Advice to Students About Requesting Letters of Recommendation

If you've ever been stumped by a students asking you for a letter of recoomedation to graduate school, and don't remember the student, or can't comment favorably on the student's performance, then read the advice below I recently shared with my students:

Applying to graduate school? Need letters of recommendation? Here is some advice to follow and guide you in asking for those coveted letters of recommendation…
• While you are taking classes, get to know your instructors. Talk to them before and after class, and tell them about your career goals.
• Know that graduate schools want to know about your writing ability, critical thinking skills, your character, and your leadership skills. They will want these qualities discussed in detail in the letter. Instructors cannot discuss these elements if they don’t know you.
• Graduate applications often ask instructor to explain how long they’ve known you, and ask them to rank you on a 5 point scale. Instructors will not rank you the highest if they have no reason to do so!

Most faculty are always happy to help students with letters of recommendation. In order to get the best letter of recommendation, you should ask an instructor who meets the following criteria:
1. Someone with whom you've taken a class in the last 4 semesters
2. Someone with whom you've established a relationship and have talked to and shared your academic/ career goals
3. Someone who can testify as to your work ethic/ your ability to write well/ your ability to think critically/ and your ability to conduct research

Writing letters of recommendation is part of being an instructor, however, it is time-consuming and not a particularly enjoyable task. Graduate school letters of reference take time to compose, so I would suggest that you provide (whomever you request to write on your behalf) 4-6 weeks to complete them. Then don't be shy about following up with that instructor and reminding him/her about the due date(s). You should make this process as easy as possible by filling in any and all blank spaces on the applications that you can, so the instructor has to do less work.

In the event that you are asking an instructor to write a letter of recommendation and you had the instructor a long time ago, I would suggest that you meet with the instructor face-to-face and re-establish a relationship. Remind the instructor who you are and about the quality of your work and writing while you took his/her class.

Remember that each of us needs letters of recommendation at some time or another. Just as you, as a student, need a letter of recommendation now, your instructor may need a letter of recommendation from you in the future. Establishing a rapport with your instructor is an important step in ensuring you will get favorable responses when you ask for this coveted letter! Best of luck!

Groups Teaching Chapters of the Text

What’s wrong with this picture?

The instructor assigns each group a chapter in the text and tells them they must teach it to the class.

What’s wrong with this?

Students pay tuition to have an “expert” teach—and in higher education, adjunct faculty are selected for their work place experience and/or their ability to impart knowledge to others.

Some might argue that having students teach the class involves them, and while that is true, the quality of the content knowledge often becomes nothing more than an encyclopedia article.

If you really want groups to present to the class, I would suggest limiting the topic to something very specific so that the group enhances the content of the text and lectures, not replace it. Challenge them to include the most current, relevant “stuff” and incorporate technology in their presentations.

Most of all, follow the group management suggestions provided in an earlier post about group presentations.

Correcting Student Writing

If you are puzzled with how to correct a common expression used when speaking, but one that is unacceptable in formal writing, check this out:

"Being..."

Instructors will often see this expression at the beginning of sentences in student papers. Advise students that spoken and written language is different... what is acceptable in one is unacceptable in the other. Students don't often realize there is a difference, and that every class is always an English class!

Assessing Student Learning

K-12 teachers are trained in learning the difference between formative and summative assessments, but college instructors most often are not.

Understanding the difference between them, and knowing when and how to use formative assessments and when and how to use summative assessments, will help adjunct instructors to develop and design their courses.

So what is the difference between formative and summative assessment?

Formative assessment is an assessment that determines how much students already know, and if they possess mastery of the content matter. Examples of formative assessments might be a pre-test, rough draft, quizzes, homework, rough drafts of papers, or answering questions in class.
Information gathered from these assignments will provide insights as to how much students already know, and how well they can articulate what they know.

Formative assessments help instructors learn what needs to be taught.
Summative assessments are intended to determine how much, and to what extent, students have learned and mastered the content.

Summative assessments include final projects (be sure to use rubrics), final exam, final test over a unit of learning, portfolio, or final paper.

Summative assessment scores/ grades also help to provide information about the effectiveness of the curriculum, and the extent to which the curriculum is aligned with instruction and assessment. Wise instructors pay attention to summative assessments and make instructional adjustments during the teaching/ learning process.

Keeping Records

Whether you do this in paper-and-pencil format or an online spreadsheet, it's important to keep good records of student attendance, lateness or leaving early, along with details about grades.

Also keep any emails exchanged between you and the student.

Good practice dictates that you keep these records until the grade appeal time limit has passed, which is approximately 4 months.

Group Projects

The Dreaded the Group Project! Students tend to groan at the mention of group projects. It’s no wonder—group dynamics are complex! Most group projects wind up with groups that are too large, or 1-2 members do all the work. It’s quite common for groups to have a slacker or two in the group, or for someone in the group to go completely MIA until the end!
How can you turn this dreaded class assignment into a positive, value-added experience?

Instructors play a big role in making group projects become value-added learning experiences. Listed below are 7 suggestions for helping the group projects in your class become positive experiences for your students:

1. Keep the group size manageable. Group size should be between 3-5 students. Groups of 3 are best because there is little room for anyone to hide. Once the groups get larger they need to be managed more carefully using task specification, clearly defining outcome deliverables, group oversight and group status check-ins, a rubric for evaluating the final product, and a peer-evaluation for acknowledging each group member’s contributions.

2. Task specification: clearly explain what you want the group to accomplish and how you expect them to accomplish it.

3. Clearly defining outcome deliverables: define what the end product needs to be.

4. Group oversight and status check-ins: along the way, ask students to submit to a progress report. This could be done as a class mini-presentation as you ask each group to explain where they are in the process, and what’s holding them up. Treat status updates as a “grade-able assignment” and reward by giving points for progress.

5. Rubric: create a rubric for evaluating the final product. Share this rubric with the students at the beginning of the project so students will know what to aim for.

6. Peer evaluation: develop a peer evaluation form that asks members of the group to evaluate each other and support their evaluations with specific examples. Be sure to explain to students the importance of being honest in evaluating other members. This closely mimics the manager’s role in a working environment as managers have to evaluate and rank subordinates annually.

7. Self-evaluation: develop a self-evaluation form in which group members have to honestly evaluate themselves. Again, ask for supporting evidence through examples and specifics.

While there is no foolproof method for making group projects be successful, following the suggestions above will go a long way to helping ensure the project adds to learning instead of draining students’ energies!

Teaching the 5-Hour Class

Here is one suggested format for teaching a 5 hour class:

- Review
- Lecture
- Break
- Lecture
- Exercise or activity that provides students an opportunity to apply lecture material
- Report out at the end of class

Note there are many ways to teach a 5 hour class, and this is just one suggestion.

Importance of a Well-Planned Lecture

A few suggestions for a well-planned lecture:

- Cover the chapter
- Elaborate beyond the chapter with real life examples
- Engage students in a dialogue
- Assess understanding by asking students questions
- Select important points; add new ones not covered in the book
- Review the material and summarize

Writing Your Own Multiple Choice Test Questions

Even though so many texts now come with publisher-provided resources, such as test banks, sometimes it’s better for instructors to write their own tests.

Why?

Writing your own test questions “sound” more like you. You select what knowledge you want to include and the phrasing and language of your test questions also tend to sound more like you.

Multiple choice test questions are great for testing comprehension of the subject matter. Writing multiple choice test questions can be time consuming, but it helps if you have some basic understanding of how to do this.

Writing good test questions just takes a little care and know-how.
The test question consists of two parts: the stem and the answers.

Here are some of the best practices of writing good multiple choice questions:
- Offer at least 4-5 possible answers as choices; however, be consistent throughout the test. Offer either all 4 possible answers or all 5 possible answers.
- Use parallel construction when writing possible answers. That way each answer sounds plausible.
- Make sure that there is one concise and clear correct answer.
- Keep the language and phrasing simple; do not use big words so as to try to confuse students.
- Be careful not to create a correct answer pattern such as C for all questions, or A, B, C, D and so forth down the list; randomize the correct answer options.
- Write test questions across multiple levels of learning (Bloom’s Taxonomy) so that you measure knowledge of the subject matter and also ask students to analyze or evaluate the subject matter. That way you are testing across multiple levels of learning.

Here are things to AVOID when writing multiple choice questions:
- Using negatives in the stem of the question: the student spends a lot of time having to figure out what question really means instead of selecting the correct answer
- Varying the number of answer choices for each question. Be consistent throughout.
- Using “All of the above” as an answer option. If you do use this option then you must also include ‘None of the above”.

Good test questions should not be tricky and confusing! Remember why you are testing—and then write your test questions accordingly.

Teaching Students to Take Notes

If your students are doing poorly on tests, or if you see that they are not taking notes in class, then it may be time for you to teach them how to take notes. Do not assume that your students know how to take good notes.

Here is a suggestion for how to teach note-taking skills and connect the ability to take good notes with test scores:

-Prepare a 5 minute lecture.
-Create a basic skeleton of an outline for the lecture.
-Proceed with delivering your lecture.
-Mentally note the extent to which students are actively involved in taking notes.
-Give a quick quiz after the lecture.
-Review the quiz scores with students and discuss the extent to which to which taking notes during the lecture helped them retain the lecture material in their minds. To what extent did the high scorers on the quiz take detailed notes?

This would be a great time to have students compare their notes with the class. Weaker note takers can learn from the stronger note takers, plus it can also lead to some lively discussion in the class.

Understanding Learning Styles

What do you know about learning styles?
How can you use knowledge about learning styles in your teaching?

Visual: learning by seeing visual images.
Visual learners need to see pictures, so if you are instructor who writes on the board or uses PowerPoint or any visual media, then these are the learners who will benefit from a visual presentation style.
Auditory: learning by listening or by speaking.
Auditory learners are those who absorb information by listening. These are the learners who will learn best from an instructor who is a dynamic lecturer.
Bodily-Kinesthetic: learning by using bodily movements such as doodling, outlining, or actively taking notes.
Bodily-kinesthetic learners are those who have to be actively involved by doing something that requires physical engagement. These learners need to be actively involved. During lectures these are the ones who are busy writing and taking notes. Instructors should plan some time during the class period for students to work in groups, go to the library to accomplish a specific, time-oriented task, be given class time to work on an individual project, etc.

Good instructors find a way to incorporate all of these into a given class period, so that each learning style can benefit.

9 Events of Instruction

Educators have developed many theories and models of instruction, and among my favorites is Gagne's 9 Events of Instruction.

Robert Gagné (1916- 2002) was an educator and experimental psychologist who worked with instructional learning methods; identified the mental conditions necessary for learning. His book The Conditions of Learning was first published in 1965.

He was mostly known for contributing a systematic approach to instructional design and training. Also known as a behaviorist, Gagne focused on learning outcomes that are measured in a change in behavior.

His 9 Events of Instruction are based on the information processing model of mental events that happen when an adult is presented with stimuli.

Gagné created a 9 step process called the events of instruction and they correlate to and address the conditions of learning.

The question for you is this: How can you use this model in your teaching?

More About Testing

Online and F2F Class Assessments:

Assessment for learning: If the purpose of an assessment is to find out what students already know so that you can plan what to include in your lecture and develop appropriate learning activities, then create a pre-test to assess existing knowledge. This kind of assessment will let you know what your students already know, and how much they know. This is also sometimes called a needs assessment, or gap assessment. Begin by defining what students need to know at the end of the learning experience. After you have done the initial assessment, review the end goal and look at the gap, or difference, in students’ existing knowledge and the end goal. Then create learning objectives to help reach the end goal. You must then create learning activities that close the gap.

Assessment of learning: If the purpose of giving quizzes, tests, and exams is to test the knowledge the student has retained, then you need to create assessments that do so. If you give quizzes, tests, and exams that are open ended and allow students to take as much time as they want, then you are not really testing. Best practice suggests putting a time limit on any assessment.

Open Book or Closed Book? This is a tough question to answer. Educators cannot agree on which one is better. Some instructors have said that when they tell students the exam is open book, students tend not to study. On the other hand, Open Book exams can be valid if they are timed tests. If you don’t have a time limit on the test, then all you’re really doing is seeing how fat students can flip pages.

By their very nature, tests in Distance Learning courses allow students to use their books in answering questions. Therefore, it is important to limit the time the test is available (students can usually take the test within a 48 hour window that the test is available), and put a time limit on the test itself.

How much time?
For multiple choice questions, the general rule is one minute per question. In online courses, it is a good idea to give 5-10 extra minutes because students also have to click through several times in order to get to the next question.

For essay exams think about how much you want the student to write. At the undergraduate level a paragraph is usually sufficient. Allowing 20 minutes to write a coherent paragraph is generous.

If you want students to write several pages, then it might just be better to require an essay assignment rather than a test.

Strategies for Helping Students Be Successful on Tests and Quizzes:
Create a practice test. Let students know that the “real” test will be very similar to the practice exam.

Create a study guide that lets students know what will be covered on the quiz or test.

Class Participation

Class Participation: Many instructors give credit, or points, for class participation. However, how do you define class participation? If a student files a grade appeal and received 20 out of 30 points for class participation, would you be able to explain how you came up with that grade? Unless you have a specific rubric, or keep detailed notes of each student's class participation for each week, it would be difficult to argue this point. I would, therefore, suggest that you clearly define what you expect in terms of class participation and what students have to do to get the maximum number of points.

Think about why you want to give class participation points. If it is to encourage class attendance, then be specific what counts as attendance—a whole class/ a half class? What about the student who leaves early?
If a student attends class but never speaks up, how would you count that as class participation?

How Are You Testing?

Giving a quiz, test, or exam is a time-honored tradition within education. The purpose is to check how much information has been retained in the student’s mind. To truly test, the student is asked to recall information without using other sources (aka: open book test).

Given the explosion of information available in the world today, recent (actually well over 20 years!) trends have been to using open book/ open notes test and the question among educators has been Does this truly test a student’s knowledge of the subject?

In educational measurements grad classes I have taken, I learned that an open book/ open notes test is valid only if the test is timed. In other words, giving students an open book test that is untimed is not valid, as it does not test a student’s knowledge of the subject matter. It only tests how well a student can flip pages and how well they can read.

Given the stress students experience when they are told they will be tested, and given the stress that you as an instructor will experience when students push back—--my question to is this: Why are you testing? What is your purpose behind giving a test?

Here are my suggestions for how to think about testing: (this applies to F2F classes only; online classes have somewhat different considerations)

Reason for giving a test:
If it is to make sure students have read the material, then use objective test questions (T/F; multiple choice) and test using closed book. Allow enough time within the class period for everyone to complete the test without feeling hurried. The advantage to this method is that after the instructor has collected the completed tests from the student, the instructor can then review the test questions with the class while the test is still "fresh" in their minds. Encourage students to take notes when you do this.

If you decide to test students to see if they have read the material using an open book method, and if the test consists of objective test questions, then the test should be timed to approximately one minute per question. It's OK add another 5 minutes to the time limit so as to allow students to write their name on the test and "settle in". So for a 20 question test allow 25 minutes to complete the test.

You can also check for retention of knowledge using open ended test questions. In that case allow a longer time frame. This kind of test would not require a specific time for each question. As the instructor monitoring the test, you would have to gauge how the students are doing by seeing how long they are taking to complete the test. If, after 45 minutes, two-thirds of the class is still busily writing then obviously you can see they need more time. But, if after 45 minutes 2 students are slowly writing and staring into space, then you have to call time and collect the remaining tests, finished or not. Always provide students with a 5 minute warning before ending the test. This helps them know the end is coming. Open ended test questions refer to those that ask students to write out answers such as "List 4 qualities of..." or "Explain how...".

If you are checking for how well a student understands the subject matter and can write about it in his/her own words then use essay questions with either the open book or closed book option. For these kinds of tests allow an entire class period (based on a 1-2.5 hour class) —this often would be a final exam; the test questions would be complex; and a rubric would be needed to grade the exam.

Note that if you do choose this as your final exam, you will need to provide students an opportunity to practice this type of test taking during the course. Perhaps give them several short chances during the course to answer one essay question is a “quiz”. Also note that as the instructor, these tests are time consuming to grade.

Giving students an open book test in class, with either objective test questions or short answer questions and not timing the test is not testing!

The problem with testing is that many instructors know they have to give a test but don't understand why they are testing or what they are testing.

Students don’t like tests. They will just about always push back on you, the instructor, and try to negotiate ways to get out of it. However, if you fully understand why you want to test then you will be in a better position to stand your ground and make a fair decision about testing options.

More specific information about whether to use a publisher's test or on writing good test questions will be forthcoming.

Developing AWESOME Lectures- Part 2

The advantage of lecturing is that professors can impart a lot of information to a lot of students. In institutions where the foundation courses consist of 150 or more students in a lecture hall, the lecture is the most efficient way of transmitting knowledge. Even those lectures can be interesting if the lecturer is dynamic and enthusiastic, but quite often they are boring as the lecturer (often a graduate student) drones on and on.

Chances are that as an adjunct faculty member you will be teaching smaller classes. In this situation the lecture can actually be interesting and you have the chance to develop a following interested in the subject matter.

Here’s one way to plan a dynamic lecture:

1. Open with a video clip that illustrates the theory or points you will cover during this class session.
2. After the video clip, ask students questions. Plan ahead and write out a dozen or so questions to ask that would get students to state their opinion, reaction, or experience.
3. Then begin to talk about the content or theory for this lesson. Be sure you spend time on this, and continue to ask questions during your lecture to make sure students are listening and that they understand.

Do not assume that your students know how to take good notes. Some instructors will handout an outline of the lecture. This then helps and guides students to take notes.

Other instructors will hand out copies of their powerpoints.
Yet other instructors actively use the chalk, or green board as they are talking. This generates energy as it creates movement in the front of the classroom.

Each instructors needs to develop his/her own lecturing style. Most important is that you are knowledgeable about the subject matter, and can “teach beyond the text.” Bring in examples and experiences to keep it lively and interesting.

Dealing With Aberrant Student Behavior

Instructors should be prepared to deal with unpleasant situations. The world being what it is, every once in a while you may have to deal with aberrant student behavior. It’s better to be prepared than to be left wondering what to do. If for any reason a situation occurs in which either you or your students, feel threatened, unsafe, or just uneasy, it is better to call campus security. If your students mention that another student is acting strange or that they are being stalked either F2F, through text messaging, or online- you and the student should report this behavior to campus security. You should not attempt to deal with aberrant student behavior by yourself.

My advice is to program the phone number of campus security in your cell phone so that you have it readily available should you need it.

Developing AWESOME Lectures- Part 1

Lecturing has a bad rap, and justifiably so because many lectures can be boring, if all you do is read or talk to students in a monotone or forget they are in the audience. You might as well talk to a brick wall. Even worse than that is giving a lecture where you read from the Powerpoint slides—this is not lecturing at all, it is simply death by powerpoint!

Developing a good lecture takes time and enthusiasm! If you are not enthusiastic about the material then your students won’t be either.

First of all, you need to develop the lecture. Lectures contain the “meat-and-potatoes” of the course content. However, it can get pretty boring if all you do is talk, talk, talk! You need to prepare for the lecture by reading, reading, reading! You need to become a subject matter expert on the course content.

Each class session and each lecture should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. This is just the basic element of organization. When students know you organize for their class, they will show you more respect.
At the start of class, either announce or put on the board the course objectives for this class session.

Then, begin your lecture with an attention-getting opening, such as a question that one of your students is likely to know. Don’t play “stump-the-dummy” as this will alienate your audience. Or you can begin with telling a story that illustrates a point you will be making in your lecture. List the most important concepts of the lecture and why these are important.

During your lecture, ask questions! Asking questions frequently will encourage students to speak up, and this is exactly what you want in your classroom. Also include LOTS of relevant examples! Always strive to connect that real work application to the theory.

Make eye contact. Talk to the students, and not to your notes. It’s OK to have notes in your hand, but don’t keep them in front of your face. Be animated and enthusiastic.

Conclude the lecture with a brief summary of the important points you made, and point out what they need to remember for the test.

Follow up the lecture with an in-class exercise or group activity. This gives students an opportunity to apply the material.

Course Policies

Your syllabus (or course outline) should include the following policies:
• Your contact information and the time frame you will return student emails (usually 48 hours for F2F classes and 24 hours for online classes)
o Many adjuncts are hesitant to put their phone numbers on the course syllabus, and I don’t blame them. Use your email address instead, and then monitor your email faithfully.
 Remember to ALWAYS use your institution’s email when communicating with students. This is a FERPA issue. Then, also require your students to use their institution’s email address as well, and explain to them that this is a confidentiality issue.
• Attendance policy: Before you write your own attendance policy, check with your institution first to see what its attendance policies are. Then, be very clear and specific in your course outlines what your policies are (if any) for missing class. More and more institutions of higher ed are requiring students to attend class. Attendance is directly correlated to academic achievement.
• Late assignment policy: Include a very specific statement about late assignments. Do you accept them? If so, what is the absolute latest a student can turn in an assignment? What is the penalty for a late assignment?
• Your course grading scale: If you require 5 assignments for a total of 500 points, then be sure to include a grade calculation based on your institution’s grading scale. If you use percentages to calculate the final grade, be sure to explain this, in detail, as well.
• In-class laptop and cell phone policy: More and more students come to class and open their laptops. If you walk around the room during your lecture, you may find some of them taking notes, while others are on Facebook, etc. You have to decide your tolerance level for this type of activity.
o While it is easy to say “Well, I don’t care because the lack of attention will show up in the student’s final grade” you must also remember that more and more students are appealing their final course grades and place the blame for doing poorly on the instructor. Grade appeals are time consuming as they always involve your program’s Chair.
o Be wise and use some preventative actions- sometimes each one of us needs to be saved from ourselves .
• Course assignments: Include a detailed description of each assignment that will be required. This helps students know what is expected.
• Writing standard and format: If you require adherence to APA or MLA formatting, be sure to include this in your course outline. Then, remember to review this requirement the first class, and review it periodically throughout the course. Provide suggested help, or resources, that students can use if they struggle with writing.
While you can never completely anticipate all the problems that might arise in your course, writing a specific and clear syllabus (course outline) will go a long way to make your expectations clear.

Top 9 Qualities of A Great Instructor

1. Passion for the subject matter
2. Interested in student learning
3. Encourages students to express themselves
4. Seeks student commitment; calls them by name
5. Makes the subject matter relevant to “life”
6. Involves students in the subject matter
7. Flexible in the class; not afraid to deviate from the lesson plan to maintain student interest
8. Explains things multiple times in multiple ways
9. Nurtures independent thinking among students

Emotion and Attitude

Your students will develop their attitude toward the subject matter from your attitude toward it. Your emotion is contagious, and therefore, whatever emotion you exude about your subject matter will, most likely, be caught by your students as well.
Some classes elicit a lot of fear and anxiety on the part of students. Students talk to other students—they compare notes about the classes, the topics, the instructors and who’s hard and who’s easy.
If you will be teaching a class with a reputation for being hard, it’s important to reduce the anxiety level as anxiety itself interferes with learning. Take some time at the beginning or during class to explain, explain, and explain some more. Provide examples and real life experiences, take time together to look things up on the internet, and ask other students for examples and illustration.
Take some time to review the learning goals and objectives in the syllabus: Do they really need to know all the details of analyzing quantitative data in a beginning research methods course? Or can you simply cover the basics and make sure they understand this well and know how to apply the material?
Stay calm when the class seems to panic about the complexity of the material-- take a deep breath, and/or give them a break. Then, when you reconvene begin again and try to use a slightly different approach or angle to explain the subject matter. Do not dismiss class until you are reasonably sure you have calmed their fears. Stay upbeat and maintain your enthusiasm for the subject--- continue to explain the relevance of the subject matter to their chosen career fields, and continue to teach! Most of all, do not give up!

Teaching and Learning

Teaching and learning is complicated. For decades, educators have been trying to define how people learn and the best way to teach so teach so that students learn. In the process we've learned that there is no such thing as "the best way." What we have learned is that there are many ways of teaching, and students have different ways of learning. Discussions about the teaching and learning process, or "education" took on prominence with in the early 20th century with John Dewey (1859-1952), an American philosopher, psychologist and also known as an educational reformer. Dewey advocated that in order to attain a civil society schools had to educate students to become informed public citizens. While that sounds logical today, it was very progressive in Dewey’s time when classical education consisted mainly of studying Greek and Roman philosophers, and knowledge was transmitted through the all-knowing “sage on the stage.”
Dewey proposed that learning is a social process, and when students are allowed to interact with the curriculum, they learn better. Although he was really thinking of young children and not so much adults when he suggested that interaction with the curriculum help the learning process, Dewey’s thoughts on learning and education have implications for teaching in higher education today.
The traditional college class session used to be to attend a class 3-4 times a week, with each class lasting about an hour or a bit more. Through the years, the student population as shifted to students who commute to class because they work, have families, and other life-living obligations that demand a class schedule that works with their needs. So now classes are longer, so as to accommodate students who can attend class only once a week. Consequently, instructors have had to readjust their notion of teaching, as now the students in the class demand to be taught knowledge, but in such a way that they can be involved.
Hence, interest in instructional strategies! It behooves every instructor to develop a repertoire of instructional strategies to not only facilitate learning, but make classes interesting and lively.

Structuring A Course Outline

Students appreciate it when instructors create a detailed course outline that shows what they need to read, and the assignments they need to prepare for each week. It also will help you, as the adjunct instructor, to stay on target and be organized.
I prefer to create my course outline in a column format. Using this format allows students to see what will be covered in class so that helps to eliminate the “I can’t be in class next week. Can you tell me what I’ll be missing?” dilemma.

Preparing to Teach

The first step in preparing to teach is to find out of there is a “generic syllabus” one in which the course description and learning goals have already been established. If you teach in a “teaching college” it is most likely that the generic syllabus exists, so then your job is to develop a detailed course outline.
Recognize that the syllabus and course outline is a contract between you and the student.
Your job will be to structure the course and provide learning experiences that match and accomplish the course learning goals.
For each class session that you teach, you will need to develop a lecture, prepare powerpoint slides or include some sort of visual media, structure a class exercise that will provide a practical application to the lecture, and include some means of assessment.
More on structuring 5 hour class sessions and accomplishing learning goals later.