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TOP 10 REASONS TO ATTEND AN ON COURSE WORKSHOP
10. Learn research-based strategic learning and teaching practices.
9. Learn to empower students to take responsibility for their own happiness and success.
8. Collaborate with colleagues on best practices.
7. Practice practical classroom strategies you can use in your classroom tomorrow.
6. Understand why many students act as they do when faced with difficult college courses.
5. Understand how everyone’s taking ownership of his/her own behaviors simplifies teaching any content area.
4. Gain access to what colleagues from across the nation are doing to ensure student success.
3. Explore classroom issues that impede student success and learn how to deal with them.
2. Learn how to incorporate learning strategies into content coursework.
1. Have a great time!
–-Robin Ozz, Faculty, English, Phoenix College, AZ
10. Once trained, it’s always an interesting thing to talk about at faculty meetings.
9. Learning methods of teaching is always a plus!
8. Your students will appreciate you trying something new in the classroom.
7. The workshop facilitator is always focused on making this a GREAT experience for you!
6. Practical advice that you can use right away!
5. It’s been shown to increase retention and graduation rates – and get students involved in the classroom!
4. It’s a great way to learn how to challenge your students in a positive way!!
3. If it’s free for you to attend, you won’t find a better bargain to learn new teaching strategies!
2. You get to meet a lot of great, like-minded people!
1. It will not only change the way you teach, but maybe even change the way you look at your own life!
–William H. Johnson Jr., Student Success Coordinator, School of Health and Human Performance, University of North Carolina-Greensboro, NC
10. Meet and be impressed by the amazing facilitators and the “father” of On Course, Dr. Skip Downing.
9. Connect with principles that can improve your life as well as your students’ performance.
8. Learn about your own strengths and opportunities for improvement as a teacher.
7. Validate your own philosophy of teaching through interaction with others.
6. Experience more “A-Ha’s” than you ever thought possible.
5. Attending might just enable you to play an important role in transforming the life of an individual student.
4. Attending will connect you with the most effective and tangible reform movement in high education.
3. Attending will connect you with gifted and talented educators from across the continent.
2. Attending will provide more concrete teaching methods models than you can hope to use in your entire career.
1. Attending will transform your teaching so that you can truly engage your students.
–Patrick Barlow, Employee Development Manager, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, Madison Area Technical College, WI
10. A positive, nice and relaxing setting compared to the chaos of this week (starting classes).
9. A chance to bond with co-workers.
8. Motivating and re-energizing personally.
7. Time and a framework that allows time for you to think through implementing new strategies for use with your student population, whoever that population might be.
6. Getting to network with people in your field (advising and teaching study strategies).
5. Getting to network with people in related fields and hear other points of view (faculty, reading and tutoring services, etc.).
4. Getting great ideas and activities to use with students.
3. Seeing how ideas and activities work with groups and how students might feel doing the same activities.
2. Getting to meet other like-minded colleagues with yet more great ideas.
1. Most important, to have a continuing resource for ideas, suggestions and possible solutions to problems, in the other OC Ambassadors.
–Kathy Jensen, Academic Advisor, Gateway Programs (formerly Student Success Center), University of Toledo, OH
10. It will make your classroom a better place to live.
9. It could save your life.
8. It will help you make teaching and learning fun again.
7. It will make you a better person.
6. You will meet some wonderful people.
5. It will remind you of what teaching can be.
4. It could save some student’s life.
3. It will help you be even more awesome than you already are.
2. It matters.
1. It’s safer than exorcism.
–Harold Arnett, Developmental Education Specialist, Highland Community College, KS
10. The book is twice as good, but only half the size of most others.
9. On Course has a proven track record for helping people change their lives for the better.
8. Teachers who use On Course start to feel pretty silly when they complain about anything.
7. Students (and teachers) learn to make wiser choices.
6. You will become a more effective teacher and your students will enjoy learning.
5. This stuff is infectious; it spills over into every area of our lives.
4. On Course not only makes good sense to us touchy-feely Global folks, but also to those Analytic knuckleheads.
3. Students who use On Course start to feel pretty silly when they complain about anything.
2. A lifetime supply of effective and fun structures & strategies.
1. You will discover how to actually improve student retention and success instead of just impotently whining about it.
— Tom Hale, Student Success Coordinator, Northwest Arkansas Community College, AR
Top Reasons to Attend an On Course Workshop:
6. You have a lot to offer and maybe you’ll learn something new, too!
5. Laughter and relationship are immensely good for everyone’s health and well being.
4.You’ll meet new friends in the colleagues you pass in the halls every day.
3. The stuff you learn at On Course will make a difference in your personal life and relationships also! Double investment for your time and money!
2. What is our ultimate goal for our students?-To be successful! Come learn new ways to make it happen.
1. It will give you new wind in your sails and thinking to integrate into ANY course you may be teaching
–Janeth Franklin, Adjunct Faculty, Glendale Community College, AZ
5. Meeting Skip Downing and gaining the essence of the course from the book’s author.
4. Learning about the online resources through Cengage,
3. You will learn a way of dealing with not just students, but colleagues and direct reports, that is effective!
2. Becoming an On Course Ambassador and getting helpful tips and ideas from others,
1. Networking with other teachers during the conference.
–Tina Luffman, Coordinator Developmental Education, Yavapai College, AZ
5. Casual/offhand comments can have huge consequences. (I keep remembering the story of the “half-brain” encounter you had. That story really helped me keep my mouth closed this past semester. The two students who kept insisting they were four point students ultimately accepted a C and were grateful to pass.)
4. The case studies, especially, remind everyone that on the job there is no such luxury as a “bad day.”
3. Having all faculty and staff regardless of assignment or academic area realize that they are interacting with a whole person, not just a brain or a problem.
2. The personal affirmation of having someone listen and give thoughtful reflection about your ideas. As I have been cleaning files and notebooks this vacation, I discovered a list of dreams created over several years and was delighted to discover how many of them I have been able to accomplish because I had goals, however vaguely expressed they were in their original format. I suspect I would not have taken the time to think about the future without the OC opportunity.
1. The rare opportunity to “dive deep” personally.
–Marcia Backos, Program Director, Bryant and Stratton, OH
3. This workshop will motivate you to want to teach more, or rejuvenate the reason you became a teacher.
2. It is great to learn better ways to make students more responsible for their own success in college and life.
1. It will give you the best feeling you’ve had in a long time.
–David Hoffman, Emergency Medical Services & College Success, Southern State Community College, OH
3. Meet others and have an opportunity to be yourself
2. Experience a real “learner-centered” environment.
1. Hands on experience of what it really means to get students connected and to sell the experience of college.
–Alicia Mitchell, Faculty, Developmental Studies, Roane State Community College, TN
2. To experience an “Aha” moment.
1. Learn how to make students take responsibility for their learning.
–Sue Johnson, Faculty, English, Sierra College, CA
2. You will receive a lot of practical ideas that you can use right away
1. You will be refreshed, encouraged and inspired
–Donna Slaughter, Program Director, Liberal Arts, Bryant and Stratton College, VA
2. To find ways to get out of your own way as a teacher
1. To feel the forward-looking energy of being a student again
–Stacia Neeley, Faculty, English, Texas Wesleyan University, TX
2. The Self-Responsibility, Self- Awareness and Emotional Intelligence pieces are crucial to student persistence. These concepts have not always saved students from failing; what has changed is that these students are no longer quitting after a failure. I am confident that these students will ultimately graduate from college.
1. I have attended many lectures on learner-centered teaching, but only On Course ever modeled what learner-centered teaching should look like.
–Molly G Drenen, Program Manager, Optical Technology/Ophthalmic Assisting, Cuyahoga Community College, OH
2. To rejuvenate yourself
1. To “think outside the box.”
–Teresa Guadiana, Counselor/Co-Director, Puente Project, College of the Sequoias, CA
2. Attending an On Course Workshop is a priceless investment that will pay dividends for many years to come.
1. You owe it to yourself, your colleagues, and to your students.
–John Quevedo, Developmental Mathematics Specialist, Santa Monica College, CA
2. On Course Workshop will certainly give you new strategies, techniques, methods, and approaches to implement in your classroom.
1. Most importantly it will connect you with like-minded professionals and rekindle the fire and passion you have inside yourself for the profession.”
–Mike Kutnak, Tutor/Proctor/Student Success Instructor, Piedmont Virginia Community College, VA
2. You might not want to spend your whole vacation on the French Rivera preparing the lectures you have to give when you get back! Try some of these great techniques that make your students do all the work!
1. Forgot your reading glasses on the way to class and can’t read your hour-long lecture? Don’t cancel class!! Learn some great strategies to use with students so you can see learning taking place in spite of your blurred vision!
–Laurene M. Grimes, Associate Professor, Counseling Department, Enrollment Services Division, Lorain County Community College, OH
1. Be a learner-centered teacher who facilitates student success!
–Beth Potter, Faculty, Human Services Department, Anne Arundel Community College, MD
1. On Course helps you re-discover the fun and excitement of learning and the influence educators can have on awakening the potential of an individual to overcome limitations and embrace the challenge of personal achievement and quality of life.
–Jim Genandt, Dean of Career & Technical Education, Spoon River College, IL
1. An On Course 1 workshop will kindle enthusiasm for student-centred teaching among attendees, focus their attention on the REAL factors affecting student success, and give them a toolbox of practical ideas they can implement immediately.
–Ruth Rogers, Teaching and Learning Specialist, Durham College, CN
1. After experiencing 2 separate On Course workshops on our campus, I can truly attest to the fact that we saw revitalization and unification as a result of the training, the inspiration, and the camaraderie. On Course is contagious!
–Betty East, Tutoring Director, The Victoria College, TX
1. The workshop was a wonderful opportunity to connect with two colleagues from my own institution. The thought of doing that on a larger scale would be very exciting!
–Kim Kelly, Tutoring and Testing, Heartland Community College, IL
1. You will come away with many active learning strategies to try in the classroom.
–Marilyn Larsen, Faculty, Mathematics, College of the Mainland, TX
1. My #1 reason for attending the On Course Workshop was to find out what “worked” for other colleagues in my field of developmental education. And know what—my answer was provided more than I imagined. Being am ambassador is just “icing on the cake” in that the ideas just keep coming from other ambassadors (and myself). My only down point is: WHY didn’t I know about this wonderful workshop years ago! It is the BEST one out there!
–Jo Ann Benda, Professor of Developmental Education, Prince William Sound Community College, Valdez, AK
1. You will never bore yourself (or your students) again in the classroom!
–Diane O’Hearn, Academic Advisor/Faculty, College Success, Greenfield Community College, MA
1. The On Course Workshop will provide strategies and tools you can use to ignite your students to achieve academic and life success but more importantly it will reignite your passion for teaching and learning!
–Amybeth Maurer, Director, Orientation & Student Life, Elgin Community College, IL
1. The ideas were easily implemented into not only my classroom but also into my way of thinking everywhere!
–Nixie Hnetkovsky, Faculty, Life Sciences, Frontier Community College, IL
1. Professional and Personal Development is important, however, having them both occur simultaneously is extremely empowering not only to the individual, but also for the students served and the institutions in which we work. The ‘ripple effect’ at it’s best.
–Mary Beth Willett, Tutor Program Coordinator University of Maine, ME
1. It reenergizes and refocuses your passion for teaching…..if you think you are helping students now, you can multiply that by 10 after taking this course!
— Richard S. Benard, Associate Dean of Instruction, Bryant & Stratton College, OH
1. I think one of the most compelling reasons to attend an On Course conference is that it stimulates us as professionals, reminding us of our primary love of learning, which ignites us with possibilities and strategies to use in the classroom. Basically: it makes us better, more engaged teachers, which in turn, causes us to create better, more engaged students!
–Angelina E. Stuart, Professor of Spanish & ESL, Academic Senate President-Elect, & Co-Chair Curriculum Committee, Southwestern College, CA
1. The best reason for attending an On-Course Workshop is that it makes the attendee (1) a better instructor (and person, in general) and (2) a better facilitator for helping his/her students become better students (and people, in general)!
–Stacey DuVaul, Writing instructor, University of Arkansas–Fort Smith, AR
1. One of the greatest reasons that I can think of is that you become so absorbed in the workshop as a student that you really dive deeply into your own being and as a result have a much deeper understanding of what your students truly experience.
–Jane Pendry, College Liaison, Early Middle College Programs, Guilford Technical Community College, NC
1. The information and experience I received from attending an On Course Workshop changed the way I view education and work with students.
–Erin Frock, Truckee Meadows Community College, NV
1. It will reinvigorate you with new energy to begin AND/OR continue to do what you KNEW should have been happening all along.
–Kimberly Cannon, Department Chair – Medical Assisting, Guilford Technical Community College, NC
1. Nothing beats an old dog learning new tricks! It revives the old dog as a person and as a teacher. The OC workshop is incredible; best thing I have ever attended!
–Karen Kearse, Assistant Professor of Education, Director, Program for Alternative Learning Styles (PALS), Limestone College, GA
1. Because it is the best professional training and experience you will ever have!!
–Stephanie Shea, Counselor/Faculty, College Success, Riverland Community College, MN
1. It will change how you “think” about working with students!
–Kim Martin Chemeketa Community College, Salem, OR
1. It gets results: 88% of our first year students in Fall 2008, who were required to attend a class taught using On Course, wisely returned for Spring 2009.
–Dana Murphy, Division Chair, Developmental Education, National Park Community College, AR
1. It will change YOUR life and the lives of your students.
–Susan Holladay, Director of Instructional Laboratories, Purdue University School of Pharmacy, IN
1. Attend the OnCourse workshop if you want to experience the best professional personal development and the best personal professional development for your own life skills. Oh yes, the students will benefit, truly, as well.
–Barbara Van Syckle l Professor l Business Department l Jackson Community College, MI
1. The On Course Workshop does more than simply talk the talk about active learning; On Course leaders model strategies, engaging all participants in an active learning experience that is worth more than a hundred PowerPoint presentations.
–Laura Campbell, Faculty, English, Santa Monica College, CA
1. The number one reason would be SKIP.
–Wendy Walsh, Student Life Coordinator, Lock Haven University, PA
1. The On Course Workshop presents a perspective of learning and instruction that will inspire and motivate students and teachers alike.
–Patricia Strickland
1. Here’s one that we’ve found at Butte: you will get higher ratings on your evaluation from students.
–Cara Gubbins, Learning Resource Specialist, Butte College, CA
1. The On Course Workshop is life-changing, both personally and professionally. It will not only inspire you to be the best educator you can possibly be, but it will also equip you with numerous tools to use with students. The On Course I Workshop was the BEST professional development seminar I have ever attended. I use the strategies I learned there with myself and my students daily, and I continue to be touched in positive ways by the friendships I developed at the On Course Workshop. I could go on and on – how exciting for these future participants!
–Cami Ramsey Eastep, TRiO SSS Retention Specialist, Walla Walla Community College, WA
1. The tools really work and work in any discipline. I now start my nursing groups off with some of the essentials exercises at the beginning and what a change it makes in their success and behaviors. It helps to reduce their stress and gives them tools to problem solve from the beginning. For faculty it provides a way to network with others and share of ideas. You do not always have to be a “D” learner but can get help from others!!
–Shaaron Vogel, Faculty, Nursing, Butte College, CA
1. The top reason to host an on-campus ON COURSE WORKSHOP: Employee morale is boosted. On Course Workshops hosted by our campus provided opportunities for positive interaction and collaboration that never seemed likely before. Faculty and staff were invigorated and enthused as they discovered (or re-discovered) tools for success to incorporate into their personal and professional lives.
–Gail Janecka, Counselor, The Victoria College, TX
1. You go in feeling alone and come out feeling super-connected.
–Diana Clark, Counselor, Washtenaw Community College, Ann Arbor, MI
1. You go into On Course with a couple teaching strategies, but you leave with a million that help student reach their optimal potential!!!!!
–Fabian Drain, Counselor/Assistant Professor, Montgomery College, MD
1. You go in a burned-out, cynical, on the verge of quitting academia wreck and leave feeling rejuvenated, inspired, self-confident and ready to take on another batch of students!
–Roxie L. Ray, Director Academic Resource Center and First Year Studies Program, University of Bridgeport, CT
For information about bringing an On Course Workshop to your campus, click HERE.
If you are a graduate of any On Course
Workshop and would like to add to this page your own Top Ten (or however many)
reasons to attend an On Course Workshop, click HERE…and
send the resulting email.
