Carlos Leal

Discussion Comment

Test objectives vs. Real World Objectives

The computer courses I teach propose certain objectives that are important and reasonable; nevertheless, sometimes I feel that because emerging trends and new technologies, I add extra information that does not necessarily show up on the textbook, nor will it be part of a standardized certifications exam. Students welcome this information yet many times they realize that there is an overwhelming amount of new things they have to keep up with... How can I go about having the students learn certain material for an exam, and certain material to become familiar with for Real world objectives?

Carlos Leal

Discussion Comment

Instructor's Age

I have to admit I am a relatively young instructor (22) and usually my students never really gave this matter importance, nor had realized their instructor was half their age. In the last course I taught, the students figured out my age and it was an ackward situation... For some reason, I had the impression they were not taking me as seriously as in the first day of class. Can you provide me some advice to counter this situation?

Carlos Leal

Discussion Comment

Textbook

I have been using a particular text book for quite some time. Despite being a relatively complete book, I feel it is not very friendly for the particular course I'm teaching. Are there any particular suggestions or guidelines that I can generally follow before I adopt a new textbook? I fear that I may not have time between the end and beginning of each course to review the entire material, nor would I like to compromise the school I work for. What should I do?

Carlos Leal

Discussion Comment

Encouraging career changers

One of the problems I face often is caused by the attitude of many unhappy career changers. How can I serve as a motivator for people that have such a challenging situation?

Carlos Leal

Discussion Comment

Backfiring Surprise...

Dr. Meers, In numerous courses I have taught, I've restrained myself from using the element of surprise because of fear that it could backfire and completely cause the wrong effect. As a computer support instructor, I would find it fitting that computer technicians in training would benefit from ocassionally being surprised. For instance, one time I planned a drill that would have a student perplexed, encountering a computer that is malfunctioning after it was working perfectly fine before the coffee break. I've done this drill a few times with mixed success. One time, the students were able to succesfully fix… >>>

Carlos Leal

Discussion Comment

Having students show up for every class...

Sometimes I feel students generally feel very well about the course; nevertheless, there are ocassions where any given class has interesting lessons, and some that are not as appealing. In the past I have certain students that despite having this positive attitude of enjoying the course, ask me what objective will be covered in the next meeting... I would say 4 out of 5 times the student takes the topic into consideration and may decide not to show up for the next meeting (especially if the current class session maybe has been exhausting.) Often I may believe this is because… >>>