January 29, 2013 Strategies for learning student name UWF
promotes itself as student-centered institution “where the
buildings have numbers and the students have names.” Continued
growth and larger class sizes create challenges to faculty who
want to maintain this commitment to student engagement. Learning
a student’s name makes that student feel valued. Small changes
that improve the sense of community in a class can make a big
difference for student engagement and learning Barbara Millis
collected strategies used by several colleagues to help them
learn the names of their students and build a sense of rapport
and community in their classes. Seating charts: Divide and
conquer If your class is small enough, you can use a seating
chart to help learn student names. Instructors can assign seats
or make a chart based on seats that students select during the
first week of class. Students are fairly territorial about their
seats and sit in the same location all term when seats are not
assigned. Divide your seating