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RECOLLECTIONS OF STUDENTS

 

I am Jason Gomez a graduate of our esteemed University.  Three specific

professors came to mind as I read your letter.  One is Dr. Hubbard, who taught an introductory course that prompted me to change my major and essentially change my life.  Dr. Hubbard is one of those professors secure in his ability to teach; he is able to just listen to students, not always offer suggestions but listen and let the students talk out their issues and ideas.  That, alone, allowed for questions and made the class more of a cohesive group as we learned about ourselves through interacting with each other.

 

The next professor that grabbed my attention on the shear basis of

intellectual property was Dr. Santucci.  His survey course of the Worlds'

Religions was jam packed with interesting data and factual information

that, if the student was interested, was fascinating.  I should also note

that going on field trips (as this was a Saturday class) made all the

difference in the world.  My wife and I still have vivid memories of the

Self Realization Fellowship, the Shi Lite Temple and, of course, the Hindu

Temple in Malibu.  These field trips physically got us involved and, in my

opinion, helped stimulate interest and facilitate learning.

 

Lastly, my Nonverbal Communication course with Dr. Wiseman was an

all-around fun course that left the student wondering, "Is that it?, Is

the course over already?", yet with the satisfaction of knowing one learned something; but learning was latent in the sense that Dr. Wiseman made it so much fun.  He accomplished this by using the very tools he was trying to teach us, such as verbal tone and pitch, oculesics, haptics and voice inflection.

 

These have been my experiences at Cal-State Fullerton, and I hope I

have been of some usefulness in encouraging more wonderful learning

techniques through the excellent teaching of great persons such as those

mentioned above.

 

Jason T. Gomez

MarComm Coordinator

Conexant Systems, Inc.

949-483-5437

 

 

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During the first class meeting in one of my undergraduate classes, our wise instructor told us he was not going to make us responsible for everything in the three-inch tome that passed itself off as our textbook.  He didn't want us stuffing our short-term memories full for test day, and then promptly forgetting it all once the scantron had left our grasp.  There were key principles that he wanted us to retain beyond the end of the semester, and he was going to reinforce those instead of attempting to cover everything ever written about the subject.  How refreshing.  We let out a collective sigh of relief, and I became hopeful that some actual learning was going to occur that semester.  It did.

 

Ramona Rose, English 

Class of 98

 

 

 

 

 

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My name is Daniel Galvan, a junior here at Cal State Fullerton.  To highlight teaching excellence, I want to give you some of the best CSUF teaching strategies I've experienced as well as some of the poor experiences. One professor of Biology had a rule on his tests called the "60/40 Rule."  The rule stated that if 60% of the class got a question wrong he deemed it a poor question and threw it out.  This was very thoughtful and a good way to come to the students' level of learning.  Many times I have had professors who worded questions unfairly which counted against everyone, not just me. Another strategy that I have seen in excellent professors is the ability to come to the students' level through humor and understanding.  They realize that some people are taking the class for GE; they do not have the "we are going to treat everyone like a English major" attitude.

 

Among some of my worst experiences were those instructors who are very

distant toward students, and who have unobtainable high standards for

superior work.  For instance, there was a Comparative Literature course I took for GE; I loved the class and did the best I could ("A" level work), yet I received only a "B."  That was only a 100 level course but the instructor graded us as if it were a 300 level course.  Needless to say, the class grade point average was low, a meager 1.25.

 

I listed the negative experiences to highlight the counterpart to excellence. Through the poorer experiences, the greater experiences can be manifested and appreciated.

 

Daniel Galvan

Junior, College of Business & Economics

 

 

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I observed my professors for the past few days and recalled classes where I found myself learning and, more importantly, retaining information.  I find that much of the information I retain is where a professor will express a new concept and follow it with either his/her own personal experience, a story that relates to the subject matter, or a question about the topic that relates to students' lives.  A specific sitting of this would be Management 246 with Professor Apke.  When he lectures on a law I find myself bored out of my mind, but when he tells of a specific case, especially if it's one of his own cases, it helps put the law into a real-life situation and I retain it much better.  I'm not the only one who feels this way.  I can see the whole class wake up and become attentive when he brings up relevant cases.  That's only one example of the many times professors' real-life stories have proven to get a concept across more clearly.  The only drawback is if a professor should spend too much time talking about real-life stories that lack relevance to the lecture.  As fun as it is to sit back and just banter with professors, it is more fulfilling to learn a new concept and gain an understanding of how it relates to our lives.  Personal stories help to peak interest during the lecture and to grasp the concept the professor is trying to relay; this is the greatest way for me to retain lecture material.

 

Sara Jorgensen

Major: Communications, PR

Minor: Business Management

Class of 2003

 

 

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There are several teaching techniques that stand out as effective in fostering my learning at CSUF.  The most important and interesting is that of stimulating students' minds allowing them to apply what they have learned.  In one class reading was assigned for each class session, and it was up to each student to make a note card containing one interesting point from the chapter and discuss it.  This allowed us to consider theory in different contexts.  This approach fueled my interest and desire to learn about the particular subject and understand how

it effects my life.

 

I was influenced most (and therefore excelled the most) when the teachers took time to get to know me on a personal basis.  They were a big help and support.  This, too, made me want to continue to learn and learn and learn.

 

Shonna Ries, Speech Communication

Class of 2002

 

 

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My Organizational Communication instructor was Dr. Gary Ruud.  He had the students work together.  Each group was responsible for a chapter in the book, then he asked the group to present each week, not lecture to the class but present in an interactive way to include the class through demonstrations, exercises, etc.  This approach was hands-on and enjoyable, it gave the students some direction and power to adapt to their own learning styles.

 

Laura Campbell, Speech Communication

Class of 2002

 

 

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The teaching technique used by one of my speech communication instructors that seemed to bundle my learning outcomes was to have students tape record conversations for analysis.  We would then transcribe and diagram the conversations.  The pinnacle challenge was to build an argument for the presence of a speech communication phenomenon using real examples from the transcribed conversation (such as the use of qualifiers).

 

Amy Starr, MA (Speech Communication)

Class of 92