“Students have said to me and my colleagues here, ‘Thank you for teaching me so and so.’ But the ’so and so’ was something I did not know, or at least did not attempt to teach that day. A better voice than mine was whispering under my voice, something that they were then ripe and ready for, and it came.”

Truman G. Madsen, “On How We Know,” Brigham Young University 1994-95 Speeches. 20 Sep 1994.

Consider how you can encourage your students to listen to what the Spirit teaches them during your class.

You can plan now to make your course even better. Research conducted here at the Center for Teaching and Learning indicates that instructors can take a few simple steps to make their classroom experiences more effective for student learning. Presented here are three things that you can do as you plan for future courses.

1. Encourage active and practical learning.
   • Make connections to real-world applications of the course material.
   • Provide for hands-on activities (active learning) over straight lecturing.
   • Facilitate in-class discussion groups and group work.
   • Provide opportunities for students to be a mentor and to function as a peer teacher.

   To access CTL resources to help you with teaching and learning strategies, click here.

2. Provide for meaningful teacher-student interactions.
   • Learn students’ names and demonstrate that you care about their lives.
   • Listen to students’ concerns and respond appropriately.
   • Be encouraging and quick to recognize students’ accomplishments.
   • Spend more time with students and communicate with them personally.

   To access CTL resources to help you with showing students that you care about their learning, click here.

3. Make course expectations clear and based on learning outcomes.
   • Make course expectations explicit.
   • State the learning outcomes and make clear connections to the real world.
   • Engage students in assignments that have a clear connection to learning outcomes, as opposed to those that are perceived as busy work.

   To access CTL resources to help you with learning outcomes and course design, click here.

Don’t forget the value of conducting mid-course evaluations to track where you are right now.

-Based on research conducted by Whitney Ransom, Center for Teaching and Learning,
Brigham Young University

Watch the following video, and invite your students to submit feedback on the semester so far. Then consider making a few course corrections before this semester’s voyage is over.

Access the Mid-Course Evaluation Tool now.

“Our honor code and dress and grooming standards are an integral and essential part of this unique environment.  They in fact involve more than just environmental considerations.  They are anchored in principles of morality and good citizenship.  Some of those moral principles are found in revealed truth, such as our sexual morality and Word of Wisdom standards.  Others are based on considerations of cleanliness, modesty, and general appearance, but all are grounded in morals, because they are standards that we are committed to keep as a condition of our being here, and keeping commitments is a moral issue of the highest order.”

Rex E. Lee, “Opportunities for Learning,” Brigham Young University 1991-92 Speeches. 10 Sep 1991.

Consider how you can encourage your students to make a greater effort to keep their personal commitment to live the honor code, to be committed to it and love it.

[Caution: Please use YouTube judiciously.]

Instructional Purpose: When displaying PowerPoint slides to students, it is often inconvenient to display a YouTube video by exiting the slideshow and opening up a separate browser window. If you have an active internet connection (and are using Microsoft Windows), there is a technique for pointing to the YouTube video and having it run right inside your PowerPoint slide. Just follow these easy steps (a video demonstration is available at the end of this description):

Step One: Select the YouTube video.
Find the desired video on YouTube and copy its URL.
Step Two: Prepare PowerPoint.

1. Open up PowerPoint and make sure that the developer tab shows up in your ribbon. If the tab is not there, click on the Windows logo in the upper left hand corner, click on “PowerPoint options” (at the bottom of the displayed list), and check the “show developer tab “box.
2. Select the developer tab and “more controls” (the icon that looks like a hammer and wrench). Scroll down and choose the “Shockwave flash object” option.
3. Go to the slide where you want the video to appear and draw a box. You can edit the size of the box anytime so don’t worry about the ideal size now.

Step Three: Link YouTube video with the slide.

1. Right click in the box you just created and select “properties”.
2. Paste the YouTube URL In the box to the right of “movie” and edit it as follows: change “watch?v=” to “v/” (deleting “watch?” and replacing the “=” with a “/”).
3. The property “playing” controls whether the video starts automatically when the slide is displayed, and “loop” controls whether the video will continually start over it finishes playing. Set these values to “true” or “false” according to your desires.

Step Four: Play the video.

1. Exit the properties by clicking on the red X in the top right hand corner.
2. Save your PowerPoint presentation and run the slideshow. The YouTube video will run within your PowerPoint slide, accessing it via the internet, without having any copy of the video on your computer.

Click here to watch a YouTube video that shows the procedure described above.

Instructional Purpose: YouTube videos can contain valuable instruction, but if you send students directly to YouTube to watch a video, they will be exposed to additional clutter beyond your intended video. Distracting advertisements, user comments, and other related videos, all outside your direct control, fill their viewing window. An alternative is to provide them a URL that displays the YouTube video in a relatively clean environment. Here’s how:

Step One: Install in your browser toolbar quietube.com–it’s a bookmarklet and can be used for most of the main video sites, not just YouTube.
A. Go to http://quietube.com/

B. Drag the little “quietube” button in the middle of the screen to your toolbar. This installs the quietube bookmarklet in your browser to you can activate it from YouTube. Unfortunately, quietube does not install in Internet Explorer, so you will have to use another browser (e.g., Firefox, Safari).

Step Two: Obtain the quietube URL from the YouTube video.
A. Browse to the YouTube video you would like to share with your students.

B. Click on the quietube bookmarklet in your browser toolbar. You will be taken to a new URL, which displays the YouTube video without the YouTube clutter.

C. Copy the quietube-provided URL.
Step Three: Share the quietube URL with your students. Paste the quietube URL to share with your students (e.g., email, Blackboard, MSWord document, Adobe .pdf, PowerPoint slide, etc.)

Watch for our final YouTube Tech Tip:
“Showing a YouTube Video in a PowerPoint Presentation”

The first day of class is a new beginning for learners and teachers alike. New beginnings invite excitement and anticipation but also some anxieties for all those involved. However, implementing a few simple activities on the first day can establish a climate that reduces anxiety, expands excitement, and channels learner enthusiasm to real learning gains throughout the semester. As you prepare for a new term, consider using some of the “First Day” strategies below. After class, reflect on how well the implemented strategies worked.

1. Share and create enthusiasm about the subject matter
   1. Explore commonly held myths
   2. Introduce recent discoveries
   3. Pose provocative questions
2. Set expectations
   1. Share your beliefs about teaching and learning
   2. Explain what you expect of yourself and of learners throughout the term
   3. Demonstrate those expectations on the first day
   4. Whatever you want learners to do during the semester, do it on the first day (discussions, group work, critical thinking, etc.) because this demonstrates to learners what the class will be like
   5. Ask learners to share what they hope to gain from the class
3. Involve learners quickly
   1. Give substantial content
   2. Give an assignment on the first day
   3. Have learners submit questions that will be answered at the next meeting (submit through note cards, Blackboard, etc.)
   4. Provide an informative, user-friendly syllabus
   5. Provide an opportunity for learners to ask questions about any aspect of the class
   6. Invite learners to give feedback on the first day of class (e.g., on a note card, using a Blackboard survey)
   7. Conduct a knowledge census (a pre-test of sorts) to determine what learners already know so that you know what gaps need to be filled in
4. Develop positive relationships
   1. Learn names
   2. Do an ice-breaker activity
   3. Reveal something about yourself
   4. Have learners share something about themselves

Additional resources:
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/firstday.htm

“Joseph Smith said that when the angel Moroni first appeared to him, Joseph ‘was afraid; but the fear soon left’ him. What was it that Moroni did to help dispel this fear? Joseph said, ‘He called me by name.’ Teachers who love their students and call them by name are following a heavenly pattern.
“In a recent meeting with President Thomas S. Monson, I noticed that he greeted each of us by name. He spoke to us about his boyhood Sunday School teacher Lucy Gertsch, noting that she was a teacher who knew the names of each student in her class. President Monson has said of her: ‘She unfailingly called on those who missed a Sunday or who just didn’t come. We knew she cared about us. None of us has ever forgotten her or the lessons she taught.’”

William D. Oswald, “Gospel Teaching—Our Most Important Calling,” Ensign, Nov 2008, 95–98.

Consider ways you can learn and then use your students’ names. For ideas see Learning Students Names.

Method 1

Step One: Select the YouTube video.
Find the desired video on YouTube and copy its URL.
Step Two: Use Zamzar.com

1. Open up your browser and go to Zamzar.com.
2. Select the “URL” link located in “Step 1” under the Convert Files tab.
3. Copy the YouTube video URL into “Step 1” space provided under the Download Videos tab (the box that is partially filled with “http://”) .
4. Select the video conversion format in “Step 2” under the Download Videos tab (.mov for Mac, .wmv for Windows).
5. Enter your email address in “Step 3” under the Download Videos tab.
6. Select the Convert button in “Step 4” under the Download Videos tab and “OK” in the popup window.
7. Wait for the conversion and mailing to complete. The YouTube video will be sent to your email address.

Step Three: Access Your Video.
Access the message from Zamzar.com on your email account, follow the download link, and save the video file to the desired location on your local computer.

Method 2

Step One: Select the YouTube video.
Find the desired video on YouTube and copy its URL.
Step Two: Use KeepVid.com

1. Open up your browser and go to KeepVid.com
2. Paste the YouTube URL into the URL field and select the “DOWNLOAD” button (above the large Download, Convert, and Play icons).
3. A green “Download links” bar should appear (below the large Download, Convert, and Play icons). Occasionally, there will be a message in this area to refresh the webpage (F5) for the download links to appear.
4. There are two download links: low (flv) and high (mp4) quality. Select the download link that matches your desired quality and/or format.
5. Save the video file to the desired location on your local computer.

Watch for more Tech Tips about YouTube …

• Sending Students to YouTube without all the Clutter
• Showing a YouTube Video in a PowerPoint Presentation

Listen to Ken Bain and James Zimmerman’s entire article, “Understanding Great Teaching” (Peer Review, Spring 2009, Vol. 11, No. 2). Narrated by Samuel Smith, CTL.