Joe Gruberman

Discussion Comment

Some skills can be generically applied across multiple disciplines. For example, the job of a film producer can be looked at as just a specific form of project management. What skills do others on this forum teach that can be transfered to a different industry, or that can allow a student to tap into an existing skill from an industry that they were already in?

Joe Gruberman

Discussion Comment

Common Ground as the final goal?

This was a weighty topic, not just because of the depth of the technical information but because the expectation seems to be this: That we need to discover how everybody learns and then we need to accommodate the different learning methods, by both redistribution of the students within the class or the project, and by addressing subject matter to accommodate multiple learning methods. Yet the real world will not be as accommodating to these students. What then is our commitment to teaching students to adapt to different learning methods? Is our goal the finding of common ground -- in the… >>>

Joe Gruberman

Discussion Comment

Concrete vs Abstract thinking

We know that different vocations attract thinkers of one type or the other (e.g.constructionn versus fashion design). Has anyone thought about the connection between each mode and various cultures? For instance, do people from an agricultural society or from a service-oriented society tend to think one way or the other? If so, how can we use that to improve our understanding of individuals who are locked into one mode or the other?

Joe Gruberman

Discussion Comment

Repetition as a form of Recency

I'm of the opinion that if I repeat key concepts all during the course of a semester, those concepts will be retained through some form of Recency, i.e. each new reference refreshes it in the "mental queue". Anyone have an opinion?

Joe Gruberman

Discussion Comment

Limited Resources Impede Learning Toolset

We all know how hard it is to get even the most basic supplies. It has been suggested that we "buy" a variety of tools such as colored markers and poster pads. What can we do as individual educators to transfer to our organizations the responsibility of investing in the right basic tools?

Joe Gruberman

Discussion Comment

Music you can use

Some teachers have music libraries of either stock music or loops that can be generated into longer pieces. The benefit of using this music is that it's no usually recognizable (and therefore, potentially distracting), and you can usually adjust the duration to any desired length.

Joe Gruberman

Discussion Comment

Becoming One Of Them

While it may not be in the best interests of the teacher to "become one of the gang", nothing brings aloof students around faster than getting the impression that the teacher is one of them. What better way to do that than to acknowledge and celebrate when students have superior knowledge of a particular piece of subject matter. Of course, if the students are consistently more learned than the teacher, they will most definitely question the credentials of that teacher.

Joe Gruberman

Discussion Comment

Students with Attitude

Erica, I have found that there is the occassional student who relies solely on self-confidence as a mechanism for success. It could be that this strategy works effectively in the student's day-to-day life, but fails him miserably in an academic environment where quantitative and qualitative measurements are strictly applied. --Joe

Joe Gruberman

Discussion Comment

How do you spend the extra exam time given to students who need it?

I'm in favor of providing the extra exam time, even if there's no clinical learning disability but simply a desire to be thorough. However, if 95% of the class is done and you're allotting extra time for the other 5%, how do you occupy the early finishers without disturbing those who are still taking their exams? Personally, I schedule tests as the last activity so that I have the option of dismissing the early finishers without affecting the remaining students.

Joe Gruberman

Discussion Comment

Students with Attitude

There's always one in the class: the student who carries a chip on her (or his) shoulder from Day 1. It should be no surprise to anyone if I suggest that many of these students are simply applying a preemptive defense mechanism to disguise something less obvious like shyness or insecurity. I'd be interested in finding out what other reasons students have for packing an attitude for no apparent reason; as well as what instructors do to overcome those obstacles.