleL
Clear content organization, very excited with the topic, quite a few pictures, good green color etc. Seems to be under the time pressure to finish? Overall very good job. By the way, I believe she would be one of the best instructors for the college students nowadays.
1:15 - Leila
Really love what she's teaching, great eye contact with the audience, nice page layout for presentation itself (e.g. seamless photo integration), very thorough coverage of process for the audience to follow, step-by-step instructions, very good sense of humor, I can clearly see that she loves what she's doing. I would love to take her courses, if she's willing to do everything for me and give me an A+ in the end... (just kidding). It's amazing that she can still manage to meet the time deadline and also cover the materials. Great presentation and on this one I don't have anything to critize.
1:30 - MichelleH
Plenty of good pictures, very funny theme and clear logic. Good eye contact and hand gesture. Nice vocal variety. The audience really enjoyed her presentation. I agree with her on her approach and philosophy. Within the time limit and would be nicer if we could have her longer. Overall very good presentation!
1:45 - Frank and Albert
Good team work, great passion for the topic, good eye contact, very slick video, stunning visual effects with cutting-edge tech etc. Very funny. Make people want to take a sip. Can we have an overview in the beginning? (Or did I miss it) Overall enjoyed it! Frank and Al have been very constructive in the courses I took with them. Excellent work!
2:00 - Natalia
Friendly introduction and opening, great work effort to complete her project, nice pictures. If the video could work, it will be even nicer (not a big deal though). Overall enjoyed the presentation
2:15 - Bruce
Very good picture and expert knowledge on the subject. Good sense of humor. Very detailed process and great patience. Took time to go through the materials. Showed confidence in his experience. Would like to learn from him if I am in the profession. Good work!
2:45 - Alan
Appealing visuals and voice, great humor, detailed process. He made people want to tast his product. Some tech issues but didn't prevent him from presenting. Good job.
3:00 - MikeM
Friendly smile and great hand gesture. Very good visuals to help people to understand his presentation. I can feel the interest under his tone. Probably not to use the laser to manipulate the slides?(just a minor issue). Overall great work effort!
3:15 - MikeF
Great visuals and tech applications. Very good work efforts. Passionate about the project. A little bit in-depth view would be better. Good work.
3:30 - Jeff
Very honest opinion and straightforward approach. Good humor and eye contact with the audience. Great story-telling. Lots of pictures. Meticulous effort to put everything together. A bit more reflection would be even better. I really enjoyed this presentation.
Summary: Overall I think I enjoyed everyone's presentation. Congratulations on a job well done!
8:45 - Kim
Good to take initiative. Can we engage the audience a bit more in the begnning? (Maybe it's just me, as I am next)
9:15 - MicheleH
Good voice and organization. A bit longer presentation will be more helpful
9:30 - Bruce
Very good details. Some background info on the courses is a bit excessive
9:45 - Terry
Great volume. Loud and clear. Better if giving us an introduction rather than jumping into the water.
10:20 - MichelleL (Re-sequenced)
Good thinking on the course selection for using the approach. Presentation format is quite organized but identical in style. A variation would help.
10:55 - Natalia (Re-sequenced)
Good efforts with online technology. Very patient in walking through every step but getting boiled down in details? Some screenshots are too small to see.
11:10 - Blair
Come prepared. Great details. Not really anything I can remember for improvement.
11:25 - Emile
Very patient and soft voice. It might be a challenge for some students with short attention span to follow the lecture. But I don't see a problem with his volume (as I checked everyone's comments on wiki last night). Personally I don't know him. But to be fair, I believe different people speak differently, just like different people think differently. They should not be picked on because of their personal traits/limitations/ways of thinking.
11:40 - MikeF
Can still see the interest in the topic, although for 2nd day. Do we want to cut down time on some slides (e.g. goal? or just go to outcome directly?) But have to say he has a difficult subject to talk about. All good.
1:00 - Frank
Good presentation. He knows his stuff. Did use PDF for presentation. Actually I didn't see a problem with using DOC or PDF for presentation at all. Some of examples are a bit advanced for a layman to understand.
1:15 - Mike M
Good smile. Used good technology (sometimes Prezi can be distracting for the audience with too dramatic transition) Very complicated subject to talk about. Using less jargons might help people to understand. Yet good sense of humor.
1:30 - Albert
Good volume and eye contact. Not many visuals this time around (pictures seem to be generic) and thus hard to keep engaged. Still good presentation for the content, because this is his field.
1:45 - Leila
Clear organization of slides. Introduction is a little too long but necessary to educate us who have no background in her field.
2:00 - Alan
Great visuals, volume and eye contact. Some pictures appear to be quite generic. I think most people this afternoon are over 10 minutes limit, thus I will leave him alone. Good work efforts.
2:15 - Jeff
Simple layout, good volume, talked about approaches. The final presentation, thus no further comments. Did the work.
Summary: Overall I believe everyone made his/her best effort to meet the course requirements and had a good time. Just one small suggestion (I am not putting this on official survey and thus FYI only): Friday's presentation is meant to be much more relevant to each person's job than the one on Thursday (I was trying to make mine be relevant on both days). Yet I saw many people are very tired on Friday (both the presenters and the audience). If it is not possible for combine two presentations into one, I would recommend to move the last presentation to be the first and extend it to be 15 mins instead of 10 mins (i.e. switch the two). Again I believe everyone enjoyed this course. Personally I learned some new tech skills and resources. Thanks!
P.S. I believe a good way to provide evaluation (verbal or in writing) is called "sandwich" method: Lots of Positives + 1 Growth Point + 1 Final Positive. Just something I learned from RRC Toastmaster Club meetings. I have been trying to do this, no matter what. "Treat People In the Way You want to be Treated".
Copy of Online Google Form Entry (Submitted 3:20 P.M. June 21, 2014) as part of Assignment #7: Self-Assessment
Direct Links to All Completed Assignments
Daily Resource Doc
Assignment #1: Learning Theories--Metacognition
Assignment #2a: Blog on Student-Centered Approach
Assignment #2b: Comment on Kim’s Blog
Assignment #3: Inquiry Project Google Doc, Prezi Presentation
Assignment #4: Review of Webquest on my Blog
Assignment #6: Classroom Management
Assignment #7: Individual Presentation
Copy of Online Google Form Entry (Submitted 3:20 P.M. June 21, 2014) as part of Assignment #7: Self-AssessmentClassroom Management
Situation (Course Resistance): Some students enrolled in CONS-1005 Foundamentals of Construction Estimating class are asking whether or not they could be waived from taking the course. This is a night course from RRC continuing education program Building Construction Technician.
Proposed Solution: First of all, as a teacher, I would "practice what I teach". I show up early for every class and do what I am supposed to do.
My experience with the above issue shows the reasons behind such request as mentioned above were
Either students believe they alreay have the prior knowledge through experience/education or
Students are too worried about passing the course
In first class, I distribute and walk through the course outline. Under "RPL" section, I mention the option for the students to be waived for the credit, which is the challenge exam. For those people who believe they truly have enough prior knowledge, they can contact the program coordinator to initiate the process. Because every student will be more or less concerned about their final grades, I explain clearly about the "assessment" section and also what is actually expected. To make them feel more comfortable, sometimes I also mention the past successful performance of previous students in this course to give them more confidence (as I have been teaching this course for 5 times)
Overall, my experience with the night school students have been overwhelmingly positive, yet I have to say that classroom management for day-time students is still challenging, due to the different student profiles. I totally agree that the only person I can change is myself. One option for me is to scale down the day-time course and adopt the same instructional approach from the night classes, although I have to be really careful not to "water down" the materials or affect the outcomes.
Thursday Inquiry Project Critiques
Direct link to my Google Doc
Direct link to my Prezi Presentation
11:00 - Heather and Kim
Interesting topic, great passion and attention to details, very good visuals, presenters alternating in talking is a very good technique (I used that with another person 2 years ago), perfect time management skills, better if using a variety of slide format. Overall excellent job in taking the initiatve!
11:15 - Emile
Expert knowledge, good eye contact in the process, many pictures, great work effort, obtained first-hand materials etc. Motivated students to ask questions. Would be nicer if the presentation was a bit longer. Good job.
11:45 - Terry and Blair
Good group work, clear division of responsibility and people alternate in talking, amazing video etc. The second video appears to be a bit long for 15-min presentation. Great work.
1:00 - MichelleL
Clear content organization, very excited with the topic, quite a few pictures, good green color etc. Seems to be under the time pressure to finish? Overall very good job. By the way, I believe she would be one of the best instructors for the college students nowadays.
1:15 - Leila
Really love what she's teaching, great eye contact with the audience, nice page layout for presentation itself (e.g. seamless photo integration), very thorough coverage of process for the audience to follow, step-by-step instructions, very good sense of humor, I can clearly see that she loves what she's doing. I would love to take her courses, if she's willing to do everything for me and give me an A+ in the end... (just kidding). It's amazing that she can still manage to meet the time deadline and also cover the materials. Great presentation and on this one I don't have anything to critize.
1:30 - MichelleH
Plenty of good pictures, very funny theme and clear logic. Good eye contact and hand gesture. Nice vocal variety. The audience really enjoyed her presentation. I agree with her on her approach and philosophy. Within the time limit and would be nicer if we could have her longer. Overall very good presentation!
1:45 - Frank and Albert
Good team work, great passion for the topic, good eye contact, very slick video, stunning visual effects with cutting-edge tech etc. Very funny. Make people want to take a sip. Can we have an overview in the beginning? (Or did I miss it) Overall enjoyed it! Frank and Al have been very constructive in the courses I took with them. Excellent work!
2:00 - Natalia
Friendly introduction and opening, great work effort to complete her project, nice pictures. If the video could work, it will be even nicer (not a big deal though). Overall enjoyed the presentation
2:15 - Bruce
Very good picture and expert knowledge on the subject. Good sense of humor. Very detailed process and great patience. Took time to go through the materials. Showed confidence in his experience. Would like to learn from him if I am in the profession. Good work!
2:45 - Alan
Appealing visuals and voice, great humor, detailed process. He made people want to tast his product. Some tech issues but didn't prevent him from presenting. Good job.
3:00 - MikeM
Friendly smile and great hand gesture. Very good visuals to help people to understand his presentation. I can feel the interest under his tone. Probably not to use the laser to manipulate the slides?(just a minor issue). Overall great work effort!
3:15 - MikeF
Great visuals and tech applications. Very good work efforts. Passionate about the project. A little bit in-depth view would be better. Good work.
3:30 - Jeff
Very honest opinion and straightforward approach. Good humor and eye contact with the audience. Great story-telling. Lots of pictures. Meticulous effort to put everything together. A bit more reflection would be even better. I really enjoyed this presentation.
Summary: Overall I think I enjoyed everyone's presentation. Congratulations on a job well done!
Friday Presentation Critiques
Links to My Presentation: Individual Presentation
8:30 - Heather
Not present? No comments
8:45 - Kim
Good to take initiative. Can we engage the audience a bit more in the begnning? (Maybe it's just me, as I am next)
9:15 - MicheleH
Good voice and organization. A bit longer presentation will be more helpful
9:30 - Bruce
Very good details. Some background info on the courses is a bit excessive
9:45 - Terry
Great volume. Loud and clear. Better if giving us an introduction rather than jumping into the water.
10:20 - MichelleL (Re-sequenced)
Good thinking on the course selection for using the approach. Presentation format is quite organized but identical in style. A variation would help.
10:55 - Natalia (Re-sequenced)
Good efforts with online technology. Very patient in walking through every step but getting boiled down in details? Some screenshots are too small to see.
11:10 - Blair
Come prepared. Great details. Not really anything I can remember for improvement.
11:25 - Emile
Very patient and soft voice. It might be a challenge for some students with short attention span to follow the lecture. But I don't see a problem with his volume (as I checked everyone's comments on wiki last night). Personally I don't know him. But to be fair, I believe different people speak differently, just like different people think differently. They should not be picked on because of their personal traits/limitations/ways of thinking.
11:40 - MikeF
Can still see the interest in the topic, although for 2nd day. Do we want to cut down time on some slides (e.g. goal? or just go to outcome directly?) But have to say he has a difficult subject to talk about. All good.
1:00 - Frank
Good presentation. He knows his stuff. Did use PDF for presentation. Actually I didn't see a problem with using DOC or PDF for presentation at all. Some of examples are a bit advanced for a layman to understand.
1:15 - Mike M
Good smile. Used good technology (sometimes Prezi can be distracting for the audience with too dramatic transition) Very complicated subject to talk about. Using less jargons might help people to understand. Yet good sense of humor.
1:30 - Albert
Good volume and eye contact. Not many visuals this time around (pictures seem to be generic) and thus hard to keep engaged. Still good presentation for the content, because this is his field.
1:45 - Leila
Clear organization of slides. Introduction is a little too long but necessary to educate us who have no background in her field.
2:00 - Alan
Great visuals, volume and eye contact. Some pictures appear to be quite generic. I think most people this afternoon are over 10 minutes limit, thus I will leave him alone. Good work efforts.
2:15 - Jeff
Simple layout, good volume, talked about approaches. The final presentation, thus no further comments. Did the work.
Summary: Overall I believe everyone made his/her best effort to meet the course requirements and had a good time. Just one small suggestion (I am not putting this on official survey and thus FYI only): Friday's presentation is meant to be much more relevant to each person's job than the one on Thursday (I was trying to make mine be relevant on both days). Yet I saw many people are very tired on Friday (both the presenters and the audience). If it is not possible for combine two presentations into one, I would recommend to move the last presentation to be the first and extend it to be 15 mins instead of 10 mins (i.e. switch the two). Again I believe everyone enjoyed this course. Personally I learned some new tech skills and resources. Thanks!
P.S. I believe a good way to provide evaluation (verbal or in writing) is called "sandwich" method: Lots of Positives + 1 Growth Point + 1 Final Positive. Just something I learned from RRC Toastmaster Club meetings. I have been trying to do this, no matter what. "Treat People In the Way You want to be Treated".
Copy of Online Google Form Entry (Submitted 3:20 P.M. June 21, 2014) as part of Assignment #7: Self-Assessment