John Micensky

This course explained the difference between online learning and in-person learning - as well as the challenges that we face as educators. 

Frequent communication and positive encouragement are a fantastic approach to retaining students.

Audio professionals can easily get burnt out when they are in high-stress production environments, so this is important for the topic that I teach. This course taught me how to manage my calendar and reframe my mindset towards my day. Focusing on the wins, and positive moments in the day can help us maintain a positive outlook on the "bigger picture".

Utilizing activities that require the students to think critically is in the best interest of the student and the instructor because it forces the student to practice problem solving skills. When utilizing active learning methods it is crucial that there is mutual respect between every member of the cooperative environment. Students must also understand that their peers might ask them questions about the project, which gives them an opportunity to take the role of instructor for a moment. Teaching a topic often leads to a strong understanding of the topic, so this is a positive outcome of methods like cooperative… >>>

The key elements of active learning are Reading, Reflective Writing, Displaying and Doing. It is essential that instructors utilize these elements in their coursework.

In my coursework, we have readings that provide the student with creative inspiration as well as an in-depth description of the tasks they will later be doing themselves. We then ask the students to reflect on those readings and what they learned from them. Later I show my students examples of professionals in the field completing the task that we are soon going to complete in our projects. Lastly, we work on the projects as a… >>>

Instructors should effectively communicate the expectations of active learning to prepare their students for the workload. According to the text, some students do not initially see the value of active learning and are expecting a more transactional lecture-based learning environment. 

On the first day of my class, I like to discuss all of the projects that we will complete by the end of the class. This provides me with the opportunity to discuss why we're completing the projects. My game audio course is intended to give the student the starting pieces of their own digital portfolio that they would one… >>>

I learned that students learn more effectively when actively engaged during their coursework. The student's learning experience also improves when they are encouraged to work in groups and to help their peers.

An instructor can approach one portion of the class with the Collaborative Learning Method by creating group activities, and grading the groups as a whole. Then they could later approach their class with the Cooperative Learning Method, still directing a group activity, but grading the students individually instead.

The cooperative method is similar to the way that a film or production crew would work together to create a… >>>