Stimulation
I have a few students who will only provide minimal information in discussions. Often times, when I try to stimulate a broader answer from them they will provide a yes or no short answer, or a one sentence answer. I feel these students are shy. How can I help my students overcome shyness?
Marie
You could try tailoring discussions to those student's hobbies and likes. Students who are reticent most of the time actually tend to me MORE outgoing when discussing a topic they are very interested in. Doing this once or twice may "break the ice" with that student and get them more interested in discussions in general.
Also, some students are just not comfortable in large groups. Perhaps you can try and get them involved through writing reflections or other kinds of solo activities instead.
I'm probably one of those "quiet" learners. Fortunately I had some great teachers that helped me identify that I had a "quiet quotient"; meaning that I was very comfortable in a smaller group 5-7 people but larger than that, I became invisible. So, you might want to talk with these quiet students and perhaps consider having some learning pod interactions where all need to participate. Also, sometimes the timid need to have more learning victories--not fanfare, just recognition for their successes.
Karyn
I will incorporate what I have learned regarding the purpose and function of the syllabus as well as developing rubrics when course frameworks are considered in my future courses- very informative course. Thank you
I too find that student's do not provide alot of information on their discussion posts. I find (sometimes) that when I reply to a student's post with additional questions ("how did you feel" or "what would you do"), they tend to write a little more. I try to establish a connection (show interest) in what they are writing/communicating. Sometimes it draws them out of their "shyness" and they share more information.
I enjoyed reading some of the tips here.
Sometimes what I htink has helped with discussion posts is to ask something fun and personal while they also relfect on course material. For example, students were invited to join in a discussion about psychological disorders and the post had 4 parts.
They had to define the term, list two from the book, give an example, and then the last part was to pick two of the literary named disorders (Peter Pan, Doran Gray, etc.) - And in many cases - the quiet or introverted seem to like sharing on that last point.
The personal questions really invite all students to sharel for example, what would you do with 500.00 if you were handed a check right now? The replies to that question have led to some fun answers and group bonding.
