Whether you’re a seasoned instructor or it’s your first time teaching, connecting with students can pose a significant challenge. Maybe it’s been years (or even decades) since you were a student yourself. You may feel disconnected from the current generation of students and struggle to find ways to build rapport with them. On the other hand, you could be a new instructor with the opposite problem: worrying that you need to keep some distance from your students to maintain classroom authority. When I first started teaching, I certainly struggled with the latter of those two scenarios. I learned quickly that building meaningful connections with my students not only helped my students succeed, but it also made me a better instructor. Through conversations with more experienced colleagues, I learned that connecting with my students would mean more than just focusing on the start of the semester; it would require consistent effort. Often students think of instructors as gatekeepers of their grades, not people with whom they can partner to achieve their own learning goals. However, this shift from being perceived as a gatekeeper to a partner can have a lasting impact. A handful of my own instructors understood the importance of building and maintaining connections with their students. Those are the courses–and instructors–that I remember most fondly. Those are also the experiences that I sought to replicate with my own teaching. Building rapport with students fosters engagement in course content among students and it shows them that they are valued. It also provides instructors with insights for improving their students’ success. Here are 10 steps to building meaningful connections with students not only on day one of class but also throughout the semester. Connecting With Students at the Beginning of a New Term 1. Introduce yourself (honestly). Remember that feeling of running into one of your elementary school teachers outside of school—at the grocery store, in the park, or at the movies—and being stunned to find out that they were a real person outside of the classroom? While high school and college students have no doubt that you’re a real person, that same sense of disconnection can still exist. Let your students know who you are as an instructor, but also as a person. You could also share with your students an anecdote about when you took a similar class to the one they’re now in. Showing your students that you’re a real person may make them realize that they share similar interests. Possibly, they’ll even look at your experiences as a student in their shoes as inspiration to aspire to become an instructor like you someday. 2. Break the ice. It’s safe to say that there can be a lot of nerves on that first day. There certainly were for me as a first-time instructor, and there were for my students as well. An icebreaker is a great way to ease the tension and encourage participation and there are endless possibilities for icebreaker activities. You can keep it related to course content, such as asking students to think about previous knowledge they’ve gained in past courses, or you can ask students questions that are unrelated, such as sharing a fun fact about themselves or their favorite part of their summer or winter break. Get several sample icebreaker activities to use with iClicker. 3. Make yourself available (within reason). It’s important that your students know that you are a resource both during and outside of class. Arrive to class early or stay a little late, plan to hold regular office hours, either in-person or virtually, and set clear boundaries. For example, let your students know that you check your email between certain hours during the day, and if they reach out late in the evening, you may not respond until the next morning. Connecting With Students at Mid Term 4. Create assignments and activities that let students draw on their experiences. As the term progresses, you may find that you’ll need to find new ways to capture and maintain your students’ attention. This is a good time to remind them of the applications of what they are learning in the world outside of the classroom. Ask your students to think about examples of class concepts in their daily lives. 5. Ask students about their goals for the course and follow up with them. Students appreciate regular updates on their progress and performance in class. In a large course, this can be a difficult task for an instructor, but Achieve’s Goal-setting and Reflection Surveys help make this a little easier. Students can establish their own goals and reflect on their progress throughout the term. They can share with you how they feel about their performance, which can offer a good opportunity to check in with them. 6. Use iClicker to facilitate active learning. You can use iClicker to create quizzes and polls that students can respond to during class. What are your students’ muddiest points? Find out with a poll before or during class. How confident are students in their knowledge of the day’s topic? There’s an exit poll for that. Do students truly understand the material? Create a team-based learning activity where students can work in small groups to answer questions. There’s an endless amount of ways to engage and connect with students. 7. Let your students know you’re there for them. Everyone faces unique challenges both in and out of the classroom. You can play an important role in supporting students who are facing challenges by creating a supportive learning environment, being flexible and understanding, and connecting students with resources. Be sure to emphasize the importance of asking for help and let them know when you’re available to them outside of class and how to best get in touch with you. These simple steps will show your students that you’re committed to supporting them and to their success. Connecting With Students at the End of Term 8. Show them you’ve been listening. Your students have learned a lot this term, and so have you. Put what you’ve learned about your students to use as you prepare for the final exam or assignment. At this point in the term, you should be able to recognize your students’ strengths and weaknesses, and you can adjust your teaching during the last few class periods to focus on those weaknesses. 9. Talk to them about campus resources. At the beginning of the term, you committed to making yourself available to your students; but as more and more students need your help prepping for the end of the semester, you might realize you can’t accommodate everyone. The end of term means exams, final papers, and extracurricular commitments, which can be stressful. Make your students aware of the many additional resources your school offers, such as the writing center or tutoring. 10. Consider using the last class for review and discussion. One of the last things I wanted as a student was for my instructor to introduce new material during the penultimate or last class period. My peers and I always appreciated when an instructor would use the final class as an opportunity for students to ask anything they want about class material. If you do need to use every class to finish teaching all of the material on the syllabus, then consider offering an additional review session. Connecting with your students isn’t easy, but it is rewarding–for both you and your students. And, it’s important to build and foster connections throughout the entire term, not only at the beginning. Do you have other steps that you use as an instructor to build and maintain connections with your students? We would like to learn from you! ... View more

The money saver students will love you for As an educator, you feel your students’ pain, because not so long ago you were in a similar spot. Flashback! – Whatever time, whatever age, whatever year it was, you made the conscious decision to further your education beyond your high school hallways and dive into higher education’s collegiate collective. The important, life-changing decision shaped the direction of your career and had an impact on where you are today. Between transportation, room and board, books and supplies, and the ramen noodle cups and pizza to sustain that all-night appetite, college was EXPENSIVE.   And it still is. In fact, tuition has risen 134% since 2002, according to US News data. Any additional cost is another zing on the student's wallet and may impact the student's lifestyle. Many instructors keep affordability in mind when considering resources for their students, while at the same time ensuring they get a quality educational experience. Many nickels and dimes, loonies and toonies, and all other forms of currency have been invested in these hopes and dreams. With digital innovation continuing to sweep the ed tech world, creative forms of teaching and learning have further developed the quality of education and grasp at the shortening attention span of students all over. But what works? For one, active learning. The teaching strategy has been making waves in supporting classroom engagement and knowledge retention for some time, but attention to it has increased significantly with the pandemic. It has been “student-tested, instructor-approved,” and there have been studies to back it up even in the higher education world. Although active learning has been proven to increase student performance, it can also come at a cost. So how can you balance affordability with proper pedagogy?   iClicker has partnered with many institutions across North America to help make this digital tool free for students through the Institutional Site License (ISL) program. Nicole Skwarek, a Specialist Manager in Enterprise Solutions at Macmillan Learning defined an ISL as a “centrally funded license of the iClicker student response platform. It allows instructors to use this type of technology [iClicker] in the classroom, while removing the cost burden off of students”.  iClicker is more popular than ever as a way to engage students. It has been used by more than 5,000 instructors and 7 million students in classrooms across 1,100 institutions. With that in mind, here are a few reasons why these site licenses can benefit students, administrators, and instructors alike: Students pay nothing out of pocket. Yup, you read that right. Engage and save has a nice ring to it! With an ISL, your institution covers the cost for students using the iClicker mobile app, allowing students to jump right into the class with their learning tool worry-free. One less concern to address during syllabus week! Institutional or Departmental Want to test out a site license? You can choose from an institutional site license or a departmental site license. With a departmental site license instructors and students from a certain department can use iClicker at no cost, in the same way an ISL can. Some colleges and universities try this route to dip their toes in the water first before going all in. Free iClickers = Increased Active Learning When institutions choose an ISL and remove the cost barrier, usage of iClicker significantly increases. This helps to increase student success and performance, as well as attendance. In this situation, everyone wins! On-Demand Training Don’t do any in-house training? Not to worry! A dedicated iClicker representative will be happy to provide you and your colleague's training, for both administrators and instructors, while supporting the implementation of all things iClicker. This includes Learning Management System (LMS) integration assistance. This is all pretty handy when getting set up at the beginning.  Ongoing Support So you had some training, but still have some questions? In addition to having a stellar support team, there is also an iClicker knowledge base to help answer any specific questions for students, instructors, and administrators!  Access to Usage Reports and Troubleshooting Tools Administrators who gleefully love data, we see you. Want to see who your power users are? Want to know what the usage on your campus looks like? We have tools that not only get you that data but also help you troubleshoot any questions you have on your campus.  Attend, Engage, Focus, Retain Dr. Kelly Noonan, lecturer for Economics at Princeton University, uses Princeton’s ISL for her course. Dr. Noonan teaches a large class, and when asked why she decided to use iClicker she responded, “[it] allows me to monitor attendance and understanding of the material presented during class. It also allows some interactive ‘games’ that make use of the material presented.”  The cost was a barrier for Dr. Noonan and her students, but thanks to her university’s ISL, it made for an easy choice. “Students are much more likely to attend lectures and they do respond to all polls during class.”  With iClicker, students can have their voices and thoughts heard while learning in real time. They attend their sessions, engage in the conversation, focus on the lesson, and strengthen their knowledge retention. Classrooms big and small have taught us that higher-level critical thinking and sharpened focus are a power duo born from active learning’s influence. With these tools may come some barriers, but here’s a question for educators all over: If students at your university could have free access to a tool that improves a student’s concentration and lesson recollection in and outside of class, why wouldn’t you try it out? ... View more

Student engagement is a term being used more and more often -- but what does it mean, and how can instructors use it to support student success? To find out, we checked in with Michael B. Shapiro, a Clinical Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Georgia State University about how he gets his classes involved with the course materials, mo Professor Mike Shapirotivated to learn and even more curious about criminal justice. Shapiro has been teaching for nearly 20 years and was the recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award for the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies in 2015 at GSU. Here are seven reasons why he likes to use a student response system like iClicker to better support student success.  Use technology. “Our job is not just educators, we also need to be edutainers” Shapiro explained. One way to keep students both informed and engaged is with the technology that students are using both in and out of class on a daily basis. While educators try to encourage focus on the class lecture and activities, “it’s naïve to assume students will disconnect from the technology they use every day, so why not take advantage of that connectivity in class.” They’re using a digital device for non-class purposes more than 20% of the time whether we like it or not, he noted. One of the tools Shapiro uses for his edutainment is iClicker.  Have they or haven’t they read the materials? iClicker helps to gauge just how prepared students are. Shapiro said that using iClicker to ask students questions and gauge their familiarity with important points helps him remove the guesswork and also allows for him to adjust the lecture as it’s happening to better meet that particular class’ needs. For example, understanding what students in each class already knows helps him understand when he has the flexibility that would allow him to get into more nuanced areas of criminal courts, law, procedure and ethics in the courses he teaches. Shapiro explains that in the journey of learning, “knowing where the students' "knowledge gaps" are is the difference between paving the entire road and filling in potholes.” Get students involved! Polls and real-time questions throughout class help encourage students to become more engaged in their learning -- something that’s even more challenging when the class is virtual. To hold students’ attention, Shapiro gives out points for correct answers throughout the class, but noted that he’s seen instructors use them in other ways, including offering points for participation. The polls and questions can range from multiple choice questions to heat maps and can even be short answer questions that can generate a word cloud, which can prompt a continued class discussion around the students' perceptions of what is significant in a lecture. Mitigate students’ fear of getting the “wrong” answer by allowing them to answer anonymously. All of the questions and polls in iClicker can be anonymous, helping students to feel comfortable giving honest answers and feedback -- something especially important for students who don’t feel comfortable raising their hand in class. In his criminal justice class, Shapiro asks “Yes or no, have you ever committed a crime?” in anonymous mode. The question encourages students to think about what a “crime” is and allows for a spirited discussion to follow, while allowing students to safely answer challenging questions anonymously. Use class time. Shapiro adds that iClicker helps him understand just how much students learned in class. He doesn’t just rely on their homework and written assignments to gauge how well students are understanding the various aspects of criminal justice. How does he know? He uses exit polls to get feedback about the day’s class and see if there were any points that need clarification in the next class meeting. Two of his favorite questions are “What was the most significant thing you learned today” and “What surprised you most about today’s class?” Assess often. You can do more than just create polls and questions; Shapiro uses iClicker to create on-the-fly quizzes or check in with students ahead of exams. According to Digital Promise, frequent quizzes and other assessments are one of eight instructional practices identified as contributing to more effective online teaching and learning.  Finally, student response systems make taking attendance easy. Taking attendance can be challenging -- especially in larger classes, but Shapiro said that using an iClicker makes taking attendance easy. Not only that, but automated attendance reminds students when class is about to start by pushing out notifications. Attendance can be run at the beginning of class or throughout the class. It can also be used to take attendance at non-class events, such as a presentation or conference simply by setting a geofence around the location. In sum, there’s no shortage of reasons to use a class response system -- whether it’s for attendance, for “edutainment”, or to gain a better understanding of what topics students need extra help with. To learn more about iClicker, click here. ... View more