When you were in college, did you ever want to know what your professor was thinking or where he or she was coming from? I know I did.
I shared tips on how to arrive, survive and thrive in my classes with my students at Georgia Southern University earlier today. I figure it’s only fair. It helps to get my new students on a somewhat level playing field with those who have had me as a professor before.
Do you ever share tips like these with your students? I’d like to see what you do. Please comment and link to your blogs.
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[Cross-posted from Public Relations Matters.]
An Open Note to All of Prof. Nixon’s Students at Georgia Southern University:
We’re off and running in our Fall Semester classes at GSU. This semester, I’m teaching five classes; the classes, with hyperlinks to the syllabi, are listed below:
- Corporate Public Relations
- Public Relations Publications
- Introduction to Public Speaking
- Making Connections: Facebook & Beyond (a first-year experience course)
So that we can make the most of this semester, please (PLEASE) take some time to read through the blog posts I’ve included here. I promise you, it will be well worth your time. (How often do professors let you get inside their heads, letting you know their tips for success and their pet peeves?)
- Prof. Nixon’s Teaching & Learning Philosophy
- How to Fail a Class (WIthout Really Trying)
- Ten Ways NOT to Prepare for College Advising
- My End of Semester Rant, Kinda
Additionally, here are a few more tips:
- When communicating with me via e-mail (or Facebook), please put your course number (such as PRCA 3339) in the subject line to help me immediately identify who you are and frame your questions or comments.
- When submiting an assignment in WebCT Vista, always put your last name as part of the file name, and also include your name in the document itself.
- Follow me on Twitter, if you really want to get inside my head. (What’s Twitter?)
Let’s make this a great semester together!
3 responses so far ↓
Christine Smith // July 23, 2009 at 10:59 am |
As a recently retired PR professor and program co-ordinator I surely let my students what was inside my head in more ways than perhaps they wished!
In my PR Writing course, I handed out my “Drives Me Nuts” list. It contained about a dozen of the editorial/typo slips that drive me nuts as an editor. I provided examples and stressed that by knowing what really pushed your editor/teacher’s buttons as student could avoid these errors. Avoiding them would likely mean better grades.
It got to the point where my margin comments on writing assignments was simply a DMN (Drives Me Nuts) notation.
In our “Welcome to the Program” student handbook, much of the content deals with how to be a successful student. All of that content was based on what was in my head: what I’d seen and heard from students that I knew would lead to success.
Barbara Nixon // July 23, 2009 at 11:06 am |
Christine — Thanks for your thoughts. And I’d love to see your “Drives Me Nuts” list. (I wonder how similar it is to my pet peeves list?)
Students in my head? « It’s Just Academic // July 23, 2009 at 8:09 pm |
[...] in my head? A fellow professor brought up an interesting topic today in her blog about letting students in her head. To me, the answer is a no-brainer…of course. In fact, I [...]