New Activities in lab

Tried something new again in lab today to get the students to interact with the material in different ways instead of just memorizing. I asked the students to write down a specific body projection ie. right posteroanterior (PA) wrist. The other student would then ask questions trying to narrow down the projections they have learned until getting the correct answer.
It was very interesting to compare how each student attacked the challenge.
Some students asked right away if it was a hand projection, or if it was the right side others asked if there was rotation in the image.

I mentioned this activity to a fellow instructor and he looked at it from an anatomy perspective. Ie does this projection have a short bone in it? (carpals) . Then followed it up with is the projection distal to the wrist joint?

The lesson I learned form this is the questions you have are based on your experience with the subject. If I played this game in a year I think the students would ask different higher level questions to narrow down their options.

Best part about this activity was everyone had played 20 questions before so I did not have to spend class time explain the rules.
All and all the students enjoyed the activity and I learned from it as well.

Activities=Student Enagement Try something new!

This week in lecture I challenged myself to try something different in my classes. I feel my classes are fairly interactive but since I have only taught this class once before I was looking to expand on my activities at the end to tie in the learning. I ended up making a game like rock, paper, scissors but instead of the original symbols the students had to pick out the x-ray positions they had just learned and relate them to the traditional rock(fist = PA wrist projection), paper (PA hand projection) and scissors (fan lateral hand). They played the game the same way but in order to get the point at the end for the win they had to state one thing about that projection. All and all I found the energy of the room increased, and the students were looking at the material in a different way and using what they had just learned in class. I also at the end had groups of 4  come up to the board and make a top 5 list for each of the body parts they had just learned projections for (like David Letterman's' top 10 list). I wanted to give them an opportunity to discuss with their classmates what they felt the most important parts were in the lecture for them and to see if they came up with the same answers as me. Did they mention the points that I emphasized in lecture or did they pick something else up? This gave me feedback on what I thought I emphasized in lecture and what the lecture outcomes were. All and all a great class! I'm glad I tried something different.

Motivation

It is funny that I am writing about motivation this week because I am late with my assignments and the first 2 chapters in the course involve motivation. It made me ask why am I late with my assignments? Every time I start a new course I usually take a few weeks to get started and by that time I am already behind the eight ball. Why do I keep repeating this action? I obviously must love having the pressure of completing the assignment under limited time and being in the office on a Sunday? Well the answer to that question is a resounding no. What I have found out about myself recently is that when I do get started and engaged in the course I love it but when I am not attempting the online material every night I disengage. Does anyone else find this? If so what do you do ? I definitely have difficulty with online courses. Here is a link I found with 5 tips to stay motivated. http://distancelearn.about.com/od/managingyourwork/a/motivation.htm

 

"Student engagement is a product of motivation and active learning."(Barkley, p.6)

Barkley, E.F., (2010). Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty. San Francisco, CA:Jossey-Bass.

Chapter 9 Tips and Strategies for Building Community

Classes have started these last 2 weeks and I just happened to be starting the PIDP 3250 course and noticed Chapter 9 Tips and Strategies for Building Community (Barkley, 2010). What a great way to start off the first weeks by building a community in your class room.

What do you do to build community in your classroom?

Who here uses the first class to read the outline and introduce themselves as the instructor?

If you are not an instructor yet, who has been a student recently and one of the first things you do is go over the outline?

How was this experience? Did the instructor read the outline aloud? If you were the instructor how was the energy in the room?

 

I noticed in my first year that I read the outline and the class energy was low and to be honest it wasn't fun for me as an instructor either.

I was hoping this chapter would give me some great ideas and it did.

 

Here are a few of the ideas for creating community that I liked that you might want to try in the future.

 

To learn student's names quickly try using name tents, and playing the name game. What's the name game you say? "Students and teachers form a circle and introduce themselves and then recall and repeat names of those who have already introduced themselves." (Barkley, p.114) I usually get the students to say their name and their favorite movie/musician/hobby. I find this allows me to learn a little bit more about them and might show their personality. I usually ask before the game who likes a challenge and I place those individuals at the end so they have to repeat all the student names. It is actually quite funny and very engaging.

Has anyone used any other versions of name games? Please post.

As far as the outline goes,  I learned when taking PIDP 3230,  Evaluation of Learning,  Doug suggested to get the students to read the outline and identify what they feel is most important for success in the class. I did this for the first time this year and felt it went well. Students went into groups and after 15 minutes came back with their top 5 most important things. My observations were each group had different lists but usually with a few commonalities amongst them. Usually their lists opened up to more questions and overall classroom discussion which made the classroom more engaging than my previous year.  In Chapter 9 there is a syllabus review suggestion on page 119 and this is a modification of it.

What do you do in your first class to review the outline?

These are 2 of the strategies/tips I have used this term to help build community in my classroom. Hopefully this gives fellow instructors the push to explore and try different things the first week as we only get once chance to make an initial impression in the classroom.

 

Barkley, E.F., (2010). Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty. San Francisco, CA:Jossey-Bass.

 

 

 

About Me:

Hello everyone! First time blogger, long time internet user! My name is Brent McMillen and I am an Instructor at Camosun College and I am taking courses in the Post Instructional Diploma Program at Vancouver Community College. I am an instructor in the Medical Radiography Program and have been teaching for 2 years now.
I am a Medical Radiation Technologist  or simply an X-ray Technologist and still actively work in the hospitals to keep my skills up as well as instructing full time.
I have titled this blog the ABC's of Medical Radiation TechnoloG  because it encompasses that I am an instructor but a student at the same time. I hope you enjoy and I look forward to hearing from you.