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What Every Instructor Should Know
Faculty Success Advice
Based on our Downtown Campus student surveys and faculty development workshops, we've come up with some simple survival success strategies for our new faculty:
To be successful with your students:
- Communicate early and often.
- Verify student registration.
- Start and end your class in the time allotted, don't miss classes.
- Respect diversity.
To minimize your problems and stress:
- Use a detailed syllabus.
- Familiarize yourself with the registration procedures and deadlines.
- Never take on student responsibilities.
- Ask for help, early and often!
Communicate early and often. Keep regular office hours, give students detailed feedback, talk to students before, during, and after class.
Verify student registration. The first class, check to insure every student is enrolled in your class. You'd be surprised how often students think they are enrolled, and they are not.
Start and end your class in the time allotted, don't miss classes. Think you're off the hook with an online course? You should be present in your course at least every 48 hours, indicating your presence by answering emails, facilitating discussions, updating the gradebook, etc.
Respect diversity. Encourage interaction among your students, chunk assignments into components with clear completion directions, and provide several ways for students to demonstrate learning.
Use a detailed syllabus. Your syllabus should have the answers to most questions students will ask, and should have all your class policies. Our next two modules contain more syllabi information.
Never take on student responsibilities. Students should complete their own forms, register themselves, find their own drop/add slips and textbooks.
Ask for help, early and often! Check with your department chair or coordinator about your questions and concerns. And check with your department's all-wise administrative assistant about day-to-day details. And go to your faculty development website.