Understanding Your Students

Understanding your students will help you better plan your lessons, select appropriate approaches to solving problems, address misconceptions and underlying assumptions, and design more meaningful and relevant learning activities and assessment. The following sections will provide you with some insights into these areas.

 

Some Facts about NTU Students

full-time student population 2020
undergraduate population 2020

Leveraging Students' Prior Knowledge & Experiences

Understanding students’ background:

balance of thinking and doing

Depending on their previous academic path, students may tend to have more academic knowledge or more technical experience. It is important to understand and consider these strengths and weaknesses and how to bridge any gaps when designing and teaching your course.

Understanding students’ goals:

balance between grades and learning process

Our students can be highly achievement oriented. Knowing this should help faculty consider how to integrate assessments into the learning process rather than to use assessments solely as a summative evaluation.

I​mproving Student Learning

Students' approaches to learning are highly dependent on how we design learning and assessment. If students see the success factors to be adopting rote learning, they will adapt their learning strategies accordingly. Furthermore, all students, regardless of their abilities, motivation or interests, can be encouraged to adopt a deep approach to learning when they find meaning in engaging in the learning process. As instructors, we play an important role in shaping how they learn.

ways to improve student learning
To further explore these ideas, or to put these concepts into practice, we welcome you to attend any of our workshops, webinars, and training sessions.