Category Archives: Teaching Tips & Strategies

Helpful Strategies for Using Whole Class Feedback

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whole class feedback
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Most will agree that giving feedback to your students is best done in a one-on-one setting. This allows the student to receive helpful feedback directly and gives him or her a chance to ask you questions. However, this doesn’t mean that there isn’t a place for using whole class feedback.

Whole class feedback is when you address the class as a whole and give them feedback as a whole. For example, after handing back graded tests, you can discuss the performance of the class in its entirety. This type of feedback can be quite effective, and it’s a method that is used more than you probably realize. Speaking to each student one-on-one might be more effective, but using whole class feedback has its own benefits. It’s much more efficient to speak to an entire class for ten minutes regarding their performance than it is to speak to each student individually.

When providing whole class feedback, the last thing you should do is lecture your students on the problem they are having. You don’t want to come across as a parent scolding them. Instead, center your feedback around future-focused discussions. Tell your class what they should do next time based on their previous performance. You can even provide goals for the class to reach as a whole.

Don’t shy away from using whole class feedback. For additional advice and information on teaching a classroom of students, be sure to contact us at Labyrinth Learning today.

Learn the Importance of Teaching Students Ethics in Accounting

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teaching students ethics in accounting
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In order to become successful accountants, accounting students must learn a wide array of skills, mathematical concepts, and software. In the midst of imparting all of this technical knowledge, it’s common for instructors and schools to overlook an important part of the field of accounting: ethics. Teaching students ethics in accounting is far less common than it should be. Once you step back and consider its importance, you’ll likely be inspired to spend some time focusing on ethics with your students.

Unethical accounting practices don’t just cost companies a few dollars. Although accountants often assume they are doing little harm by engaging in unethical practices from time to time, the truth is, poor accounting can bring down entire companies. Many businesses have crumbled to the ground following an accounting scandal that started as a simple breach of ethics and quickly grew into something larger.

By showing students examples of instances in which a lack of ethical accounting practices brought down big companies, you are demonstrating to them just how much power they will actually hold in their future positions. You’ll also show them that what starts off as a small breach of ethics can have profound effects that they never predicted; it’s better to adhere to ethical practices from the very beginning.

Labyrinth Learning provides the materials you need for teaching students ethics in accounting. Contact us to learn more about our learning software that benefits both instructors and students.

Teach Students Accounting by Playing Monopoly

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how to teach accounting with Monopoly
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Teaching new subject matter can sometimes be difficult – one way to get information across easier is by using an activity that students are already familiar with. For example, you can actually use the popular board game Monopoly in order to teach students accounting. The following are tips on how to teach accounting with Monopoly:

  • Ask your students to use profit and loss sheets while playing the game and to predict expenses and income as they go. Make it so that a single trip around the board equals a single month on their profit and loss statements.
  • Compare the management of personal and business expenses in real life with playing the game by highlighting the importance of anticipating their expected income and their expenses. Discuss what happens if they don’t plan properly, using examples of losing businesses and homes in the game to mirror real life consequences.
  • Require that receipts be written out whenever money is used within the game, whether it’s for purchases or for paying rent. These receipts will be used for when the students are writing up their profit and loss statements.
  • Ask your students to create a graph that compares their initial predictions with their actual expenses and income to see how things change as the rounds progress. This will help them see whether they became better at making financial predictions or worse.

Use these tips regarding how to teach accounting with Monopoly. Contact us at Labyrinth Learning for additional teaching resources and advice.

How Often Should Professors Lecture in the Classroom?

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how often should teachers lecture in class
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When it comes to teaching a classroom of students, making sure that you have their attention is incredibly important. This means that you should vary your lesson plan a little bit instead of having lectures every single class. However, lectures are still very important, so how often should teachers lecture in class?

Deciding whether you should give your students a lecture is largely dependent on the content you are trying to get across. You don’t want to rely solely on lectures, and you certainly don’t want to repeat what your students are reading and learning on their own – this is simply regurgitating the material and making them more dependent on you instead of their own study habits.

There are a lot of things to consider. For example, maybe you know that the students will have trouble with particular content from past experience, which means a lecture can help make the content more clear to them. Maybe the lecture helps set the foundation and context of the content, thereby giving the students a chance to deal with the content from a place that is expediting their understanding.

When you do decide to give a lecture, make sure that you connect with your students. Ask questions that are intriguing and get your students thinking. Add anecdotes to make the content more entertaining. Don’t just paraphrase from the textbook.

How often should teachers lecture? That depends on the content and your experience. Contact us at Labyrinth Learning for additional teaching tips.

Effective Ways to Create a Quality Web Page

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web page design for students
Source: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Creating web pages takes a lot more effort than it once did – not because it’s more difficult to do, but because you want your website to achieve more in order to stand out from the competition. Not only are you trying to draw in more visitors, you want those visitors to return again and again. Teaching web page design for students will help give them a step up as they go out into the world. The following are a few tips for creating a quality web page:

  • Keep loading times fast – If your website loads slowly, then visitors will hit that back button in a hurry. Obviously, this is not what you want since visitors may not even give your website’s content a chance if this occurs.
  • Make it easy to navigate – Your website should be easy to navigate. This means that visitors looking for a contact page or your blog page shouldn’t have to look very hard. Poor navigation will frustrate your visitors.
  • Make sure your links work – The last thing you want to do is provide links to your readers that don’t work. Not only will this frustrate your reader to no end, it also hurts your search engine ranking; broken links are a sign that your website isn’t being maintained.

Use these tips in order to teach students to create a high quality webpage. Contact us at Labyrinth Learning for more information about web page design for students, as well as our educational media resources.

Microsoft PowerPoint 2013: Essentials is Perfect for Students

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Microsoft PowerPoint 2013: EssentialsAre you looking for a Microsoft PowerPoint teaching tool that will engage your students, utilize real-to-life simulations and extend the learning curve far beyond the basic textbook pages? It sounds like Microsoft PowerPoint 2013: Essentials will be right up your alley.

Microsoft PowerPoint 2013: Essentials

One of the most exciting things about Microsoft PowerPoint is that students can begin applying what they learn immediately. It’s the go-to resource for class projects and presentations so the skills they learn now will benefit them in their other classes as well as when they enter the work world. The new Microsoft PowerPoint 2013: Essentials textbook, paired with the principles of our Labyrinth Instructional Design, increases retention of course materials and allows students to move at their own pace.

The textbook is available in traditional print format as well as an enhanced eBook. The eBook includes all of the information contained in the textbook as well as additional features, like direct links to interactive content and embedded videos. Additional features in the new Microsoft PowerPoint 2013: Essentials textbook include:

  • Lessons that are set up to accommodate both instructor-led or self-paced learning.
  • A real-world focus so students can see the relevancy of the lessons and begin applying them immediately in their own school and/or work environments.
  • Critical thinking exercises that expand on Microsoft PowerPoint applications to provide usable skills like collaboration, public speaking and effective writing techniques.

Contact Labyrinth Learning to learn more about the Microsoft PowerPoint 2013: Essentials materials and our course management software.

College Students will Benefit from Our Essential Computing Skills 2nd Edition

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Essential Computing SkillsIn today’s job market, it is essential that college students develop solid computing skills in order to make themselves competitive candidates for the best positions. The Essential Computing Skills 2nd Edition textbook and learning lab makes it possible for students to learn these skills easily and efficiently.

Essential Computing Skills for college students, by author Russel Stolins, covers a diverse set of topics, from basic use of Windows 8.1, to email, to cloud computing. The highly visual design makes it easy for students to interact with the material as they learn. Videos reinforce concepts, and the interactive tutorials make sure that knowledge is utilized and remembered.

This textbook and the accompanying tutorials use real-world situations to prepare students for computer-related problems they may encounter in the real working world. Students are led through the tutorials, and then given challenging exercises to enhance their learning and measure their progress.

Essential Computing Skills is not just valuable to students; it’s also an efficient and versatile choice for instructors. Instructors have the option of using the eLab course for online training and assessment, so they can spend more time actually teaching and interacting with their students and less time on activities like calculating grades.

To learn more about Essential Computing Skills for college students, and our other brilliant learning solutions, visit Labyrinth Learning. Contact us if you have questions about our software packages or eLab, the system that automates the assessment process so you can spend more time teaching.

Enhance Your Lessons With Images on Microsoft Word 2013

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how to insert images in Microsoft Word 2013
Source: Wordprocessing.about.com

As an educator, your job is to make instructional materials as palatable as possible for your student audience. The tricky part is that that audience consists of a variable mix of learning styles. For that reason, it’s important to use visual information wherever possible in addition to your lectures and text-based learning materials.

Learning how to insert images in Microsoft Word 2013 will allow both you and your students to produce more interesting and engaging resources for class projects, presentations, and other professional applications.

  • Insert your cursor or tap in the area of the Word document where you want the picture to be inserted.
  • Go to the Insert tab in the Illustrations section and then click on the Pictures button. An Insert Dialog box will appear where you clicked on the document.
  • You can now insert a picture from your hard drive, a CD or a flash drive. Choose the picture you want to insert, click on it and select Open. You can also double click on the picture.

The image is now inserted into the document. You can also choose to insert online images you have the rights to by clicking Online Pictures in the Insert tab and then searching for the image using the appropriate keyword. Use a similar technique using Clip Art by searching for a particular image in the Office.com field.

Contact us at Labyrinth Learning for more regarding tips on how to insert images in Microsoft Word 2013.

The Basics of Creating a Database on Microsoft Access 2013

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how to create a database on Microsoft Access 2013
Source: Databases.about.com

The ability to comfortably navigate and create a database is a relevant job skill. If your students are fluent in database creation and implementation, they will save employers time and money, ensuring the company’s information is efficiently organized. Microsoft Access 2013 is one of the most prevalent database platforms on the market.

The best way to begin teaching students how to create a database on Microsoft Access 2013:

Find an appropriate template. Once Microsoft Access is open, you can search their templates for a version that is appropriate to their desired task, such as accounting, sales, or expenses. Students can search and find a template that works for them.

Name and select the database. Name the database as accurately as possible so it is easy to find and retrieve later. Then select it and open it up. Students may need to “enable” the template in order to use it to its full capacity.

Begin exploring and working with the database. Now, it’s your students’ turn to play around a bit. Have them open the Navigation Pane, which will provide a dropdown list of the tables, forms and reports that are relevant to that particular template. The more they explore, the more adept they will become at creating task-specific databases of their own.

Visit us online to find resources to facilitate your Microsoft Access instruction. We invite you to contact us at Labyrinth Learning to learn more about our educational services.

How Computer Literacy can Prepare Students for the Workforce

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computer literacy
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Those who are able to use computer programs effectively are referred to as “computer literate.” While the ability to use computers was a specialized skill several decades ago, it is now nearly essential for students who wish to find a place in the work world. Here is look at a few benefits of being computer literate when trying to enter the workforce:

  • Basic computer skills will help students through the classes they take in college, which will prepare then for the workforce. Many college courses are now at least partially computer-based.
  • Knowing more advanced software, such as QuickBooks and Microsoft Excel, will set your students apart from candidates who have only basic word processing skills.
  • The more efficiently an employee can use a computer, the more work they’ll be able to get done in a day. Productivity is a valued skill in today’s workplaces.
  • Knowing how to use the internet makes communication easier. Harnessing the power of social media and instant messaging services enhances the ability to work remotely, which is becoming more common in recent years.
  • Employees with great computer skills are often placed in leadership roles, where they can help other employees boost their computer skills.

The benefits of being computer literate are never-ending. We are dedicated to providing students and instructors with the software they need to enhance learning in their subjects, and also bolster computer skills. Contact us at Labyrinth Learning today to learn more about our selection of software.