By Eric Weinstein, author of Labyrinth Learning’s Excel for Accounting and Payroll Accounting
Continue reading Effectively Teaching an Excel for Accounting Course
Tag Archives: tips for teaching computer skills
Student Engagement in Online Classes
By Pat Hartley, author of Labyrinth Learning’s QuickBooks Online
Let Your Students Have a Do-Over
By Alec Fehl, author of Labyrinth Learning’s Microsoft® PowerPoint® 2016 Essentials and Your Digital Foundation Continue reading Let Your Students Have a Do-Over
Teaching Microsoft Applications: Encourage Individuality, Encourage Experimentation
By Alex Scott, triOS College; Author of Labyrinth Learning’s Microsoft® Excel 2016 Comprehensive Continue reading Teaching Microsoft Applications: Encourage Individuality, Encourage Experimentation
How to Effectively Teach Your Course Content
The quality of the course content in the college classroom is obviously important to a student’s success. However, in order to ensure that students get the most out of a class, it’s also essential that the course content is taught well. Here’s a look at a few easy ways to teach your course content more effectively:
- Make sure the course content is organized in a clear-cut, progressive manner. Ideas should be introduced in an order that demonstrates how they build upon each other. Always start with basic concepts, and build up to more advanced concepts, even if that means back-tracking to a subject that you discussed earlier on.
- Find ways to have your students think critically about the material you are teaching. This will encourage them to engage and process the material, rather than just memorizing it. Critically thinking about material will help make it a part of their permanent thought processes.
- Always integrate discussion into your courses. If you only include lectures and quizzes, students will simply learn the material to pass the quiz. If they are required to discuss and talk about the material, however, they will have to learn it on a deeper level. You’ll notice that, as your students adapt to discussions throughout the semester, they’ll become more skilled at learning in this way.
Labyrinth Learning provides the software and course materials you need to enhance your course content in the college classroom. Contact us today to learn more about our range of products.
Helpful Strategies for Using Whole Class Feedback
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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.
How Often Should Professors Lecture in the Classroom?
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.
Microsoft PowerPoint 2013: Essentials is Perfect for Students
Are 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.
Effective Ways to Motivate Your Students
Learning can either be fun or boring, and where it swings depends on your approach as a teacher. As a general rule, the more motivated students are, the easier they find learning — even if the subject matter you’re teaching isn’t necessarily easy.
To get the class interested to learning, here are some helpful tips on how to motivate your students:
- Work with the strengths and weaknesses of your students. Give them rewards for their strong points while finding ways to strengthen their weak points.
- Make the lesson interactive by encouraging questions and asking for feedback. It’s a good way for your students to be more involved.
- Free up your schedule for consultation before and after the class, and also during breaks. Let your students know they can approach you for any question they have about the lesson.
- Divide the topic in cycles 15-20 minutes long to sustain attention. Any longer than that, and your students will have a more difficult time focusing.
- Use different teaching techniques aside from standard practices. Interactive student discussions, group activities, hands-on demonstrations, and film showings are a few things you can try in the classroom.
- Show your students the practical application of what you’re teaching. It’s a great way to stir up student curiosity.
Here’s another important tip on how to motivate your students: Use multimedia tools to encourage interaction and streamline the whole teaching process.
We at Labyrinth Learning offer various titles for different courses, so contact us to know more about them.
Enjoy the Benefits of Word 2013 CourseCARD
Whether you’re completely new to Microsoft Word or just to Microsoft Word 2013 (the latest version), the Microsoft Word 2013 CourseCARD is a great resource to have by your side. As a quick start guide for beginners, this particular CourseCARD offers well-explained information on the Word interface, along with essential functions and features you need to know for creating and formatting your documents.
The guide is composed of three sections: Quick Reference, Basic Topics, and Advanced Topics. Quick Reference goes over the Mini Toolbar and the different Ribbon tabs, while Basic Topics and Advanced Topics cover matters of increasing complexity — anything from inserting symbols to creating building blocks.
Aside from these, you also get access to Top Productivity Tips and Solutions, a page full of tips on how to make templates, apply effects on text, and customize Word, among other topics.
Priced at only $6.50 if purchased online, the Microsoft Word 2013 CourseCARD is an affordable and practical way to help you learn how to use Word 2013 efficiently and effectively. Please take note that a digital copy of this resource is not available at the moment. However, it comes in textbook form which can be delivered straight to your doorstep after you have placed an order.
We offer other CourseCards for various software applications that Microsoft offers. To learn more about our products, please contact us at Labyrinth Learning with your inquiries.