March 19, 2024

Communication Skills

How Do I Get Better Grades on Discussion Forum Posts?

How many of you out there take classes that require discussion forum posts and responses? Maybe you feel like this student: You think you’ve done well and then find out that your writing wasn’t strong enough. Dear Chatty Professor,I “beef up” my discussion forum responses as the professor asks, but still not receiving full points. Do you have any additional...[Read more...]

Get Your Prof to “Notice You” for the Right Reasons

Many college success guides and blogs include this advice: “Get your professor to notice you.” (I’ve also seen this variation: “Get your professor to like you.”). From a student perspective, getting a prof to notice and like you sound like a good thing, doesn’t it? If a prof “notices you”, maybe you’ll get better grades, or the class will be easier. If the...[Read more...]

Do you have to sound brilliant in order to speak out in class?

Do you sit in class and worry about whether you should or shouldn’t speak up? Do you try to get your words just right in your mind before you’ll raise your hand? Then, by the time you’re ready to speak, the class has moved on to something else and you’ve lost your confidence? It’s not a surprise that as a student, you...[Read more...]

Five Must Do’s Before You Leave Summer School (Includes Grade-Saving Advice!)

A gigantic bravo to you if you are reading this post and nearing the end of your summer term. Going to school in the summer is awesome and challenging all at the same time. The awesome? You racked up some additional credits. The challenging? You had to miss some hours of sunshine, pool, or beach to achieve those credits. Now...[Read more...]

5 Tips for being a strong online student

(Hello, CTB readers! A version of this post recently ran on my own blog, but I asked CTB to reprint it because the information within is timely and important. Although I have taught face-to-face for years, I largely teach hybrid (part online, part F2) or online now due to having two small kids and enjoying the schedule flexibility. I’ve been...[Read more...]

5 No-apology tips for non-traditional students

I was one and maybe you are, too: A student who is 30, 40, 50, and even 60 and beyond! Like many non-trad students, I did not intend to be “older” in college. But my parents, who were not college-educated, did not make provisions for my education. After losing a parent early, my life took a different vocational path for...[Read more...]

The Don’t-Wait Class for Fall 2011 (Hint: It Can Help the Grades in ALL of Your Other Classes!)

What if I told you that one required core class can help your grades in nearly every single other class you have to take in college? What if I told you that a high percentage of students delay this particular class until graduation nears? “Wha… what?” you might be thinking. “Why would someone do that? A class that can help...[Read more...]

Don’t Call Me Dude.. Not even Professor Dude! In person or in email!

Yesterday in class one of my students said something like, “But dude, didn’t Enlightenment ideas take a while to show up in politics?” I said, “Certainly. Though the idea of self-government … Wait a minute. Did you just call me ‘dude’?” I don’t remember what his exact question was; all I heard was “dude.” I told him that if I...[Read more...]

Putting Your Term on “Pause”: How to Talk to Your Prof About an Incomplete

My father unexpectedly died just three weeks before I finished a fall semester at my former community college. Instead of finding out what my options were, I simply stopped going to classes and I ultimately failed those classes. Had I gone to see my profs, I could have learned that there may have been another option available for me: The...[Read more...]

Boost Your Marketability from the Second You Step on Campus

As this blog post comes out, we are getting deeper into summer and your first days of college are still the furthest thing from your mind. So, I’ll save some student-prof talk for when we are closer to that time. For now, I’m going to ask you to start thinking about your future career—and I’m going to give you a...[Read more...]