Christopher Brown

strive for integrity in all things and you won't have as much to concern yourself with. Sure, there are always the regulations that can be difficult to navigate, but stay educated upon them, and you will be fine.

The "Will I get a job" question is the one most often heard from new students. We need to have accurate data and a place to point them to so that they can see what past experiences have been. I do like to ask former students to do a presentation and tell of their experience in the school, how they approached the courses, and what most helped them to get a job after graduation.

This is something that I have always stressed personally and professionally. It is ok to not know something. Admit it and say that you will find out. Also, it is never ok to lie. Honesty is paramount in proving integrity.

My main takeaway is this. I like to get excited about the courses and school. However, no matter how much I want to brag about the school or talk about how great it is, you must remember to not make statements that are not provable by fact. For instance, I cannot say "We have the greatest program in the world." unless there is a certificate of proof.

Strangely enough, one of the requests I get most often when discussing peer reviewed papers is that we make them anonymous. Granted, I do that anyway, but students tend to be self-conscious about who sees their name on the rating sheets. They would prefer anonymity. 

I have had issues with discussions where students are waiting to post responses to others, but other students haven't posted yet. How should those be graded? It isn't the initial student's fault that others didn't follow the due dates. I respond to all of the discussions, so this at least gives them an interaction even when other students don't reply.

I often thought about the guest speakers, especially since I have become more adept at presentations and using alternate technologies for presentation. However, the gen ed courses that I teach such as Math and Written Communications generally don't lend themselves to guest speakers.

Online courses can be difficult to masterfully design because you have to account for so many personality types, learning styles, levels of interaction, and possible questions that might arise even before the student finishes reading/performing the material. Having someone highly skilled in problem solving and critical thinking will make this easier, but it is hardly foolproof. 

One of the things I teach often is touched on here. That is the concept of not making assumptions. While this one stated to not make assumptions about students, I often tell them to not assume the answer to a problem. If they feel that they can assume an answer (at this early stage in the career), it can breed complacency which will prevent them from seeking other possible avenues for a problem. I have seen this happen many times where a student assumed the answer to a problem and had a difficult time looking outside of that assumption for… >>>

Again, as mentioned before, it really comes down to another tool that they can use in order to cement the skills into their toolbox. Students these days are so used to using technology, VR, and more online avenues that they are more easily able to integrate these items that may seem more familiar to them.