Preparing Students for Class or Lab | Presenting Information | Facilitating Group Work
Testing and Grading | Finding Out How Things Are Going | Finding IT Resources in Your School or Department
Glossary
Preparing Students for Class or Lab
Classroom and laboratory time is precious, face-to-face contact time between teacher and students as well as among students. There's only so much of it available in any course and it’s worth doing careful planning to make the most of it. To help prepare students for class and lab, you can let them know in advance what will happen during that time. It’s also important to inform them of what they’ll need to do or know beforehand to use the class or lab experience most effectively in their learning.
To prepare for class or lab, students may need to complete reading assignments, exercises, problem sets, review case studies, engage in research tasks, or participate in other out-of-class learning experiences that provide some background or context for in-class learning. Preparation may require access to information that students will be asked to apply or evaluate in class. It might involve an opportunity for students to practice ways of thinking, problem-solving, or performing tasks that will be reviewed, supplemented or complimented in class.
Technology can help.
Assigning Readings:
A course web page enables you to place reading assignments on-line.
The readings can either be mounted on the web page itself or you can
provide links to readings that are located elsewhere on the internet.
Along with the readings you can include pertinent questions, outlines,
or other guides to help students use the reading most effectively as
a preparation for class. You can put text readings that you create or
acquire in hardcopy into the E-reserve
program of the Libraries for convenient on-line access by your students.
The Libraries will also inform you of copyright considerations and limitations,
and will try to acquire relevant permissions at your request.
Assigning Writings:
Technology is also available that can provide students with the opportunity
to engage in “guided writing,” on-line writing exercises
that encourage students to formulate, articulate, and evaluate thoughts
about upcoming classroom discussions.
Viewing Visual Materials:
Photographic, graphic, and video resources necessary for class prep
can also be mounted on a web page or provided in CD-ROM format as the
digital equivalent of a course pack.
Using Library Resources and Tutorials:
The internet provides access to a vast amount of data and information
regarding just about anything. Using resources and services available
at the Libraries that are focused on internet research skills and tools,
students can mine this data and information to prepare for specific
classroom activities. Library resources are also available to help students
attribute, notate, and evaluate on-line documents and information.
Assigning Problem Sets and Exercises:
Using testing and survey software programs and services, you can provide
practice problem sets and exercises for students to complete as preparation
for class. Many of these programs can also provide simple and immediate
answer analysis and feedback for students, enabling them to self-correct
some of their mistakes before being evaluated in class.
Providing Virtual Experiences:
IT offers exceptional opportunities for using interactive strategies
such as case studies and simulations to enhance student learning. You
can construct a simulated interview with a patient or client, a lab
experiment, a field trip—any of which students can experience
and/or interact with as part of preparing for classroom time. Case studies
can be presented either partially or completely using digital resources.
Students can come to class fully prepared to discuss the issues of the
case because they have already had access to the information, data,
sounds and images associated with it.
Some teachers are now handling the bulk of the information presentation needs associated with their courses by assigning that information as class preparatory material and making it available through internet resources that students can readily access. Class time then gets used to discuss the information or use it in some way to address an issue, solve a problem, analyze a situation, evaluate a phenomenon. By using technology for basic preparation, teachers and students can take full advantage of face-to-face classroom time to engage in more interactive teaching and learning.
Glossary of Related Terms.
Acrobat (Adobe)
Authoring (Multimedia Authoring)
Blackboard
CBT (Computer Based Training)
Computer labs
Course management software
Digital images
Digital video
Discussion forums
Dreamweaver (Macromedia)
E-reserves
File transfer and upload
Flash (Macromedia)
Graphics software
Library instructional services
Office (Microsoft)
Multimedia
PowerPoint (Microsoft)
Presentation software
Scanning
Streaming media
Student academic support services
Web page software
Web sites
next section: Presenting Information
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email: itconnections@unc.edu
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CIT: Tel 919-962-6042 | Fax 919-962-0784
Home | IT and You | Arranging Classroom Facilities | Communicating with Students | Developing Assignments | Preparing Students for Class or Lab | Presenting Information | Facilitating Group Work | Testing and Grading | Finding Out How Things Are Going | Finding IT Resources in Your School or Department | Glossary