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JUMP-STARTING THE COURSE
You'll want to give clear signals from the very first encounters,
to let students know that this is a different kind of course.
Why is this important?
- Students need to get used to the idea of bearing major
responsibility for their own work.
- Some students may want to drop the course if they are
unprepared for the responsibility.
- It's very hard to change directions in mid-stream; if
you start out the course in a traditional format and then
suddenly ask students to take initiative, they seldom live
up to your expectations.
- Its fun to see the shock on their faces and hear their
anxiety and excitement as they encounter something really
new.
Here are some tactics others have used in the first minutes
or days of a course:
- Ice-breakers to get students talking in small groups.
- A skills inventory to find out students’ strengths and
diversity.
- A lab or field activity that
doesn't have a simple right answer.
- A chance for students to give you feedback or input on
the first day.
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