Best Practices

• Use of multiple methods of teaching and evaluation of students
• Encourage student interaction with questions and role playing
• Use of case studies to apply most recently learned theory just covered
• Allow students to identify most pressing issues in their field and incorporate in class discussion, lectures, exercises and evaluations
• Encouraging student role playing and role reversal playing to experience diversity and opposing views of various stakeholders

Some perceived training needs

• In-class exercises to promote critical thinking, creativity, reasoning, analysis and synthesizing
• Improve comfort with and use of technical training devices
• Incorporate the use of case studies into methodologies
• Involve students in more in-class activities (create a more interactive class)
• Encourage students to talk, interview, dialogue with professionals in the field to gain first-hand knowledge of "what it is really like" to work in the profession/field
• Keep course content current

Strengths

• Applying a variety of teaching methodologies
• Recognizing there are a variety of learning styles and capabilities
• Treating students as individuals
• Walking around classroom stimulates students and gains attention
• Collecting background information on students
• Encouraging students to take risks

Barriers

• The compressed format for courses
• Students not prepared for class
• Large class size
• Fear of technology by both students and faculty
• Poor student writing skills
• Students not knowing course objectives and expectations