Priscilla Alvarez

When communicating with students in a remote/hybrid environment, it is important to be responsive, while also being clear in your communication.  When students seek advice/guidance/help, it is important to acknowledge them, their feelings, and then coaching to form that connection with the students.  Students need to feel validated from their instructors to build that trust. 

It is important to help guide students through their programs.  We must help guide them back to why they started their programs, so that they have the ability to continuously remind themselves when motivation is down.  If we role model, remain positive, and coach students, they will feel empowered to push through the difficult aspects of their programs. 

Being an effective coach requires empathetic observation and listening.  By actively listening, we allow ourselves to have time to respond in a positive way, instead of simply reacting.  This allows for constructive feedback instead of judgement and criticism. 

In this module, I learned that it is important to be genuine to build a relationship with your students.  When you're genuine, you're able to build trust that eventually will allow for career coaching.  When you're coaching, you want to guide the student to create their own goals and plans, instead of directing them.  By allowing the student to form their own goals and plans, we empower them to take control of their futures. When students feel empowered, they are more likely to follow through with their educational tasks and goals. 

Extrinsic motivation is a good motivator, but intrinsic motivation will allow adult learners to complete their goals.  It is they big WHY. 

It's important to allow students to feel secure in their learning experience so that they remain motivated.  

As an instructor, I believe it is important to set clear expectations at the beginning of each class so that students have a clear understanding, and can therefore plan accordingly.  At the beginning of each class, all due dates should be entered. At the beginning of each class, there should be daily objectives posted so that the students know what they will be learning.  

I've learned different ways of assessing student's knowledge throughout an entire course.  It's important to get to know your students to properly "meet them where they're at" from the beginning of each course.  "The stool" is a good roadmap to assess the topics covered in each lecture.  Implementing scenarios is crucial to develop critical thinking, and therefore master the understanding of the course/lecture objective. There are several tools at an instructor's disposal, but it is important to be flexible to be able to address each student's needs.