Educational Learning Methods For Keeping My Students Engaged

Being a new instructor for a state university in San Francisco gave me a feeling of anxiety because it was my first teaching job in a college after several years of being a high school teacher and just several months after I fulfilled the qualifications to teach in college. When I was a high school teacher, one of the educational learning strategies or methods I used was to keep my students actively engaged in class. So I figured I should use the same learning method so I can get the college students I was going to teach to be engaged.

However, there were differences between high school and college classes. A college class was much bigger than a high school class, college students are considered adults and supposed to be more serious. So I did some research to learn more about the educational learning strategies I can use for teaching a college class besides the strategies I learned from my undergraduate and postgraduate education.

When I start with my college class, I would make sure that my students are following and understanding the presentations and other lectures I am giving to them by providing a feedback mechanism. A simple feedback mechanism is asking the students to show me if they agree or disagree with my lecture through the nodding or shaking of their heads, or expressing the thumbs up or down response. But I will make sure that they express their feedback in a courteous and respectful manner just as I show respect to them.

Another learning strategy I will use is to discuss with my students the things that I expect them to learn from me. I will talk to them not just during class presentations or lectures, but during discussions about research papers and other academic writings. I hope that by sharing these educational learning strategies, I could give other new or aspiring college teachers a lead on how they could effectively teach a college class and help their students to learn.

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