{"id":6773,"date":"2017-06-14T03:00:44","date_gmt":"2017-06-14T03:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/fctl\/?p=6773"},"modified":"2019-06-05T20:07:07","modified_gmt":"2019-06-05T20:07:07","slug":"the-students-teach-the-teacher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/2017\/06\/14\/the-students-teach-the-teacher\/","title":{"rendered":"The Students Teach the Teacher"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>by <strong>Jennifer Graydon<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Our first Project ACC Faculty Fellows assignment was to conduct a focus group with our students. This was a humbling experience. As I sat and listened, my students had the opportunity to teach the teacher how they learn best. For the focus group, I asked my students \u201cIf you could tell your Professors before the start of the semester how you learn best, what you would tell them?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The responses reflected an overwhelming need of students to be engaged with learning by using more than just listening to lecture and taking notes, the primary methods when I went to college. Students say that they learn through multiple pathways such as visual cues, concrete examples which help them apply the material, and in-class discussions which helps further solidify the information. I would also argue that the learner of today may be used to receiving information at the speed of light and in quick soundbites. I asked students \u201cHow does technology affect the way you learn?\u201d I expected students to say that their attention spans when it comes to an hour and twenty minute lecture would be quite brief. What they said is that technology in general actually helped them. One student cited using technology in the classroom such as PowerPoints, videos, and visual images \u201chelped to get a picture in (my) head and helped (me) better understand what was being explained and talked about.\u201d They also reported liking having information such as videos and PowerPoints easily accessible and available to them via the course Blackboard site.<\/p>\n<p>However, there is a downside to technology as well. Although I have a \u201cno cell phone in view\u201d policy in my class, this is an ongoing struggle for my students. Most students stated that technology was indeed a distraction inside class and contributed to procrastination. One student stated \u201cTechnology TOTALLY affects my attention in class and, especially when studying, I have to put my phone away or it\u2019s too tempting.\u201d Another student commented \u201cIf my phone is anywhere near me, nothing gets done.\u201d This was a theme echoed throughout the surveys. A select few students stated that they were able to power off and put their phones away in another room in order to complete coursework. Another student reported having to give her phone to her grandmother until she was done with her assignments. And yet another student said \u201cIt is one reason I like taking online classes. I am always on the internet and at least if I\u2019m doing homework or reading about something of substance I can feel better about being online.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It appears the professor of the 21st Century has to work harder to keep their students\u2019 attention and get them engaged with the material. When asked what teaching methods do not work, most students stated \u201cstraight lectures are not effective (for me)\u2014I tend to lose interest.\u201d Lectures that are simply auditory in nature will not capture the interest or attention of today\u2019s learner. I asked students \u201cSo how can I as a professor compete with cell phones?\u201d The resounding answer was \u201cYou can\u2019t!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While I was not surprised by their responses, it made me think of how much education has changed since I was in college. When I went to college, I could be in a lecture hall with up to 500 students and take copious notes. The Professor had no personal connection to students, and how could they really with a class that size? The Professor talked and we were to receive information by listening and taking notes.<\/p>\n<p>Fast forward to the students of 2017. Today, students have technology and can look up information on the fly on their phones in class, access course materials from Blackboard from any place at any time, and print out PowerPoints, making note taking a dream! It was interesting to hear and value the student perspectives, insights and knowledge base. Students appear to receive and consume information much differently than when I was in college, and often seemingly at the speed of light. No longer do students wish to be passive recipients of information. They want to be engaged, and they want to be involved as co-participants in their learning process. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to hit the \u201cpause\u201d button to just listen to my students\u2019 perspectives, for our students have so much to teach us!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by <strong>Jennifer Graydon<\/strong><br \/>\n<br \/>\nOur first Project ACC Faculty Fellows assignment was to conduct a focus group with our students. This was a humbling experience. As I sat and listened, my students had the opportunity to teach the teacher how they learn best. For the focus group, I asked my students \u201cIf you could tell your Professors before the start of the semester how you learn best, what you would tell them?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":6777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[146],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-written-by-faculty"],"acf":{"carousel_content":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}