People tend to always ask me what this means…well here is what prep means to me:<\/p>\n

– Making preparations for my semester which usually takes at least 1-2 weeks and this does NOT include research time<\/p>\n

– Preparing my syllabi – making new ones or modifying old ones<\/p>\n

– Preparing the course schedule. What are we going to be doing each week?<\/p>\n

– Preparing readings. I usually do NOT use a textbook. I usually find that latest and greatest research articles and have students read them. I also usually include significant pieces from the field.<\/p>\n

– Going through my course materials and developing course materials. I need to plan the course and assignments. I generally change my courses at least by 80% each semester so I need to rethink everything.<\/p>\n

– Developing materials for the first few classes. I usually only develop my PPT slides (if used) and class activities for the first 2 weeks of class. I find that when I develop them for the whole semester they end up needing to be modified a lot because not every class is the same. Things need to be tailored to my students, in the specific class, which usually takes me a week or two to pick up on.<\/p>\n

– Planning assignments. This is the hardest part. What do I want my students to accomplish in my class? This is the product that they will leave with. I want this product to be something that they can add to their portfolio to show employers. I also want this product to be something that will help them when they are working professionals. This usually involves a lot of work thinking through the assignments, how it is due, if its going to be done in groups, etc. I am a big fan of having students create a scenario or working with clients, then developing a project around that. I generally have various parts of the product due throughout the semester so I can give feedback before the final product is completed. I am also a big fan of students peer reviewing each others’ work.<\/p>\n

– Prep also involves contacting students, making sure they know how\/where to get to class the first day. This is essential in my program since some students may be using webex (virtual classroom software) to attend class.<\/p>\n

– Setting up my course website. Whether using blackboard or my own website, I need to make sure all the course materials are posted.<\/p>\n

Im sure I am missing a few steps but as you can see it’s a lot of work, planning, and thinking – and my semester has not even begun!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People tend to always ask me what this means…well here is what prep means to me: – Making preparations for my semester which usually takes at least 1-2 weeks and this does NOT include research time – Preparing my syllabi – making new ones or modifying old ones – Preparing the course schedule. What are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[118],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/raypastore.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/raypastore.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/raypastore.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raypastore.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raypastore.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/raypastore.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":622,"href":"https:\/\/raypastore.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620\/revisions\/622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/raypastore.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raypastore.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raypastore.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}