Professional Documents
Culture Documents
html
Teaching Principles
Enhancing Education http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/ Eberly: (412) 268-2896 | OTE: (412) 268-5503 | Blackboard: (412) 268-9090 Eberly Center for Teaching Exc
Teaching is a complex, multifaceted activity, often requiring us as instructors to juggle multiple tasks and goals simultaneously and flexibly. The following small but powerful set of principles can make teaching both more effective and more efficient, by helping us create the conditions that support student learning and minimize the need for revising materials, content, and policies. While implementing these principles requires a commitment in time and effort, it often saves time and energy later on.
1. Effective teaching involves acquiring relevant knowledge about students and using that knowledge to inform our course design and classroom teaching.
When we teach, we do not just teach the content, we teach students the content. A variety of student characteristics can affect learning. For example, students cultural and generational backgrounds influence how they see the world; disciplinary backgrounds lead students to approach problems in different ways; and students prior knowledge (both accurate and inaccurate aspects) shapes new learning. Although we cannot adequately measure all of these characteristics, gathering the most relevant information as early as possible in course planning and continuing to do so during the semester can (a) inform course design (e.g., decisions about objectives, pacing, examples, format), (b) help explain student difficulties (e.g., identification of common misconceptions), and (c) guide instructional adaptations (e.g., recognition of the need for additional practice).
2. Effective teaching involves aligning the three major components of instruction: learning objectives, assessments, and instructional activities.
Taking the time to do this upfront saves time in the end and leads to a better course. Teaching is more effective and student learning is enhanced when (a) we, as instructors, articulate a clear set of learning objectives (i.e., the knowledge and skills that we expect students to demonstrate by the end of a course); (b) the instructional activities (e.g., case studies,
labs, discussions, readings) support these learning objectives by providing goal-oriented practice; and (c) the assessments (e.g., tests, papers, problem sets, performances) provide opportunities for students to demonstrate and practice the knowledge and skills articulated in the objectives, and for instructors to offer targeted feedback that can guide further learning.
3. Effective teaching involves articulating explicit expectations regarding learning objectives and policies.
There is amazing variation in what is expected of students across American classrooms and even within a given discipline. For example, what constitutes evidence may differ greatly across courses; what is permissible collaboration in one course could be considered cheating in another. As a result, students expectations may not match ours. Thus, being clear about our expectations and communicating them explicitly helps students learn more and perform better. Articulating our learning objectives (i.e., the knowledge and skills that we expect students to demonstrate by the end of a course) gives students a clear target to aim for and enables them to monitor their progress along the way. Similarly, being explicit about course policies (e.g., on class participation, laptop use, and late assignment) in the syllabus and in class allows us to resolve differences early and tends to reduce conflicts and tensions that may arise. Altogether, being explicit leads to a more productive learning environment for all students. More information on how clear learning objectives supports students' learning. (pdf)
4. Effective teaching involves prioritizing the knowledge and skills we choose to focus on.
Coverage is the enemy: Dont try to do too much in a single course. Too many topics work against student learning, so it is necessary for us to make decisions sometimes difficult ones about what we will and will not include in a course. This involves (a) recognizing the parameters of the course (e.g., class size, students backgrounds and experiences, course position in the curriculum sequence, number of course units), (b) setting our priorities for student learning, and (c) determining a set of objectives that can be reasonably accomplished.
5. Effective teaching involves recognizing and overcoming our expert blind spots.
We are not our students! As experts, we tend to access and apply knowledge automatically and unconsciously (e.g., make connections, draw on relevant bodies of knowledge, and choose appropriate strategies) and so we often skip or combine critical steps when we teach. Students, on the other hand, dont yet have sufficient background and experience to make these leaps and can become confused, draw incorrect conclusions, or fail to develop important skills. They need instructors to break tasks into component steps, explain connections explicitly, and model processes in detail. Though it is difficult for experts to do this, we need to identify and explicitly communicate to
students the knowledge and skills we take for granted, so that students can see expert thinking in action and practice applying it themselves.
6. Effective teaching involves adopting appropriate teaching roles to support our learning goals.
Even though students are ultimately responsible for their own learning, the roles we assume as instructors are critical in guiding students thinking and behavior. We can take on a variety of roles in our teaching (e.g., synthesizer, moderator, challenger, commentator). These roles should be chosen in service of the learning objectives and in support of the instructional activities. For example, if the objective is for students to be able to analyze arguments from a case or written text, the most productive instructor role might be to frame, guide and moderate a discussion. If the objective is to help students learn to defend their positions or creative choices as they present their work, our role might be to challenge them to explain their decisions and consider alternative perspectives. Such roles may be constant or variable across the semester depending on the learning objectives.
7. Effective teaching involves progressively refining our courses based on reflection and feedback.
Teaching requires adapting. We need to continually reflect on our teaching and be ready to make changes when appropriate (e.g., something is not working, we want to try something new, the student population has changed, or there are emerging issues in our fields). Knowing what and how to change requires us to examine relevant information on our own teaching effectiveness. Much of this information already exists (e.g., student work, previous semesters course evaluations, dynamics of class participation), or we may need to seek additional feedback with help from the university teaching center (e.g., interpreting early course evaluations, conducting focus groups, designing pre- and posttests). Based on such data, we might modify the learning objectives, content, structure, or format of a course, or otherwise adjust our teaching. Small, purposeful changes driven by feedback and our priorities are most likely to be manageable and effective.
classrooms, it influences how they filter and interpret what they are learning. If students prior knowledge is robust and accurate and activated at the appropriate time, it provides a strong foundation for building new knowledge. However, when knowledge is inert, insufficient for the task, activated inappropriately, or inaccurate, it can interfere with or impede new learning.
2. How students organize knowledge influences how they learn and apply what they know.
Students naturally make connections between pieces of knowledge. When those connections form knowledge structures that are accurately and meaningfully organized, students are better able to retrieve and apply their knowledge effectively and efficiently. In contrast, when knowledge is connected in inaccurate or random ways, students can fail to retrieve or apply it appropriately.
4. To develop mastery, students must acquire component skills, practice integrating them, and know when to apply what they have learned.
Students must develop not only the component skills and knowledge necessary to perform complex tasks, they must also practice combining and integrating them to develop greater fluency and automaticity. Finally, students must learn when and how to apply the skills and knowledge they learn. As instructors, it is important that we develop conscious awareness of these elements of mastery so as to help our students learn more effectively.
5. Goal-directed practice coupled with targeted feedback enhances the quality of students learning.
Learning and performance are best fostered when students engage in practice that focuses on a specific goal or criterion, targets an appropriate level of challenge, and is of sufficient quantity and frequency to meet the performance criteria. Practice must be coupled with feedback that explicitly communicates about some aspect(s) of students performance relative to specific target criteria, provides information to help students progress in meeting those criteria, and is given at a time and frequency that allows it to be useful.
6. Students current level of development interacts with the social, emotional, and intellectual climate of the course to impact learning.
Students are not only intellectual but also social and emotional beings, and they are still developing the full range of intellectual, social, and emotional skills. While we cannot control the developmental process, we can shape the intellectual, social, emotional, and physical aspects of classroom climate in developmentally appropriate ways. In fact, many studies have shown that the climate we create has implications for our students. A negative climate may impede learning and performance, but a positive climate can energize students learning.
7. To become self-directed learners, students must learn to monitor and adjust their approaches to learning.
Learners may engage in a variety of metacognitive processes to monitor and control their learningassessing the task at hand, evaluating their own strengths and weaknesses, planning their approach, applying and monitoring various strategies, and reflecting on the degree to which their current approach is working. Unfortunately, students tend not to engage in these processes naturally. When students develop the skills to engage these processes, they gain intellectual habits that not only improve their performance but also their effectiveness as learners.
Bibliography
Anderson, J. R., Conrad, F. G., Corbett, A. T. (1989). Skill acquisition and the LISP tutor. Cognitive Science, 13(4), 467-505. Bandura, A. (1989). Self-regulation of motivation and action through internal standards and goal systems. In L. A. Pervin (Ed.), Goal concepts in personality and social psychology (pp. 1985). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Carver, C.S. & Scheier, M.F. (1998). On the self-regulation of behavior. New York: Cambridge University Press. Clement, J.J. (1982). Students preconceptions in introductory mechanics. American Journal of Physics, 50, 66-71. DiSessa, A. (1982). Unlearning Aristotelian physics: A study of knowledge-based learning. Cognitive Science, 6, 37-75. Dweck, C.S. (2002). Beliefs that make smart people dumb. In R.J. Sternberg (Ed.), Why smart people can be so stupid (pp. 24-41). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Ford, M.E. (1992). Motivating humans: Goals, emotions and personal agency beliefs. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Healy, A. F., & Sinclair, G. P. (1996). The long-term retention of training and instruction (pp. 525564). In E. L. Bjork, & R. A. Bjork (Eds.) Memory. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. Hidi, S. & Renninger K.A. (2004). Interest, a motivational variable that combines affective and cognitive functioning. In D. Y. Dai & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), Motivation, emotion, and cognition: Integrative perspectives on intellectual functioning and development (pp. 89-115). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Holyoak, K. J. (1984). Analogical thinking and human intelligence. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Advances in the Psychology of Human Intelligence, Vol. 2 (pp. 199-230). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Kuh, G.D., Kinzie, J., Schuh, J.H., Whitt, E.J. & Associates. (2005). Student Success in College: Creating Conditions That Matter. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Matlin, M. W. (1989). Cognition. NY, NY: Harcourt, Brace, Janovich. National Research Council (2001). Knowing What Students Know: The Science and Design of Educational Assessment. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. National Research Council (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Nelson, T. A. (1992). Metacognition. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Pascarella, E.T. & Terenzini, P. (2005). How College Affects Students. San Francisco: Jossey Bass. Schommer, M. (1994). An emerging conceptualization of epistemological beliefs and their role in learning. In R. Barner & P. Alexander (Eds.), Beliefs about text and instruction with text (pp. 25-40). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Singley, M. K., & Anderson, J. R. (1989). The Transfer of Cognitive Skill. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Steele, C.M. & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69 (5), 797-811. Walton, G. M., & Cohen, G. L. (2007). A question of belonging: race, social fit, and achievement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92 (1), 82-96. Wiggins, G. (1998). Educative Assessment: Designing Assessments to Inform and Improve Student Performance, Jossey-Bass: San Francisco.
Students come late to class. Students don't demonstrate critical thinking. Students lack interest or motivation. Students performed poorly on an exam. Students dont seek help when needed. Students behave rudely in class. Students dont participate in discussion. Students can't apply what theyve learned. Students don't come to lecture. Students dont keep up with the reading. Students respond to course content and classroom dynamics in emotional and unproductive ways. Students in studio-oriented programs arent motivated in non-studio courses.
A students behavior makes others uncomfortable. Students cheat on assignments and exams. Students respond to course content and classroom dynamics in emotional and unproductive ways.
or conflicting obligations). Students of the Millennial generation, who are used to a high degree of parental involvement and oversight in their lives and schedules, may have particular difficulty adjusting to these responsibilities.
Strategies:
Make your expectations explicit.
Clearly and unequivocally articulate your policy about lateness in your syllabus and on the first day of class. You might want to explain your policy in relation to standards of professionalism that students will need to meet when they enter the work world.
Encourage communication.
Make sure students know it is their responsibility to communicate with you if they are experiencing a legitimate problem that will cause them to be late or otherwise miss class time, but also advise them as to how you would like them to inform you (e.g., via e-mail the night before). You may also need to define for them what you do and do not consider a legitimate reason for a late arrival.
Strategies:
Students may fail to realize the level of disruption that coming in late creates for their fellow classmates and for you.
Strategies:
Explain the educational and social impact of lateness.
Explain to students that coming late has both intellectual and social costs. Impress upon students that when they arrive late, they detract from their classmates learning and interrupt the instructors train of thought. Often this occurs at the beginning of class, when the instructor is making connections to previous materials and framing the days content in terms of key questions or points. When students come in late they not only miss that important framing information, but the distraction they create may cause their classmates to miss it too. Also, explain the social impact of lateness. Instructors, for example, may interpret lateness as disrespect. Fellow classmates may become annoyed. Informing (or reminding) students how their behavior affects others can sometimes be enough to correct the behavior.
Strategies:
Explain why the beginning of class is important.
Like the beginning of a film or the introduction to a book, the beginning of class supplies students with critical background and organizational information necessary for deeper understanding. When students miss this framing information their learning suffers. By the same token, make sure that students know that coming on time also has social benefits in that it gives students time to chat with one another and the instructor before class begins, thus contributing to the morale of the class as a whole.
Make sure there is a clear benefit for students who are on time by getting started on time and beginning with important, relevant material. Dont waste the first few minutes of class; this only encourages lateness!
Strategies:
Make your policy on lateness explicit.
Articulate your policy about lateness in your syllabus and on the first day of class. It will be easier to respond firmly and authoritatively to lateness if your policy is clear and in writing.
Strategies:
Several psychological and emotional conditions can undermine students motivation to get to class on time. Indeed, a hallmark symptom of conditions such as depression includes a decreased motivation to engage in normal daily activities. In addition, prescription medications can interfere with motivation and may disrupt sleep patterns, which may indirectly affect students ability to get to class in a timely manner.
Strategies:
Encourage communication.
Make sure students know it is their responsibility to communicate with you if they are experiencing a problem that will cause them to be late or otherwise miss class time, but also advise them as to how you would like them to inform you (e.g., via e-mail the night before). You may also need to define for them what you do and do not consider a legitimate reason for a late arrival.
Strategies:
Encourage communication.
Make sure students know it is their responsibility to communicate with you if they are experiencing a legitimate problem that will cause them to be late or otherwise miss class time,
but also advise them as to how you would like them to inform you (e.g., via e-mail the night before). You may also need to define for them what you do and do not consider a legitimate reason for a late arrival.
Strategies:
Clearly articulate learning goals.
Students will be more motivated to work if they know what goals they are working towards. Thus, it is a good idea not only to articulate goals for the course, but also for specific lectures, discussions, and assignments. For example, before beginning a lecture, an instructor might write on the board the skills, knowledge, and perspectives students will gain that day (with appropriate effort), using concrete, student-centered languagefor example, When you leave today, you should be able to debate the pros and cons of a single-payer health plan; apply a particular economic framework to make predictions about interest rates; identify, illustrate and compare three theoretical approaches in child development. Articulating learning goals is important for a variety of reasons, but it plays a key role in motivation by showing students the specific value they will derive from a particular course, unit, or activity.
Students will be more motivated to work hard if they see the value of what they are learning to their overall course of study. Consequently, it is important to explain to students how your course will help prepare them for subsequent courses (e.g., a mathematics professor might help to motivate psychology students by explaining how the math skills they learn will help them in quantitative courses for their major). This gives students a better appreciation of the combined value of the courses they take and lets them see how each contributes to their overall education. It is also helpful to point out when students are learning skills that will help them later in the same courseespecially when the material is difficult and potentially frustrating (e.g., an instructor might help encourage students who are struggling with a concept by saying, This is a difficult idea, but a crucial one, and youre going to be very glad you learned it when we begin analyzing negotiation cases in Unit 3). Seeing the value of the material within a broader academic framework can help students sustain motivation and persist through challenges and setbacks.
Motivation is often enhanced when instructors connect course material to students personal interests. For example, a chemistry professor might link a lesson on chemical transformations of carbohydrates to students interest in cooking. A history instructor might motivate interest in colonial history by showing how it helps to explain contemporary geopolitical conflicts or environmental problems. Similarly, well-constructed courses that tap into issues that are important to students (e.g., The History of Rock n Roll, Philosophy and the Matrix [a popular film], The Statistics of Sexual Orientation) can capitalize on students motivation without sacrificing intellectual or disciplinary rigor.
Students do not believe that their efforts will improve their performance.
If students do not believe that their efforts are likely to improve their performance, they will not be motivated to work hard. Motivation can be affected, for instance, if a course that has a reputation for being inordinately difficult. Students may also have had discouraging experiences in similar courses or on early assignments in a course that convince them they cannot do the work. Additionally, students have beliefs about intelligence and learning that can affect their motivation. If they believe learning is generally fast and easy (and should not be slow or arduous), they may lose motivation when they encounter challenges. Similarly, if they believe intelligence is a fixed quantity (something you do or do not have, but not something you acquire over time), they may not see the point of extra effort. Finally, if students attribute their success to their innate talents rather than effort, they may not be motivated to work. This can happen whether they believe they possess the necessary abilities (Im a good writer; I dont need to start my paper early) or lack them (Im just no good at math. Whats the point of trying?)
Strategies:
Identify an appropriate level of challenge.
To motivate students, we need to set standards that are challenging but attainable with reasonable effort. To identify an appropriate level of difficulty, it is important to know what prior knowledge and experiences your students bring to the course so you know where to begin and how fast to proceed. Administering diagnostic or early assessments can help you to determine the right level of challenge for your students. It can also be helpful to talk to instructors who have taught your course successfully in the past and to look at their syllabi for clues about the appropriate level of difficulty.
many times did you revise before submitting the final version?). Questions such as these cue students to strategies they may not have thought to employ. It can also help students see the value of effort, while increasing their sense of control over outcomes. Finally, the opportunity to reflect can help students identify specific strategies that leverage their strengths and overcome their weaknesses.
Strategies:
Strengthen and highlight connections between ungraded and graded tasks.
Not surprisingly, students will be more motivated to pay attention in lecture if they understand how it will help them on exams, to keep up with the readings if they know it will help them on papers, and to do optional problem sets if they know it will help them on a final project. Thus, it is critically important to ensure that the parts of your course are properly aligned so that the skills and knowledge students gain from low-stakes tasks (e.g., attending lectures, doing readings, or
completing homework problems) are utilized and assessed elsewhere in the course, especially on high-stakes exams and assignments. Also, because students may not see alignment even where it exists, it is also important to show them how their work in one area of the course will help them in anotherfor example, how their final projects will require them to synthesize the perspectives in the course readings or how their exams will require a fluency with problem-solving that they will only get from doing their homework.
Weight assignment grades so they are commensurate with the work involved.
If the time and effort required for an assignment is incommensurate with its point value, students may not be motivated to expend the effort required. It is important to consider whether your grading structure rewards the work you want students to put into various assignments. This does not mean that all assignments must carry high point values to ensure that students work hard. For example, frequent low-stakes assignments, such as in-class quizzes or reflective writing assignments, can be very effective for motivating students to keep up with the readings and prepare for discussion. The goal is for the grading structure to reinforce a connection between effort and reward in order to motivate, rather than demotivate, student effort.
articulating these distinctions and providing feedback to help students improve, instructors can enhance motivation as well as learning.
Strategies:
Use the syllabus and first day of class to foster a supportive climate.
Your students will form impressions from the syllabus and first day of class that can influence their motivation for the entire semester. Consider, for example, the motivational difference between a scolding syllabus focused on warnings and potential penalties and a syllabus that challenges students to excel, while also employing a friendly tone, suggesting study strategies, and offering help. Do not miss the opportunity created by the first day and your syllabus to create the kind of classroom climate that motivates effort and engagement. Try to employ language on your syllabus that conveys both high performance expectations and appropriate support, and plan first-day activities that help establish rapport and a sense of common purpose among students.
If students feel recognized and acknowledged as individuals, it is likely to increase their motivation to attend class, prepare, participate, and ask for help from you or one anotherrather than withdraw or give upwhen they encounter setbacks. There are many ways to convey respect for students as individuals, including learning their names and providing opportunities for them to learn each others names. You can ask about their academic and other interests. You can invite them to chat with you during office hours. If possible, you can occasionally attend student events outside of class time (e.g., theatrical or musical productions, sports competitions). While learning names and establishing a connection with students is more difficult in large classes than in small classes, it is not impossible. To this end, some instructors have their students put name tents on their desks, arrange to meet informally with groups of students outside of class time, or collect information on students backgrounds and interests.
another by name; and criticize ideas, not people. To encourage student investment in ground rules, some faculty members involve students in the process of creating them. Bear in mind that simply establishing ground rules may not be sufficient; you may need to occasionally remind students about the rules and address behavior that violates them.
Students have other priorities that compete for their time and attention.
When a number of different goals are at work simultaneously, an individuals motivation to pursue some goals may affect both their motivation and ability to pursue others. This is certainly true for college students who often (and not always successfully) struggle to balance different goals, which may be academic (e.g., succeeding in their classes, completing double and triple majors), pre-professional (e.g., attending conferences or job fairs), social (e.g., making friends, finding a romantic partner, having fun), and physical (e.g., getting adequate sleep, exercising). Consequently, it is important for instructors to think about how to structure their courses so that students maintain motivation, even when other goals impinge on their time, energy, and attention.
Strategies:
Assign a reasonable amount of work.
While we can reasonably expect students to work hard and prioritize academic work, we also need to recognize that students have other legitimate commitments and needs. As instructors, we should think about how much work is reasonable to assign, first by ensuring that the workload is commensurate with the unit level of the course. For example, the units assigned to a course at Carnegie Mellon correspond to the number of hours a student should work for the course. So, for example, in a 9-unit course that meets for 3 hours a week, students should work for 6 hours outside of class; for a 12-unit class that meets 4 hours a week, students should work an additional 8 hours To calculate how long it will take students to read an article or complete an assignment, you can estimate that your students will take three to four times longer to read than it takes you. Another way to calculate out-of-class workload is to ask students how long it took them to do various assignments, and use this information in future course planning. If the workload we
assign is reasonable and achievable, it increases the possibility that students can maintain motivation while balancing multiple goals.
that they can revise their plans accordingly or only make changes that benefit the students for example, setting later, not sooner, deadlines.
Individual students may suffer from physical, mental, or other personal problems that affect motivation.
Mental or physical health problems, substance abuse, and other personal problems can interfere with individual students motivation to exert effort in a course. Depression, for example, may decrease energy levels, whereas bipolar disorder may increase the initiation, but interfere with the completion, of goal-directed activities. Behavioral indicators of these problems may include missing class, arriving late, sleeping in class, missing assignments, not responding to e-mail, and a change in appearance or demeanor. These problems not only affect the individual who is struggling, but also the other students whose own motivation may be affected by their classmates behaviorconsider, for example, the effect of a student who sleeps through class every day. This is especially true for small classes or group projects involving the student in question.
Strategies:
Use campus resources.
Missing class, sleeping in class, and missing assignments can sometimes indicate larger and more serious problems for the student. If a students behavior is worrying you, you might want to seek advice from campus resources before, after, or instead of talking to the student privately. Consider contacting the Dean of Student Affairs (412)-268-2075 to see if the student in question is exhibiting similar patterns in other classes and to report the behaviors you have noticed so that others can help the student. You might also want to seek advice from and/or refer the student to Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at (412)-268-2922 for psychological concerns, Student Health at (412)-268-2157 for substance abuse concerns, and Academic Development (412)-268-6878 for students who have fallen behind in their work.
on others in the class. For example, you might ask students who arrive late to class to sit in the back of the classroom so as not to disrupt others. On group projects, if one student in a group is disengaged to the point where it is distressing and disadvantaging other members of the team, you might let the group know that you are aware of the problem and will take it into account when assessing their performance. You might also help to motivate affected teams by advising them on how to deal with the situation productively and by highlighting that their doing so will help them develop skills that are useful in both the classroom and workplace. In extreme cases, you might want to remove a problematic student from the group and allow him or her to work independently.
Strategies:
Analyze the alignment between instructional activities and assessments.
The most important feature of an effective course is how well its key components learning objectives, instructional activities, and assessments are aligned with each other. For example, instructional activities and learning objectives are well aligned when students have the chance to learn and practice what you want them to be able to do by the end of the course; learning objectives and assessments are well aligned when the course assessments actually test students on what you want them to learn. So, when you think an exam was not well aligned with the preceding instructional activities, the first step is to analyze what knowledge components students likely used as they went through the instructional activities (e.g., what facts or concepts were discussed during a lecture, what skills did students practice while completing a homework assignment) and then similarly analyze what knowledge components would be required to perform well on the exam. In most cases, we find that there are mismatches between the knowledge students practiced and the knowledge they needed to perform well on an exam. This is particularly true when one is
careful to consider as practiced only the knowledge that the students themselves actually used (e.g., by applying a concept to a new example, comparing one fact to another, or using a skill to solve a problem) rather than the broader set of information they might have passively heard during a lecture or read from the textbook. Then, after identifying the areas of mismatch, the next step is to reflect on the severity and nature of the mismatch in order to decide what action to take. Sometimes the degree of mismatch is rather small, so there is no urgent need to take action at all. Other times, the degree of mismatch is rather large (e.g., the instructor did not realize that an untaught concept or skill was required for the exam). But, most often it is the case that students learned and practiced knowledge that overlaps with but does not completely cover the knowledge required on the exam. Here, the challenge is to reflect on the nature of the gap:
Did students need to use knowledge in a new way for the exam? Did the students need to integrate multiple pieces of knowledge that they had only used separately before? Did the students need to apply the knowledge to a to novel context? Depending on the situation, different instructional adaptations may be warranted (see the next strategy).
NOTE: it is often difficult for experts to analyze all the pieces of knowledge a student would need to perform well on an exam because experts knowledge has been built into larger and more automatically applied chunks.
In short, make sure students get to practice what you want to them to be able to do.
Communicate to students.
Even if the instructional activities you use to teach students are well aligned with the assessments you use to evaluate students progress, it is important to be explicit about how the instructional activities of the course will prepare students to be able to perform well by the end of the course. In particular, clearly stating how students will need to demonstrate what they have learned and how you will be evaluating their performance also helps students understand your expectations and hence make better choices for their own learning. One way to accomplish this is by giving students practice assignments (e.g., before an exam) where your expectations are laid out in the questions and your feedback gives them information about where/how they did and did not meet those expectations. Another approach is to give students your performance rubric in advance of the exam. This will allow students to see how you will evaluate their performance and help them adjust their own learning and study strategies accordingly.
Strategies:
Get another set of eyes to read the exam.
Ask your TA to sit down and read through the exam to identify potential points of ambiguity or lack of clarity. Have them tell you what they think the questions are asking, or if they are unsure. You can also have your TA take the test and then you can examine their answers to see if they interpreted the questions differently from how you intended or if their answers were missing components that you expected. Use the TAs feedback to help you rewrite your questions so that what you want students to do is explicit and clearly articulated.
During the exam, allow students to ask questions for clarification and if the questions suggest ambiguity or bias, share your answers with the class. It is likely that if one student is confused by a question, other students are too, although they may not realize it. If you reuse questions across semesters, keep track of the ones that students found ambiguous or confusing so that you can revise them.
Review exam questions for contexts or examples that may be unfamiliar to particular groups.
Read over your exam while keeping an eye out for questions that contain examples, scenarios, idioms, etc. that may be unfamiliar to particular groups of students. For example, contextualizing questions using American sports, public figures or idioms can confuse students from other cultures, generations, genders, etc. and make it difficult for them to reason and apply their knowledge effectively. (Cultural Variations pdf)
Strategies:
Ask your TAs or a grad student to time themselves as they take the exam.
A good heuristic is to at least double the time it takes you or a grad student to complete the exam and use that as an estimate for how long it will take students. This estimate will vary depending on the year of the students, with freshmen taking as much as 3 or 4 times longer than you would to complete the exam. Also, if the exam contains a lot of textual material, remember that nonnative English speakers will take longer to process the questions, as well as to formulate a written response.
Strategies:
Provide students with test-taking strategies.
Encourage students to look over the entire exam first and develop a general plan for how much time to spend on each question or exam section. Encourage them to focus on easy questions first as a way to build confidence and ease their way into the exam. Alternatively, they may want to start with questions with a high point value, to make sure they have sufficient time to answer them. For essay questions or questions that require students to synthesize across topics, suggest that they take the time to outline the structure of their answer first, making note of what information or processes they will use to construct their answer.
for or that took a lot of time? Students can use this feedback to adjust their study strategies or seek additional help.
Strategies:
Make sure exam stakes are not too high. Help students get the practice they need to feel well prepared. Communicate to students that anyone who practices and/or studies effectively can perform well in your course.
increasing the weight of informal or less formal kinds of assessments (e.g., homework, in-class quizzes, and so forth) or providing more exams than needed and allowing students to drop the lowest exam score.
Help students get the practice they need to feel well prepared.
When students feel more prepared for an exam and in control of the situation, it can help inoculate them from the effects of anxiety and stress. So, give students multiple opportunities to practice and get feedback in advance of important exams.
Communicate to students that anyone who practices and/or studies effectively can perform well in your course.
Just by explicitly telling students that they have the potential to perform well if they practice and study effectively can help to deactivate any stereotypes that compromise s tudents confidence or performance.
Strategies:
Provide sample questions that represent the exam format.
To help students prepare for an unfamiliar exam format, provide them with examples of the kinds of exam questions you will ask in, and do so in advance of the exam. These examples may be drawn from copies of past exams, sample exams, or even homework problems that you have identified as similar to the kinds of questions you will be asking on the exam. Indeed, the most effective strategy for helping students prepare for an unfamiliar exam format is to provide them with opportunities to practice what you want to them to learn. This learning by doing is most effective when instructors provide timely feedback on how students are doing so that students can adjust their approach as needed.
Strategies:
Give performance rubrics in advance.
A performance rubric or grading rubric is a guide for evaluating students work along multiple dimensions. Each of the dimensions is explicitly listed and accompanied by descriptions and/or examples of varying levels of quality for that dimension. Rubrics not only help faculty assess students work fairly and efficiently, it is a useful study guide for students because it (a) communicates to students what you value in the assignment i.e., what aspects of the assignment you will be evaluating and (b) defines the different levels of quality of student work for each aspect of the assignment being evaluated. This way, students get a clearer idea of what aspects of the assignment to focus on and have a standard of comparison to know what constitutes good performance in this course.
Strategies:
Assess and address students relevant pre-requisite knowledge.
To determine if your students poor performance can be attributed to weak or missing prerequisite knowledge, it is first necessary to identify what pre-requisite skills were necessary for completing the exam. That is, try to approach the exam as a student would and analyze what pieces of knowledge or particular skills are necessary to solve the problems. Then, you can create and administer a prior knowledge assessment that tests this pre-requisite knowledge. (Because this step is often difficult for faculty who are experts in their area, we encourage you to consult with an Eberly Center colleague for assistance.) The results of the assessment may lead to different courses of action: you may identify common gaps in students knowledge that you choose to review with the whole class, or the results may help students identify their own gaps for self-remediation. In the latter case, an instructors role might include articulating the strategies students could take to address those gaps, including seeking help from Academic Development, attending supplemental instruction (SI) sessions when available, taking or retaking a pre-requisite course, or even dropping your course until they are better prepared.
Strategies
Use diagnostic assessments.
These ungraded assessments are often easy to create and provide information to both instructors and students about students perception of their own level of understanding (.doc). For example, diagnostic questions for a knowledge probe can allow students to indicate whether they (a) recognize a concept, (b) can define it, or (c) can actually use it in the appropriate context. Having to choose among these options can help students to realistically estimate their level of understanding and ability, while educating them about the diverse cognitive processes involved in learning.
help them develop the metacognitive skills to monitor, evaluate and adjust their learning strategies and their strategies for dealing with difficulty.
Strategies
Embed frequent practice into your course.
Frequent quizzes, assignments, small writing assignments, etc. provide opportunities for both the student and the instructor to determine the students level of understanding. Doing this provides students with much-needed practice and gives you the opportunity to identify students who are struggling in the course.
classroom could be interpreted by your students as cold and aloof. Likewise, your own shyness or introversion might be perceived in a negative way. Consequently, it is important to break down the barriers in order to reframe students perceptions.
Strategies
Arrive early and chat with students.
This is an opportunity for you to get to know more about your students; for example, some faculty members ask questions that range from "how was your weekend" or "have you seen any interesting movies lately" to "how difficult was the last homework assignment" or "how long did the last lab take you to complete." These quick and simple gestures will help students to build a sense of connection to you.
Invite students to interact with you outside of class (e.g., office hours, lunch/coffee).
The formal nature of many classrooms can hinder students views of professors as people. An invitation for one-on-one or small group interaction with students can break down the barrier. Some faculty members teaching large classes prompt students, in groups of three or four, to invite them for coffee or lunch as a way to connect with students. Other faculty members, in smaller classes, require students to meet individually with them during the first two weeks of class.
extreme shyness, well-known faculty members have admitted to taking on another "persona" (as we do everyday in a variety of different settings) as a way to address their shyness.
Set the appropriate tone for the course through the syllabus.
A syllabus that falls into the lister (i.e., articulates a laundry list of topics for the course and not much else) or scolder (i.e., indicates penalties in all caps and bold face for late work, missed classes, etc. and not much else) category can set a negative or uncaring tone for the course. Conversely, a syllabus that clearly articulates your objectives/expectations, the students' role in the course, the amount of work and level of feedback and support they can expect, etc., creates the perception that you care about their learning experience. As a result, students may be much more willing to approach you. How you introduce yourself, the course, your expectations, etc. in the syllabus will send a message about the level of interaction you want with students.
Set the appropriate tone for the course on the first day of class.
What you do on the first day of class sets the tone for the entire course. How you introduce yourself, the course, your expectations, etc., as well as what you actually do, will send a message about the level of interaction you want with the students.
Strategies
Clearly articulate the purpose of office hours.
You can do this in the syllabus and perhaps reinforce it before major assignments or exams, particularly in first year undergraduate courses.
Academic Development offers a variety of different support programs for students, e.g., individual weekly tutoring, walk-in tutoring in the dorms, study groups, supplemental instruction, study skills workshops.
Strategies
Explicitly discuss with students different levels of understanding.
Knowing involves diverse cognitive processes ranging from remembering and comprehending to applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating/synthesizing. Hence, ask students to think about the nature of the help they are receiving does their peer simply explain a concept and ask the student to reiterate it (i.e., remember) or does the peer ask the student to apply the concept (i.e., application) or decide when its use is appropriate (i.e., evaluation)?
There are a variety of reasons why students may not approach you when they are performing poorly, which have nothing to do with you. In other words, students who are shy or introverted, self-conscious, embarrassed by their performance, fearful of looking stupid, etc., may not seek help from you or others on campus.
Strategies
Arrive early and chat with students.
This is an opportunity for you to get to know more about your students; for example, some faculty members ask questions that range from "how was your weekend" or "have you seen any interesting movies lately" to "how difficult was the last homework assignment" or "how long did the last lab take you to complete." These quick and simple gestures will help students to build a sense of connection to you.
Invite students to interact with you outside of class (e.g., office hours, lunch/coffee).
The formal nature of many classrooms can hinder students views of professors as people. An invitation for one-on-one or small group interaction with students can break down the barrier. Some faculty members teaching large classes prompt students, in groups of three or four, to invite them for coffee or lunch as a way to connect with students. Other faculty members, in smaller classes, require students to meet individually with them during the first two weeks of class.
Some students may be more comfortable talking with TAs, peers, Academic Development tutors, etc., although they dont necessarily know who can provide the kind of help they need. Hence some faculty members indicate on their syllabi the various kinds of help that each of these individuals can provide.
Strategies
Educate yourself by reading Cultural Variations.
Cultural Variations (pdf) may help you to determine if culture is playing a role. It was created by the Eberly Center and the Intercultural Communication Center to raise awareness about the types of challenges international students face; provide examples of the kinds of issues that may affect students in your courses; and offer suggestions based on strategies members of our own faculty have successfully employed.
the
Intercultural
Communication
Center
or
If you have a group of students or an individual student who is underperforming, not attending class, etc., and not seeking help as far as you know, you may want to consult with the Eberly Center or the Intercultural Communication Center to determine if culture is playing a role. If it is, they can help you to customize a solution.
Strategies
Urge students to use support services.
If you suspect that students are not seeking help for these reasons, you may want to suggest that they talk with their advisor, the Counseling Center, Student Affairs, Equal Opportunity Services, and/or Student Health Services. If you have questions about how best to refer students to these services, contact the respective professionals for advice.
Strategies
Discuss with students their beliefs about learning.
Students who believe that they dont have the gift of writing, math, science, etc., dont expect much out of their effort and thus dont exert it, resulting in poor performance. The first step in helping these students is to reframe their belief so that they understand that learning is not innate but instead results from effort.
Accept it.
Some students who are capable put less time and effort into the course for pragmatic reasons (e.g., not their major, already have a job offer) and are content with their grade. While it may be difficult for us as faculty to resonate with this decision, it is their prerogative.
Strategies:
Make your expectations explicit.
Because there is wide variation in the expectations of different instructors regarding appropriate classroom behavior, it is important to be very explicit about your expectations for student behavior. Otherwise, students may assume that the behaviors that were appropriate in other classes they have taken (whether in high school, other departments, or other countries) are appropriate in yours and they may be wrong. You should articulate your course policies in your syllabus and again on the first day of class. This can be done in a good-humored way, without a punitive or harsh tone, but it is important to follow through on the policies you institute. The issues you choose to address with your students are up to you, but many instructors focus on lateness, talking in class, cell phone and laptop use, eating, terms of address, etc.
Model the kind of behavior you would like to see from your students. Obviously, if you do not want students coming late or drinking coffee in class, you should not do so yourself. If you do not want students to be aggressive and argumentative, do not model these behaviors yourself. In addition to avoiding behaviors you do not want students to emulate, model the behaviors you do want to see, for example, by arriving to class on time, challenging students respectfully, respecting their time, etc.
Respond immediately.
If instructors fail to respond to rude behavior, or do so inconsistently, the behavior is likely to continue. Thus, it is important to respond immediately. How you choose to address the problem will depend on the nature of the behavior as well as your individual style. Upon encountering rude behavior, you might choose to address the class as a whole, delineating what is and is not acceptable for your class (e.g., My T.A. has drawn m y attention to some inappropriate laptop use in class. Here is my policy concerning laptops). If the problem stems from one or two individuals, you might respond in a number of ways, beginning with a gentle admonition (e.g., Manish, would you mind putting away your drink until after class?) and then, if the behavior continues, addressing the problem more forcefully. Some instructors might choose to take the problem student(s) aside after class to discuss the issue. Others might opt to address the behavior publicly by stopping what theyre doing and directing a hard look or pointed comment at the problematic student (e.g., Wendy, Id appreciate it if you confined your comments to the material being discussed). While it is important to respond immediately and consistently, how you handle the matter will depend very much on the nature of the problem, the student(s) in question, and what feels most comfortable to you.
Strategies:
Reduce anonymity.
There are a number of things you can do to reduce the anonymity and impersonality of large classes. For example, you can arrive early and chat with students. This helps students build a sense of connection and responsibility to you, and can help to reduce incivilities. Other ways to reduce the distance between you and your students in large classes include trying (however imperfectly) to learn students names (for example, asking them to identify themselves when they make a comment or question) and inviting groups of students to interact with you outside of class. For example, some faculty members teaching large classes ask groups of students to meet them for coffee and conversation outside of class time. You can also help build a sense of communal responsibility and accountability by fostering bonds among students, e.g, through small group and pair work.
Respond immediately.
If instructors in large classes ignore rude behavior it only reinforces students sense of anonymity and invisibility. Thus, it is particularly important to respond before a pattern is established. How you choose to address the problem will depend on the nature of the behavior as well as your individual style. Upon encountering rude behavior, you might choose to address the class as a whole, delineating what is and is not acceptable for your class (e.g., My T.A. has drawn my attention to some inappropriate laptop use in class. Here is my policy concerning laptops). If the problem stems from one or two individuals, you might respond in a number of ways, beginning with a gentle admonition (e.g., Manish, would you mind putting away your drink until after class?) and then, if the behavior continues, addressing the problem more forcefully. Some instructors might choose to take the problem student(s) aside after class to discuss the issue. Others might opt to address the behavior publicly by stopping what theyre doing and directing a hard look or pointed comment at the problematic student (e.g., Wendy, Id appreciate it if you confined your comments to the material being discussed). While it is important to respond immediately and consistently, how you handle the matter will depend very much on the nature of the problem, the student(s) in question, and what feels most comfortable to you.
Strategies:
Pay attention to what the behavior is communicating.
If students are behaving rudely, pay attention to additional cues (e.g., body language, facial expressions) to determine the cause. If students look confused, you may have to slow down; if they look bored, you may want to pick up the pace. If they look disgruntled or angry, you may need to ask questions to diagnose areas of misunderstanding or discomfort. You may also want to collect information more formally (see next strategy).
Strategies:
Respond immediately.
If instructors fail to respond to rude behavior, or do so inconsistently, the behavior is likely to continue and may, in fact, spread to other students. Thus, it is important to respond immediately. How you choose to address the problem will depend on the nature of the behavior as well as your individual style. Upon encountering rude behavior, you might choose to address the class as a whole, delineating what is and is not acceptable for your class (e.g., My T.A. has drawn my attention to some inappropriate laptop use in class. Here is my policy concerning laptops). If the problem stems from one or two individuals, you might respond in a number of ways, beginning with a gentle admonition (e.g., Manish, would you mind putting away your drink until after class?) and then, if the behavior continues, addressing the problem more forcefully. Some instructors might choose to take the problem student(s) aside after class to discuss the issue. Others might opt to address the behavior publicly b y stopping what theyre doing and directing a hard look or pointed comment at the problematic student (e.g., Wendy, Id appreciate it if you confined your comments to the material being discussed). While it is important to respond immediately and consistently, how you handle the matter will depend very much on the nature of the problem, the student(s) in question, and what feels most comfortable to you.
Strategies:
Consider the image you are projecting.
Think about how you can dress, move, and speak so as to present yourself with professionalism and authority. The best way to dress and behave will depend on the culture of your department (business schools, for example, tend to be more formal than art departments) and on your personal style. The key is to find a mode of self-presentation that works for you in the context of your own course.
likely to exert pressure on rude classmates to stop engaging in distracting, disruptive, or discourteous behavior.
Respond immediately.
While it is important not to react defensively to rude student behavior (if at all possible), it is important to respond immediately. Letting unacceptable behavior slide will only erode your authority in the classroom more. How you choose to address the problem will depend on the
nature of the behavior as well as your individual style. Upon encountering rude behavior, you might choose to address the class as a whole, delineating what is and is not acceptable for your class (e.g., My T.A. has drawn my attention to some inappropriate laptop use in class. Here is my policy concerning laptops). If the problem stems from one or two individuals, you might respond in a number of ways, beginning with a gentle admonition (e.g., Manish, would you mind putting away your drink until after class?) and then, if the behavior continues, addressing the problem more forcefully. Some instructors might choose to take the problem student(s) aside after class to discuss the issue. Others might opt to address the behavior publicly by stopping what theyre doing and directing a hard look or pointed comment at the problematic student (e.g., Wendy, Id appreciate it if you confined your comments to the material being discussed). While it is important to respond immediately and consistently, how you handle the matter will depend very much on the nature of the problem, the student(s) in question, and what feels most comfortable to you.
Seek help.
If you have a student or group of students who is belligerent or chronically disruptive, and other strategies do not work, consult your department head or Student Affairs for advice.
Strategies:
Use campus resources.
Inappropriate behavior in class can sometimes indicate larger and more serious problems for the student. Before talking to the student one on one, you might want to seek advice from Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) about the best way to proceed. You may also want to contact the Dean of Student Affairs to see if the student in question is exhibiting similar patterns in his/her other classes.
If you have any suspicion that the student could be dangerous to him/herself or to you, however, go directly to campus resources and do not try to handle the problem on your own.
Strategies:
Help students establish realistic expectations.
Give students a sense of how much time it should take them to get through a particular kind of reading (bearing in mind that it is normal for students to take 3-4 times longer than you do to read a text). Tell them that if it is taking them significantly longer than this (6 hours for a 15page article, for example), they should come talk with you or (depending on the problem) advise them to seek help from the Intercultural Communication Center, Academic Development, or Equal Opportunity Services.
Strategies:
Use groups.
Allow students time to work in pairs or groups with the requirement that they rotate the responsibility of reporting back to the class. This strategy gives everyone in the class an opportunity to speak and supports those students who are more confident and less anxious speaking for a group rather than just for themselves.
Strategies:
Define your expectations.
Clearly specify your expectations regarding what constitutes meaningful participation. For example, tell students that asking thoughtful questions, making connections to theory, building on previous comments, and identifying real world examples or applications make valuable contributions toward collective learning. The reason this is beneficial is because it allows student to engage in learning behaviors that align with the goals of the course and to monitor their progress toward those goals.
Seek advice.
If you are concerned about international students lack of participation, you may want to contact the Intercultural Communications Center for advice.
idea, making connections among ideas, respectfully disagreeing with an idea or claim, providing an alternative perspective, asking follow-up questions to flesh out a speakers idea, connecting ideas to course concepts or theories, using evidence to support ones position, idea, or claim. While students may have developed or honed some of these individual skills in other contexts (e.g., identifying an authors main point in a reading), discussions happen quickly and require that students draw on these skills simultaneously.
Strategies:
Outline your goals.
Clearly articulate the goals for the discussion so that students understand what the desired outcome is, and use these goals as mileposts to help them recognize and monitor the development of their own understanding and the progress of the discussion.
individually or in small groups, to actively engage with the material by discussing an issue or question before they are asked to share a perspective or response with the class.
Strategies:
Specify prior knowledge.
Identify and articulate for students the minimal level of discipline-specific prior knowledge and skills necessary for your discussion-based course if it requires prerequisite knowledge or skills. Include this information in your course description so that students can make an informed decision or, if it is a required course, find a way to acquire the needed knowledge and skills before the course begins. Without this knowledge their contributions to discussion will be limited. Also include this information in your syllabus.
Generate multiple examples, analogies, metaphors, etc., that cut across boundaries (e.g., nationality, race, gender, socioeconomic class, regional) because if you use white male middleclass culturally-based examples, etc., students from other groups are disadvantaged and often become silent during the discussion. For example, using sports analogies and/or language can alienate students who are not sports fans because they dont understand the reference.
Strategies:
Identify the value of being in class on time.
Explicitly articulate the value of coming to class on time and the negative consequences for both the individual student and the entire class. Explain to students that you set the context, goals, and agenda for the class during the first few minutes. Without this context, it is more difficult to enter into the discussion with meaningful contributions. Moreover, coming in late can both break others concentration and interrupt the flow of conversation.
Create a roadmap.
Display the goals, questions or issues for discussion and use them as mileposts to help all students seen where you have been and where you are going in the discussion. This roadmap can help to orient not only students who come late but also students who are distracted at some point in the discussion so that they can then be engaged or reengaged.
The instructor did not clearly articulate the goals of the discussion, define the structure, and/or effectively manage the process within the defined structure.
Students learn more when they know what it is they are expected to learn, hence outlining the goals of the discussion allow students to monitor their understanding as the discussion ensues. Clearly articulated goals also help the faculty member to structure the discussion so that is productive. For example, if your goal for the class is to evaluate an authors argument, the implicit structure is to identify and discuss the hypothesis, the methodology, the results, and the implications. If your goal is for students to debate a controversial issue, the implicit structure is presentation of both sides of the argument and ensuing debate. If your goal is to analyze a case, the implicit structure is to agree on the facts of the case, the key players and their agendas, potential solutions and their implications and, eventually, the best resolution. Implicit in each of these scenarios is a definition of what a valuable contribution and appropriate behavior are that will structure how students interact with you and each other. Finally, identifying methods and strategies to effectively manage the discussion (e.g., ground rules, appropriate questions) can help you deal with the complex and fast-paced nature of the classroom conversation.
Strategies:
Outline your goals.
Clearly articulate the goals for the discussion so that students understand what the desired outcome is, and use these goals as mileposts to help them recognize and monitor the development of their own understanding and the progress of the discussion.
Lay ground rules for participation (pdf) that clearly define acceptable and unacceptable behavior, e.g., turn-taking, language. For example, it is not acceptable to use pejoratives, labels, or sarcasm; it is inappropriate to verbally attack a person rather than their idea; it is important to allow others to speak rather than interrupt or usurp the floor. The need for ground rules is even more important if you are dealing with a controversial issue where students in the minority perspective could potentially feel inhibited to participate. You may even involve students in this process to insure greater student buy-in.
Assure participation.
Keep track of who wants to enter the discussion by explicitly identifying the order in which you would like students to speak (e.g., make a list, tell students the order in which they will speak).
Strategies:
Tactfully correct inaccurate information.
Diplomatically address incorrect information provided by students so that no one is embarrassed or uncomfortable. By doing this, you indicate to students that it is safe to venture a guess or take an intellectual risk. For example, you might say something like, You have just identified a common misperception, and I appreciate the opportunity to address the issue.
Explicitly encourage students to voice alternative perspectives and respectfully explore conflicting views. Model this behavior by inviting and validating points of view that differ from your own. By doing this, students will feel safe discussing unpopular views or disagreeing with you and /or the rest of the class. This enables student to think more deeply about the topic, particularly if it is complex or controversial.
Strategies:
Visit the classroom.
Prior to the course starting, visit the classroom to make sure that the physical environment supports the discussion.
Is it large enough?
Is it equipped with the appropriate technologies (e.g., black/white boards, internet connection, audio/video)? Are the desks moveable to allow a circular or semi-circular arrangement that facilitates student interaction, if this is what you want?
If you believe the classroom is not appropriate for a discussion class, contact your departmental administrator immediately.
Arrive early.
Go to the classroom a couple of minutes before each class to assure that the room is ready. For example, do you need to adjust the temperature or the configuration of the desks, close or open windows, or locate chalk/markers? Is the equipment you need functional and/or does it need to be turned on a few minutes before actual use?
based contexts. Furthermore, because the less actively involved students were part of the conversation and observed the actions being taken by their team leader, they often have a false sense of their proficiency for performing the task on their own. So, it is particularly important to teach students to monitor their own understanding as accurately as possible. To quote Herb Simon, Learning results from what the student does and thinks and only from what the student does and thinks. The teacher can advance learning only by influencing what the student does to learn. Thus, even in the midst of group work, it is important to make sure that each student is getting sufficient individual practice and feedback.
Strategies:
Articulate your expectations.
Communicate explicitly to students that they will be individually responsible for demonstrating proficiency. Remind students that they need to be monitoring their own individual understanding, particularly in the context of group work (e.g., Be careful not to coast in a group because you will eventually be asked to perform these tasks individually).
Students often focus on superficial features instead of the underlying principles, concepts, or theories.
Students often focus on superficial features of the initial learning situations they encounter (e.g., examples, cases, and problems) without understanding or recognizing the general principle involved. So, when a new situation arises, they either lack the general concept you expected they had learned or lack the skill of identifying key ideas.
This often occurs because novices often mentally organize knowledge inappropriately, with missing or inaccurate links among ideas or by representing their knowledge as a disconnected set of facts. For example, when physics instructors introduce Newtons Second Law in the context of a problem that shows a block on an inclined plane, students learn from this how to solve inclined plane problems. While they do well on homework problems that look the same (i.e., that involve blocks on inclined planes), they fail to solve problems that look different even though the principle at work is still Newtons Second Law. In general, students often encode and organize new information in terms of its superficial aspectsthe details of the context, story, or situation (e.g., the inclined planes in the physics problems)such that what students learn is tied to the irrelevant features. Hence, in a new situation where they need to access this information, they do not have the appropriate cues linking to the relevant knowledge.
Strategies:
Assess students knowledge organization.
Give students a sorting task to help determine whether they are focusing on superficial features. Present students with several problems that have some superficial features in common and also some deep features in common. Then ask students to categorize these problems according to what they see as similar. If your students tend to group the problems that are superficially similar, this indicates that they lack an understanding of how to approach problems and recognize the deep structure in problems.
Include some problems on homework assignments and quizzes where students are only asked to identify the appropriate approach. This highlights that planning is a critical skill and gives students opportunities to practice it in isolation. Then, when students are ready, ask them to identify the principle that underlies the problem as part of their solution.
Related Readings:
National Research Council. (2000). Chapter 2: How experts differ from novices. How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. 19-38. http://newton.nap.edu/html/ howpeople1/ch2.html National Research Council. (2000). Chapter 3: Learning and transfer. How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. 39-66. http://newton.nap.edu/html/ howpeople1/ch3.html Chi, M. T. H., Feltovich, P., & Glaser, R. (1981). Categorization and representation of physics problems by experts and novices. Cognitive Science, 6, 121-152. Chi1981.pdf Glaser, Robert, & Chi, Michelene T. H. (1988). Overview. The nature of expertise. Eds. M. T. H. Chi, R. Glaser, & M. J. Farr. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc. xv-xxviii. GlaserChi1988.pdf Reif, F. (1995). Millikan lecture 1994: Understanding and teaching important scientific thought processes. American Journal of Physics, 63(1), 17-32. Reif1995.pdf
Students have learned the individual skill or piece of knowledge but cant apply it in complex contexts because they havent practiced the skills of integration and synthesis.
Even though students can demonstrate proficiency in simplified contexts (e.g., articulating a single argument or executing a single technique), they have difficulty applying the same knowledge and skills in situations that impose added demands (e.g., when integrating ideas from different sources, applying multiple techniques to solve a larger problem, or under time pressure such as during an exam).
For example, early on in a history course students are able to identify and critique a particular argument from an individual reading. However, when they are asked to integrate multiple arguments into a persuasive thesis of their own, they have difficulty reconciling different points of view and pulling out pieces of the argument that can be used to shape the students unique perspective. Similarly, in a lighting design course, students learn which kinds of lighting create different moods and can easily apply this knowledge in a simple, specific situation. However, they have difficulty drawing on several different principles to create an appropriate lighting scheme when the scene requires complex contrasts (e.g., a joyful wedding in stoic Victorian England).
Strategies:
Provide practice on basic skills.
Give students more practice at developing fluency of basic skills (e.g., at the beginning of the course, have students identify the argument of each author; for each production that students see, have them analyze the lighting features and their corresponding mood-setting).
Help students learn the different types of knowledge and sources of difficulty so that they can decompose the learning task (i.e., help students be more reflective and metacognitive). Just because students can recognize a theory doesnt mean that they can apply it, and just because they can recognize a term doesnt mean that they can define it in their own words.
Students have learned to rely on cues (from the teacher, textbook, or other parts of instruction) rather than learning themselves how to identify the appropriate approach.
Students often get practice in situations where they are directed (explicitly or implicitly) as to the appropriate procedure, approach, or perspective to apply (e.g., problems at the end of a chapter, questions at the end of a reading, or application of a procedure they just learned). This may lead instructors to falsely assume that students have also gained the metacognitive skill of identifying the appropriate procedure, approach, or perspective on their own. However, this is only one part of the larger problem-solving process that is often overlooked, and yet it requires modeling and practice.
Strategies:
Provide practice in the skill of selection.
Give students practice at the skill of choosing an appropriate approach after they have learned several different concepts, theories, etc. For example, in a statistics class, students learning to analyze data need to learn not only how to apply the various statistical techniques but also how to decide which technique is appropriate when and why. Giving students an assignment where, for each situation, they need to identify the appropriate statistical procedure and explain why that procedure is appropriate has several benefits. It gives students practice at this important skill of selection, offers an opportunity for them to get feedback on their selections, and allows them to focus not on problem solution but on problem planning (i.e., identifying the best approach).
Students compartmentalize knowledge and skills and hence cant draw on them.
Students often dont see the relevance of prior material because they compartmentalize knowledge by course, semester, professor, or discipline and so they dont even think to bring that knowledge to bear. This compartmentalization leads students to organize knowledge in a way that is very different from yours and can impede its use. For example, students learning about the concept of volatility in a finance course often dont recognize the relevance of the statistical concept of variability because they do not naturally bring to bear knowledge from other courses and because they may not see the common idea given the difference in terminology.
Strategies:
Provide prompts to relevant knowledge.
Explicitly cue students to their relevant knowledge by identifying the common idea referred to by different labels. When students have a cue into the relevant prior knowledge, it is easier for them to bring to mind what they already know. Then, as the semester progresses, students will view identifying relevant knowledge as part of the natural problem-solving process and hence you can reduce or eliminate your help in cueing them.
Other knowledge from prior or current courses or from everyday life can interfere with students ability to perform well in your course.
Students come into your course with a vast array of knowledge that they have learned in other courses and through daily life. Thus, they are not coming to you as a blank slate and will bring this prior knowledge to bear on new information. If this prior knowledge is inaccurate, incomplete, or simply inappropriate for your current course, it can interfere with students learning in your course. For example, students in an American History course often come in with the belief that slavery was the cause of the civil war rather than the Souths attempt to secede from the Union. So, in teaching students about causal explanations, they refuse to accept the accurate and more complex explanation, reverting to their simplistic and long-held view. Similarly, many students come to college having learned to write the standard 5-paragraph essay
and will try to apply this template to all of their writing tasks, even when it is inappropriate (e.g., lab reports, persuasive memo, case analysis). A more complex example involves the complications that anthropology students face in learning the concept of cultural relativism, in which one tries to understand a communitys practices within the context of its culture rather than judge those practices based on the students own cultural beliefs and knowledge. First, it is very difficult for students to suspend their long-held beliefs about what is right and wrongfor example, when trying to understand the practice of infanticide in another culture. Second, when students are asked to write an anthropological argument on the practice of infanticide, they may revert to a different style of argument (e.g., persuasive argument) and write a paper that evaluates the practice rather than applying the concept of cultural relativism.
Strategies:
Assess students prior knowledge.
Administer to students a prior knowledge assessment that taps into how students perceive or misperceive common terms, methods, concepts, or technical language in your discipline. You can then use the results to identify areas of mismatch between students prior knowledge and what you aim to teach and address those areas before moving on. For example, concept inventories are assessments designed to gauge students self-reported level of understanding (e.g., familiarity, ability to use when cued, ability to apply appropriately, ability to explain to a peer). Such concept inventories can be adapted to test for students possible misconceptions.
Talk to colleagues.
Find out what is being taught in courses related to yours (including high school) so you are better informed regarding what knowledge students bring to your course. Speak to instructors of relevant courses to identify areas of match and mismatch in the use of terminology, notation, approach, and importance of different features (e.g., in physics emphasizing the direction of a force versus in statics the location of a force). In some cases, you may see areas of mismatch that can be easily made more consistentfor example, with terminology or notation changes. In other cases, there may be differences that are not just conventions but rather reveal different emphases across subdisciplines. In these cases, being aware of differences will enable you to indicate them to students so they can more easily see and use their relevant prior knowledge.
Dont make assumptions about students knowledge of disciplinary norms (e.g., what an argument is in anthropology or what makes an effective lab report). For example, just because students have been reading papers in a given genre throughout the semester does not mean that students have inferred the unique features or structure of the genre, particularly to the level required to write such papers on their own.
Students dont view knowledge as cumulative and useful across courses and hence dont draw on relevant prior knowledge from other courses.
Even though students can demonstrate proficiency gained in other courses in simplified contexts (e.g., articulating a single argument, executing a technique), they have difficulty applying the same knowledge and skills in new courses under different demands (e.g., when integrating ideas from different sources, applying what they have learned in a new context). This is a common problem in capstone courses, where the goal is to help students integrate and apply knowledge they have learned across multiple courses in the preceding several years. These intellectual tasks are challenging for students because they require students to identify which knowledge is relevant from a vast array of things they have previously learned, simultaneously consider the implications of multiple pieces of information, and then integrate this disparate knowledge as they apply it in the current context. For example, students asked to design a bridge in a senior civil engineering capstone course need to draw on concepts from courses such as physics, calculus, structural engineering, and materials science and integrate this knowledge as they create a new design. Similarly, students asked to design and market a product in a capstone course need to draw on concepts from courses as diverse as engineering, design, and marketing.
Strategies:
Model the expert approach.
Model for students the processes of identifying relevant knowledge, simultaneously considering implication of multiple pieces of information, and integrating and applying disparate knowledge. For example, set up a mock design situation where you talk aloud as you plan your approach. After demonstrating these skills in one situation, involve students in the process by asking them questions as you pose another (e.g., How would you begin? What relevant knowledge should you apply? How will you handle the complexity of the situation?). Also, after modeling your approach and giving students a chance to apply it with your guidance, be sure to provide students with opportunities to practice the skills of identifying important features and planning their approach because learning only occurs for the processes that students are exercising. (See GlaserChi1988.pdf.)
mood-setting. In this way, students will be that much more proficient at their basic skills, making it easier for them to apply them in more complex contexts.
among students and/or a connection to the instructor. Either of these can help to foster a sense of responsibility to the class.
Strategies:
Arrive early and chat with students.
This is an opportunity for you to get to know more about your students; for example, you can ask questions that range from How was your weekend? or Have you seen any interesting movies lately? to How difficult was the last homework assignment? or How long did the last lab take you to complete? These quick and simple gestures will help students to build a sense of connection to you.
The time of day is not appealing to students (e.g., early morning, late afternoon).
Strategies:
Create an incentive to attend.
Take advantage of students obsession with grades by linking attendance to grades. For example, you can make attendance a part of the grade or you can administer a very short quiz at the
beginning of class, e.g., student response systems (now present in many CM classrooms) allow you to administer and grade these quizzes easily.
You put your PowerPoint slides on Blackboard, and so students assume that those notes are enough information for them to master the subject/topic.
Strategies:
Design your slides to encourage attendance.
Explicitly inform students that your PowerPoint slides are incomplete, and they need to annotate those notes during the lecture. For example, the posted slides can provide the skeletal structure for the lecture, with fuller explanations and examples missing.
Students assume they can copy notes from a peer and master the subject.
Strategies:
Discourage reliance on peers notes.
Explicitly tell students that they need to attend class, and caution them that other students notes can never fully capture what happens in lecture or may be of poor quality.
Students are bored because they are not innately interested in the content and they dont see the relevance to their academic and/or professional goals.
Strategies:
Use material that connects with students.
Embed examples, applications, and topics within lectures that either connect to students fields of study and/or resonate with the culture and interests of this generation of students.
Students are bored because they are not actively engaged in the lecture, which requires fifty minutes of focused attention.
Strategies:
Refocus their attention.
The typical attention span for most students is between ten and twenty minutes. This argues for planning your lecture in chunks of fifteen to twenty minutes, using varied activities to re-engage students attention, e.g., pose a question, use visuals, conduct a demonstration, break into groups, show a portion of a video, use the classroom response system.
The lecture reiterates what is in the textbook, and since many students learn more effectively from reading than listening because they can read at their own pace, re-read if confused, etc., they opt to do that rather than attend lecture.
Strategies:
Use class time to complement the reading.
For example, during lecture you can expand on the reading, provide alternative examples or perspectives, or have students engage in some way with the material (e.g., generate their own example of a concept they read about; solve a more complex problem using the strategies introduced in the reading; identify a real world application of a theory).
Expose students to experience(s) they would not typically have access to.
For example, bring in a guest lecturer, conduct a demonstration, or share recent innovations, discoveries, or breakthroughs that are just emerging in the field.
Students have difficulty discerning the goals and/or organization of the lecture.
Strategies:
State your goals.
Clearly articulate the goals of the lecture so that students understand what the desired outcomes are, and use these goals as mileposts to help them recognize the progress of the lecture.
Strategies:
Encourage students to use support services.
If you identify students who are not attending lecture because they are overwhelmed, refer them to Academic Development, their advisor, the Counseling Center, Student Affairs, and/or Student Health). If you have questions about how best to refer students to these services, contact the respective professionals for advice.
Students whose first language is not English (who are not just international students) are having difficulty following the lecture.
Strategies:
Encourage students to use support services.
If you suspect that a lack of language proficiency is a problem for students, refer them to the Intercultural Communication Center. If you have questions about how best to refer students to the ICC, you can contact them for advice.
Even students who have good general reading skills may lack discipline-specific skills and require help learning how to approach readings in your discipline. They may not recognize the organizational structure of a text and may lack the skills necessary to discern the important ideas, distinguish argument from evidence, or recognize an authors intended audience, assumptions, or goals. They may read every word of a chapter or article but not know what they are supposed to do with it. When students lack the skills to identify the relevant aspects of a reading they may accord every sentence equal weight and thus:
take too long with each reading and fall behind fail to comprehend the reading properly or process it inadequately, thus appearing not to have done it
The issues above can be exacerbated for students from other cultural backgrounds, who may be used to different conventions in writing and argumentation and thus have difficulty recognizing the organizational structure of assigned readings. Second-language issues may also slow them down, making it more difficult to keep up with the reading.
Strategies:
Provide parameters for how long reading should take.
Give students a sense of how much time it should take them to get through a particular kind of reading (bearing in mind that it is normal for students to take 3-4 times longer than you do to read a text). Advise them to come talk with you if it is taking them significantly longer than this (6 hours for a 15-page article, for example) and refer them to Academic Development for help developing more effective textbook reading strategies. If you think the problem is cultural/linguistic, refer students to the Intercultural Communication Center.
requiring them to submit it in writing or by asking them for their summaries, questions, or critiques as a preamble to discussion.
Strategies:
Clearly spell out prerequisite knowledge for the course.
Explain to students (in broad strokes) what you expect them to know going into your course. State your expectations or requirements in your syllabus and reiterate them at the beginning of the semester. For example, an instructor in a course on U.S. labor history might tell students that (a) she expects them to know basic U.S. history and (b) they will be responsible for doing factfinding on their own if they encounter references to historical events with which they are unfamiliar. The instructor in an Environmental Science course might tell students that they are responsible for knowing certain concepts from biology and should consider dropping the course if they do not.
It also isnt always necessary for students to understand all aspects of a reading in order for the reading to accomplish your learning objectives. To prevent consternation and confusion among students when they encounter unfamiliar vocabulary or concepts, consider telling them what they are not expected to know. For example, in a course on cross-cultural psychology, you might inform students that while they are expected to know the psychological principles and theories featured in readings, they do not have to know the anthropological terms and references. In a course on environmental statistics, you could tell students they will need only a rough grasp of the biological principles and should focus their attention on issues of statistical validity.
Students might not perceive a sufficient payoff for keeping up with the reading.
Carnegie Mellon students consistently report that they are less motivated to do readings if little or no proportion of their grade depends on doing them. Students also are more likely to do readings that do not duplicate material they can learn in other ways, such as by attending lectures. While we would all prefer that students did their assigned reading for the pure love of knowledge (as opposed to grades), research indicates that extrinsic rewards for certain kinds of tasks can eventually lead students to value those tasks for intrinsic reasons. In other words, even if students initially do the readings to get the grade, simply doing the reading can lead them to a deeper appreciation of its intrinsic value.
Strategies:
Increase the payoff for students who do the reading.
Structure your assessments and grading criteria such that skipping the reading or reading carelessly will have consequences for a students performance and thus grade. You might, for example, include essay questions on exams about assigned books or require students to submit written answers to questions about assigned articles. You might require students to incorporate assigned reading into semester-long projects or research papers. You might consider requiring students to keep reading journals that you collect regularly or without warning. Capitalize on the social dynamics in the classroom by either asking questions about readings that require students to articulate their understandings publicly or assigning individual students or groups of students the responsibility for leading a discussion of particular readings.
Such strategies are not just clever motivational levers. They also help ensure that there is alignment in your course among learning objectives, assessments, and instructional activities. In other words, you should assign readings that help students meet the learning objectives and use assessments that determine whether these learning objectives have been met.
Avoid redundancy.
Select your readings carefully so that they complement other course materials without duplicating them. Readings should reinforce, illustrate, add greater depth to, or provide new perspectives on the material covered in lectures, such that students perceive a benefit to keeping up with the reading.
Students might not see the relevance of readings to other course material or to their own lives.
Motivational theories predict, and research confirms, that students allocate their time and efforts to those tasks that maximize the expected value of the task. One of the factors that increases the perceived value is relevance. If students can clearly see the benefit of the material to their future careers, or if the material connects to material from other courses they are interested in, it will be more relevant to them and they will put more effort into it. This will also be true if reading material connects to students lives and interests. Conversely, students may avoid readings if they dont perceive a connection to their own lives, for example, if they do not perceive that the readings fairly represent the contributions of people from their race, ethnicity, or gender. In extreme cases, students may be actively put off by the readings, and may stop reading if they find the material painful or uncomfortable (for example, readings on rape or incest) or if they find the readings objectionable (for example, because they represent racist or homophobic attitudes or political or religious positions that they strenuously disagree with.) What is important here is both the relevance of reading material and student perceptions of its relevance. Sometimes the connections that are clear to us (for example, why we chose a particular reading to illustrate a concept) are not clear to students, possibly because of how students are organizing knowledge in their own minds.
Strategies:
Ensure relevance.
Review the readings every year to see if they still meet the objectives of the course. Are they relevant and interesting? Do they reflect emerging issues in the discipline? Are they timely or dated? Do they marginalize or tokenize certain groups? After reviewing your readings, you might choose to add or subtract readings to increase their salience to students and to reflect the frontier of the field.
Make sure students understand why the readings have been selected by highlighting their relevance to the course, the discipline, the students future professional life, current events, or issues that the students care about. You might even ask the students to draw these connections themselves in short assignments or discussions. If you anticipate the readings will prompt emotional reactions, explain their value to student learning and acknowledge possible reactions.
Strategies:
Carefully structure the workload.
Make sure your course requirements, including readings and other assignments, are consistent with the university time-unit guidelines (a unit represents one hour of work per week, on the average). When you are allocating time for readings, remember it might take 3-4 times longer for them than it takes for you, depending on the students level and on the kind of reading assigned (e.g., theoretical treatises vs. items from the popular press).
Students think they can read the material just before an exam and get the same (or perhaps even greater) benefit.
Students need time to assimilate reading material and integrate it with their prior knowledge and the knowledge and skills they are building concurrently. However, students who lack certain meta-cognitive strategies may not understand the importance of appropriately spaced practice and thus may attempt to do all their reading in one sitting. If their scholastic experience has prepared them only for exams that require simple regurgitation of knowledge, they might have even found it beneficial to do all the readings just before the exam. While this may work in high school classes (and perhaps some poorly designed college courses), its unlikely to be an effective strategy overall.
Strategies:
Emphasize the benefits of appropriately spaced reading.
Discuss with students what the benefits are to them of allowing time to process the material.
Create assignment and discussion criteria that make it impossible to leave all the reading until the end. It is particularly important to do this early in the course, to help students learn effective meta-cognitive strategies. You can remove this scaffolding by reducing such assignments as the students learn to take more ownership of the process and begin to recognize for themselves the value of keeping up with the readings.
Students are responding to course content and/or classroom dynamics in emotional and unproductive ways.
The course content inadvertently alienates or threatens students.
While some level of emotional engagement fosters student motivation, it is possible that significantly heightened emotions will interfere with students learning. For example, students may become upset and stop listening, withdraw from participation, or in extreme cases storm out of the classroom or drop the course. In addition to the climate that we establish in our classes, we should consider how the course content itself might prompt emotional reactions. Course content includes not only the readings and topics we select for a course, but also the examples and metaphors we use in class and the project topics we allow our students to choose. Controversial or provocative topics can elicit strong emotional responses and make students feel threatened or alienated, but so can the types of materials we choose to include or not include in the course. For example, a biology class that only mentions male biologists or a contemporary literature class that only includes literature by Caucasian writers can be interpreted as a statement about who belongs and does not belong in the field. For students developing their sense of identity, purpose, and competence, these subtle (and generally unintended) messages can influence their motivation to engage with the material or continue in the field.
Strategies:
Consider whether course content inadvertently marginalizes students.
Think about whether certain perspectives are systematically unrepresented in your course materials and, if so, what message that may send. For example, a course on family that focuses only on traditional families may communicate an unintended value judgment about students families that do not fit this mold. By the same token, a course on public policy that ignores rural populations might convey disregard for some students experiences that makes them feeling alienated. When making decisions about course content, it makes sense to consider how the choices you make about content can influence students emotionally and consequently affect their investment in the course. If there is a valid reason that the course content is not inclusive or that you are discouraging a student from pursuing a particular research topic, you should share it so that students understand the rationale behind your choices.
maturity, so they may not be fully aware of their own emotions or be able to express them appropriately or productively.
Strategies:
Have realistic expectations.
Education should challenge students beliefs and assumptions and push them out of their comfort zone. However, it is important for instructors to be aware of students current levels of intellectual and social development and set their expectations accordingly. For instance, instructors should not be surprised if students at the dualistic stage of intellectual development find ambiguity uncomfortable and frustrating or if students at the multiplicity stage view all perspectives as equally valid and take offense if asked to justify their opinions with evidence. Instructors should also not expect students to already have the language and social skills appropriate for debating contentious issues civilly and constructively. Recognizing that intellectual and social development are processes can help instructors develop learning opportunities that help students progress towards greater maturity and sophistication.
Students are experiencing personal problems that are outside your control.
Individual students may exhibit inappropriate behaviors or emotional reactions in class for reasons that have little or nothing to do with you or your course. They may be under stress from personal or family crises, for example, or struggling with drugs or alcohol. Moreover, some students may have mental health conditions that make them especially sensitive or insensitive to social cues; this is especially true these days as more students are able, through the use of medication, to come to college with cognitive and psychological conditions that might have kept them out of college a generation ago.
Strategies:
Talk to the student outside of class.
If a student seems particularly emotional, you might want to pull him or her aside after class to ask about the situation. It is possible that you have through no fault of your own touched on a topic in class that is an emotional trigger for that student. Simply taking the student aside, expressing concern, and explaining what your intentions were and were not can help to defuse the situation and can also help the student differentiate personal reactions from intellectual analysis.
Strategies:
Set appropriate prerequisites if you have the ability to do so.
Even in courses that do not traditionally have prerequisites, instructors often have leeway in setting the standards and requirements for their courses. Check with your department, college or other appropriate unit to determine if you can institute or adjust prerequisites for your course.
Empower students to make the appropriate decision about what to do next (e.g., work extra hard, delay taking the course, etc).
Explain to the students how their lack of background knowledge or skills may influence their ability to successfully master the material in the course and achieve a passing grade. Empower students to make the appropriate decision about what to do next. Options include working extra hard, seeking help from a tutor, and postponing the course until they have acquired the necessary background.
Split sections.
Some courses have experimented with separate sections for specific majors (e.g., a linear algebra section for computer scientists, physics for engineers) or for students based on scores to a diagnostic test. If this is a feasible option for you, you can tailor the course to the students prior knowledge, ability and/or motivation. You can fine-tune the learning objectives, and introduce examples and applications that are relevant to the major or appropriate to the students ability. Check with your department if splitting classes into such sections is an option for your course.
Some of the services that Academic Development offers include supplemental instruction, individual and group tutoring, and study skills workshops. In addition they facilitate the formation of study groups within courses.
of
study
groups
based
on
Advise students to form study groups within the course if they are having trouble staying up-todate. Some instructors leave space in the syllabus for the contact information of two students, then ask everybody on the first day to turn to their left and to their right and ask the students next to them for their contact information. This way, the students start connecting on the first day of class, and will be more likely to follow up if they need help.
Strategies:
Identify and clarify expectations up-front.
Use the syllabus, the first day of class, and your course management system to state very explicit expectations for the students. Clarify your learning objectives, the necessary prerequisites, both in terms of previous courses as well as relevant bodies of knowledge and skills. In addition, state clearly the options students have for catching up if they do not meet the appropriate expectations (e.g., will you do extra review sessions or will students be expected to catch up on their own?).
Empower students to make the appropriate decision about what to do next (e.g., work extra hard, delay taking the course, etc).
Explain to the students how their lack of background knowledge or skills may influence their ability to successfully master the material in the course and achieve a passing grade. Empower students to make the appropriate decision about what to do next. Options include working extra hard, seeking help from a tutor, and postponing the course until they have acquired the necessary background.
Split sections
Some courses have experimented with separate sections for specific majors (e.g., a linear algebra section for computer scientists, physics for engineers) or for students based on scores to a diagnostic test. If this is a feasible option for you, you can tailor the course to the students prior knowledge, ability and/or motivation. You can fine-tune the learning objectives, and introduce examples and applications that are relevant to the major or appropriate to the students ability. Check with your department if splitting classes into such sections is an option for your course.
of
study
groups
based
on
Advise students to form study groups within the course if they are having trouble staying up-todate. Some instructors leave space in the syllabus for the contact information of two students, then ask everybody on the first day to turn to their left and to their right and ask the students next to them for their contact information. This way, the students start connecting on the first day of class, and will be more likely to follow up if they need help.
Strategies:
Identify and clarify expectations up-front.
Use the syllabus, the first day of class, and your course management system to state very explicit expectations for the students. Clarify your learning objectives, the necessary prerequisites, both in terms of previous courses as well as relevant bodies of knowledge and skills. In addition, state clearly the options students have for catching up if they do not meet the appropriate expectations (e.g., will you do extra review sessions or will students be expected to catch up on their own?).
Empower students to make the appropriate decision about what to do next (e.g., work extra hard, delay taking the course, etc).
Explain to the students how their lack of background knowledge or skills may influence their ability to successfully master the material in the course and achieve a passing grade. Empower students to make the appropriate decision about what to do next. Options include working extra hard, seeking help from a tutor, and postponing the course until they have acquired the necessary background.
Give diagnostic tests and split into sections based on scores when appropriate/feasible.
Another option is to administer appropriate pre-assessments and split the class into sections (again, when feasible and appropriate). Then you can provide more scaffolding and support for the students who dont have a solid background, while at the same time you can challenge students who are already well-positioned.
of
study
groups
based
on
Advise students to form study groups within the course if they are having trouble staying up-todate. Some instructors leave space in the syllabus for the contact information of two students,
then ask everybody on the first day to turn to their left and to their right and ask the students next to them for their contact information. This way, the students start connecting on the first day of class, and will be more likely to follow up if they need help.
Strategies:
Assess and identify the motivations that students bring to the course.
Remember, not all students have the same interest and motivation as you. Indeed, you probably represent the extreme in terms of interest and motivation in your field. Knowing why students enroll in your course can help you choose examples, readings, demonstrations and applications that cover the range of motivators influencing your students. Assessing not only prior knowledge but students attitudes about your topic and their motivation for being in your class, can provide valuable information.
Choice allows students to direct their attention and focus their efforts toward specific areas of interest. You can introduce choice at the individual- or the class-level provided that it supports the learning objectives of your course. For instance, you can allow students to choose topics for papers or projects. Alternatively, some instructors leave some days in the syllabus as TBA (to be announced) and allow students to choose the topic(s) for discussion.
Strategies:
Consider your objectives.
Before structuring your assignment, think hard about what skills you want students to develop and what level of collaboration you want them to engage in. Is it sufficient for student groups to employ a divide-and-conquer approach, with each member independently contributing a piece to a final product (i.e., cooperative learning)? Or is it important for students to work closely together, generating, debating, applying and reconsidering ideas and approaches collectively (i.e., collaborative learning)? Your goals must be reflected in and supported by the structure of the assignment. Read on to learn more about how to do this.
them to a very different set of expectations about proper conduct in and outside of group work contexts.
Strategies:
Define the task.
Clearly explain -- even more than you think is necessary -- all the parameters of the assignment. For example, on a group writing assignment or presentation, specify what kind of audience the group should address their writing or presentation to, so that the information is pitched at the proper level (e.g., should the groups final product be tailored for an audience of experts, novices, or something in between? In other words, is there background knowledge they can assume their audience possesses, or should they provide all the background themselves?) Also, clarify the ultimate purpose of the project: to suggest and justify a set of recommendations? to develop a working prototype? to apply a particular theory to a data set? to design and implement a research project? If the project requires research, specify what kinds of sources are and are not legitimate for the purposes of the assignment. For example, if you want students to use only academic journals and books and no Internet sources, make it clear from the beginning. If the task you have assigned is deliberately ill-defined, as it often is in upper-level courses, explain to students that the lack of structure is intentional, and tell them what skills they gain from having to structure an unstructured problem, identify their own research question, etc. Being clear and explicit does not constitute spoon-feeding or hand-holding. Because disciplinary conventions and individual instructors goals differ so radically across courses, students need to know what you are looking for on a given assignment -- just as faculty need to know about a granting agencys scope and priorities to write a successful grant proposal. The clearer students understanding of the task itself, the higher the quality of the work you can expect to receive. Make sure the difficulty of the assignment is in completing it, not in understanding it!
everything right will earn them a B, whereas an A will require producing something particularly original, insightful, or bold. If developing teamwork skills is an explicit objective of your course, be sure to include process as well as product in your rubric, using students assessments of one another and themselves to inform your marks on the collaboration or teamwork sections of your rubric.
Provide models.
Show your students examples of excellent student work from previous semesters. Just as seeing successful grant proposals can help professionals pitch their own writing appropriately, seeing how others have successfully addressed the assignment can illustrate your expectations, inspire your students, and help them work more efficiently. Bear in mind that it is important not only to provide the model but also to annotate it or explain to your class what makes it good; otherwise students can focus on the wrong features of the work (e.g., the bells and whistles of a presentation rather than the substance.) Try to provide models representing a range of ways student groups have approached the assignment: this encourages students to think broadly and to consider a range of alternative approaches. If you believe providing models of prior student work will over-determine what your students think to produce, thus limiting their creativity, use student work from similar but not identical assignments.
Strategies:
Emphasize process, not just product.
The focus in most classes is on the mastery of domain-specific knowledge and skills and the products students produce (e.g., papers, designs, mechanical models) to demonstrate that mastery. The focus is rarely on the process by which these products are created. On the basis of these experiences, students are very focused on product, much less so on process. Consequently, it is critical when assigning group work to clearly emphasize the importance of domain-general process skills, such as clear communication and conflict management. To motivate students to think about and work on these skills, explain their practical benefit in the workplace, for example, how teams of engineers function in industrial or research contexts and the planning, communication, and time management skills they need in order to work effectively in groups. Real-world anecdotes about what can go wrong when teamwork skills are weak can further reinforce the message that these skills are as central to professional success as domain-specific skills. Barkely, Cross, and Major (2005) suggest setting the stage for group projects by asking students to generate a list of skills they believe a future employer would look for. Because this exercise tends to generate answers such as problem-solving ability, clear communication skills, and the ability to work with others it can be the basis of a good discussion about the process goals for the course.
Provide direction.
Dont assume students already know how to work successfully in groups. In all likelihood, they will require help. The following constitute some of the things students working in groups will need to do. If your students are already experienced with group work, you may simply need to remind them about these issues; if they are inexperienced, you should provide more structure (for example, by requiring students to submit a project proposal defining the task, a plan of action, and/or a tentative schedule of meetings and due-dates) and feedback, or by doing some of these tasks (for example, assigning roles or setting interim deadlines) yourself.
Define the task: Students must be able to clearly identify and articulate the problem(s) to be solved or the question(s) to be answered, particularly if the assignment involves unstructured problems or a broad set of possible topics. Determine the steps necessary to accomplish the goal: Students must be able to identify the component parts of the project and their logical sequence. For example, one project might require students to search for appropriate library sources, then meet to discuss the resources collected, then each write an individual assessment of one of the sourcesand so on. Assign roles (link to Barkely, Cross & Major, p.52): Students must determine who should be responsible for particular tasks. For example, individual group members might be responsible for: initiating and sustaining communication with the rest of the group, coordinating schedules and organizing meetings; recording ideas generated and decisions made at meetings; keeping the group on task and cracking the whip when deadlines are approaching, etc. Co-ordinate communication: Students must exchange contact information and decide how the group will communicate (via e-mail? discussion board? on-line collaboration tool? face-to-face?) and how often.
Set interim deadlines: Students must determine roughly how long it will take to do various parts of the project and set reasonable deadlines for completing them.
If students are lacking skills you consider critical for successful collaborative work, set aside class time to introduce, reinforce, and/or practice those skills. For example, you might want to designate some class time to role-playing group dynamics in order to discuss potential problems and brainstorm effective solutions.
Strategies:
Identify prerequisite courses and skills.
If there are skills (for example, facility with a particular software, experience with a specific research methodology, mastery of a technical vocabulary) that your students simply must have to succeed in assigned projects, make this clear in the course description and again on the first day
of class. Students without the designated skills then know they must either make up the missing skills and knowledge on their own time or not take the course.
member to contribute expertise from his own discipline. If the goal is for students to learn to apply a set of skills outside their disciplinary expertise, however, then the assignment must be designed so that students cannot confine their contributions to those areas where they are already comfortable, but must develop their skills in new areas. To facilitate this, you might require students to switch roles at certain points in the semester, so that the computer scientists must make or justify design decisions and the designers must apply programming skills. You might also require a paper from individual students explaining what they learned from doing the assignment, so that you can assess the extent to which they have developed skills they did not originally have.
Strategies:
Create groups based on your goals.
Allowing for the practical constraints of your course (e.g., class size, student composition) your goals for the assignment should drive your decisions about group composition. For example, if the project requires a multidisciplinary solution or if you want group work to mimic a particular workplace configuration, you might compose groups so that they include students of different disciplines (e.g., one engineer, one designer, one computer scientist). If you want to showcase how various disciplines approach problems differently, you might want to create disciplinespecific groups. If you want group members to represent a number of cultural perspectives, you might mix groups according to cultural background. Decisions about group composition can also be pragmatic. In some cases, creating groups randomly might be the easiest reasonable solution. If a project requires a lot of out-of-class meeting time, you might opt to create groups based on common schedules. If you have a number of students from one language group in your class, you might choose under certain circumstances to group them together so they can focus on the content material without the additional cognitive burden of functioning in English. However, pragmatism must work in concert with the goals of the course and assignment. The previous example would not make sense if one of the goals of the assignment were for students to develop facility with a particular content vocabulary or to give a group presentation in English.
Think about the advantages and disadvantages of different group compositions before creating groups. For example, you may have a limited number of one type of student (e.g., students with a strong background in the subject area; students of a particular gender, race, or ethnicity) who you would like to disperse among groups to create diversity. While there are advantages to this decision (e.g., a wider range of perspectives and experiences to draw on) there are also potential disadvantages: the lone person of a given type may feel isolated or resentful that they are expected to speak for or represent their sex, race, ethnicity, discipline, etc. Homogeneous groups also have both pros and cons. Groups possessing similar skills or experiences can work faster because they do not have to spend time explaining to the out -of-group members; however, their perspectives and approaches may end up being more limited because they lack diversity.
Strategies:
Hold individuals accountable.
To discourage the free-rider syndrome, structure individual accountability into your assignment. In other words, in addition to evaluating the work of the group as a whole, require individual students to demonstrate their learning via quizzes, independent write-ups, weekly journal entries, etc. Students are considerably less likely to slack off in groups and leave all the work to more responsible classmates -- if they know their individual performance will affect their grade.
Define ground rules, or -- better yet -- have students develop their own ground rules for group behavior. You might, for example, ask student groups to generate answers to the question: What behavior by group members do you think will/wont help the group function effectively? Then have students create a list of ground rules based on their answers: e.g., return e-mails from group members within 24 hours; come to meetings on time and prepared; meet deadlines; listen to what your teammates have to say; respond to one anothers comments politely but honestly; be constructive; criticize ideas, not people. Finally, ask students to agree to the ground rules, perhaps by signing a group learning contract (Barkley, Cross & Major, 2005). Establishing ground rules can help prevent undesirable behaviors and also give the group a basis for evaluating the behavior of individuals within it.
ask someone else (a T.A, for instance) to mediate the problem? Will you allow teams to fire problematic group members, and if so, what options do fired individuals have? Its important to anticipate worst-case scenarios, so you will not be blindsided if they occur.
When students lack skills in these areas, their writing may be unsatisfactory in multiple ways from poor grammar and syntax to unclear organization to weak reasoning and arguments. Complicating matters is that students often lack the meta-cognitive skills to recognize the areas in which their prior knowledge and skills are insufficientand thus which skills they need to work to improve. Moreover, students may have learned bad habits in high school that they need to un-learn. For example, some students were taught in high school to avoid the first person in formal writing, and thus may use awkward grammatical constructions to avoid it.
Strategies:
A key challenge in helping students learn basic writing skills is doing so without overwhelming the students or overburdening yourself. Effective strategies thus involve (a) prioritizing which skills you value, (b) communicating those priorities (and your specific expectations) to students, and (c) giving students opportunities to practice and receive feedback.
Writing isnt a single task; rather it involves many component skills (e.g. synthesizing information, articulating arguments, crafting sentences, engaging an audience). Furthermore, the nature of writing depends heavily on both the specific assignment (i.e., the purpose of the writing) and the conventions of particular disciplines. Developing clear grading criteria can help students learn to recognize the component tasks involved in particular kinds of writing and identify what they need to work on. Performance rubrics help to demystify the component tasks of writing. Developing good performance rubrics is not easy. It requires the instructor to be extremely clear in articulating the objectives of the assignment as well as his/her own values vis--vis writing. While creating a high-quality rubric can involve an initial investment of time, instructors who have developed good rubrics generally find that they expedite the grading process and provide students with feedback that translates into better performance.
improve their own writing. Peer feedback is most effective when you give students specific instructions about what to look for and comment on. You can ask students to use the same performance rubric you use, or give them a set of questions to address, such as: Was the writing style engaging? Is there a clearly articulated argument? Is there good correspondence between argument and evidence? Are the ideas expressed clearly and unambiguously? What you ask students to focus on in a peer review, of course, depends on your discipline and your goals for the particular assignment. Use minimal grading, or extremely targeted feedback for some assignments. For example, you might make it clear to students that on one assignment they will only receive feedback on the strength of their argument and evidence but not grammar and spelling. Alternatively, you might choose to focus on clarity, underlining clear or effective passages in blue and unclear or problematic passages in green, and limiting your feedback to that single dimension of writing. This not only makes the job of grading easier, it helps students focus on one aspect of their writing at a time. Once again, what you choose to emphasize in grading will depend on your learning objectives for particular assignments. Assign more writing tasks of shorter length or smaller scope rather than fewer tasks of great length or large scope. This way, students get more opportunity to practice basic skills and can refine their approach from assignment to assignment based on feedback they receive.
Strategies:
Identify the key features of writing in your discipline.
Point out to students the characteristic features of writing in your discipline. For example, in an introductory anthropology class, you might point out that authors often identify a cultural assumption that they then challenge using cross-cultural evidence. Having identified this trope, you might ask students questions (in homework or in discussion) that require students to identify
these characteristics in their readings (e.g., What assumption was the author challenging? What cross-cultural evidence did she employ to do it?). Also point out variations in writing conventions within your discipline, and give students practice recognizing the features of different kinds of writing. For example, in a dramaturgy class, you might ask students to analyze the characteristics of an effective drama review vs. a persuasive academic article. This kind of exercise makes students more conscious of different conventions within the same discipline and better able to apply them in their own writing.
This is not always easy: the instructor must become aware of and then make explicit the processes she engages in unconsciously and automatically. However, it is a useful exercise, illuminating to both you and your students the complex steps involved in writing and revising.
Strategies:
Assign low-stakes writing assignments.
Give students the opportunity to practice writing in situations where the grading stakes are low. Structure into your course short assignments that are un-graded (but required) or assignments that have a pass/fail grade or a low overall point value. Low-stakes assignments give students the opportunity to practice writing skills without the stress of high-stakes assignments. Use lowstakes writing assignments to build the skills and confidence students will need for more heavily weighted assignments, like formal papers, research projects, etc. Emphasize to students that lowstakes assignments provide them with the practice and feedback they will need to perform well on higher-stakes assignments.
them with a particular aspect of writing, but that on formal assignments they will be assessed along multiple dimensions, which you spell out clearly.
Students are unclear about certain parameters of the assignment or do not know how to meet them.
Without a clear description of the purpose of the writing assignment (e.g., whom they are trying to convince of what, what style or tone is appropriate to the given audience), students may be writing for a vague or inappropriate goal. They may not know, for example, what audience they should be writing for and thus may be unclear about how much background information to include or how to pitch their argument. Although these aspects of writing (and planning) may seem trivial to instructors, students often have trouble gauging how much information to include when they write. For example, a natural assumption students often make is that you the instructor are their sole reader. Because they know you already know the material, they underestimate the degree to which they need to define terms and explain complex concepts and ideas. To further complicate matters, many students do not even consider asking themselves questions such as who is the intended audience or what tone or style is appropriate for this piece when planning a piece of writing. So, they do not ask their instructors for extra details about these aspects of the writing assignment even when doing so could greatly help them. Finally, students may struggle with the length requirements of an assignment because they have not yet learned how much depth or breadth is reasonable in the number of pages you expect them to write.
Strategies:
Explicitly communicate to students the parameters of the assignment.
Explain to students what kind of reader they are writing for. For example, if you want your students to include explanations and descriptions of the texts, works of art, or principles about which they are writing, they need to be told not to assume the reader is familiar with this material. In terms of tone or style, be clear about the purpose of the writing assignment by indicating, for example, what kind of reader they are trying to persuade about what. It is particularly helpful to specify the intended audience for an assignment in concrete terms, as in, For this paper, imagine that you are writing to convince a friend (who has not taken this course) of X or For this paper, you are writing a news article for young adults interested in learnin g about Y. By varying the audience and tone you specify for different writing assignmentseven those dealing with the same or similar topicsyou highlight to students how much these parameters can and should influence the style of writing they produce.
The student in question may come from an educational background (defined by culture, discipline, or both) in which classroom discussions were not the norm or where a different set of conversational conventions applied. If so, the student may have trouble navigating the subtle, unwritten rules of turn taking in your class. For example, some students may have learned a participation style in high school that is not appropriate in a college environment (e.g., offering opinions and personal anecdotes rather than well-formulated arguments and evidence). Others come from cultures in which an assertive speaking style is valued and interruptions are considered normal and inoffensive. In these situations, the student simply does not know what is expected of him; thus the strategies focus on teaching students how to participate appropriately for the context.
Strategies:
value in class discussion helps students see the difference between talking for its own sake and thoughtful, analytical participation.
Sometimes a student monopolizes discussion because her interest in or knowledge of the subject exceeds that of her classmates. For example, a graduate student in a class with undergraduates or
a major in a class with non-majors may pose sophisticated questions that limit less advanced students ability to participate. In such cases, its important to recognize and reward the individual students intellectual curiosity while also firmly steering the conversation back to where the rest of the class can engage and benefit.
Strategies:
Talk to student outside of class.
Warmly commend the student for her interest, preparation, knowledge, etc., while reinforcing the importance of making room for others to contribute. Offer to meet with the student one-on-one to discuss questions or issues that interest her but which are not appropriate to pursue in class.
Sometimes a student shows off (or ostentatiously downplays) her knowledge to impress classmates, or clowns around to get laughs. While the intent may not be to challenge the instructors authority or disrupt the class, it may have that effect.
Strategies:
Respond immediately.
If a student behaves inappropriately in class, other students can quickly become irritated and disengage, or else follow suit. Thus, it's important to address the behavior immediately before a pattern is established. Ideally, a response should be calm but firm. Depending on the attitude of the student, sometimes a good-humored yet pointed comment is enough to steer the conversation back on course and send a clear message (e.g., "Well that was an interesting digression, but lets get back to the subject at hand.") Sometimes just asking the student for evidence, clarification, etc., can discourage frivolous contributions and convey an intellectually serious tone. And sometimes its appropriate to (politely) interrupt a grandstander and redirect the conversation: "Im going to cut you off there, Alice; I really want to hear from other people."
Strategies:
Respond to the immediate situation.
When a student begins to dominate discussion (especially if he is rude or inappropriate), dont ignore it. The problem can easily spread as other students become irritated, disengage, or start to follow suit. Any number of responses might be appropriate, depending on the attitude of the student and the severity of the problem. Sometimes a pointed look or comment in class can deter a student who is testing limits; sometimes youll need to talk to the student outside of class. Be aware, though, that problems with individual students can be symptomatic of larger problems in the course (e.g., frustration with your grading policies, resentment of perceived unfairness), so consider the larger context as well. The Eberly Center can help you brainstorm effective ways to
respond to the immediate situation and to determine whether there are larger issues that require attention.
If the student seems manic, inappropriate, or unable to control her behavior in class, its possible that emotional, psychological or substance-related issues may be involved. Warning signs can include lack of awareness of or inability to control the behavior in question, sudden changes in academic performance, etc. Generally, you can tell whether something unusual is going on, even if you are not sure what it is.
Strategies:
Remain calm.
While sudden outbursts or disruptive behavior can be emotionally challenging for even the most experienced instructors, it is important to maintain a professional demeanor with the student. Try to maintain a calm demeanor, and remember that your role is not to solve the problem yourself, but rather to contact the appropriate campus authorities.
Exam required knowledge and skills that students did not have sufficient opportunity to practice.
Weve all heard the student complaint: "The exam didnt have anything to do with what we did in class or on the homework!" While this is rarely true, it might be the case that some topics were covered in class but not adequately practiced so that students did not master them and hence are caught by surprise when they show up on the exam. Time spent in class and the number of homework problems on a given topic are the main indicators of importance for students and will guide their efforts as they review for the exam. In addition, some questions might look simple if using the right trick (e.g., a particular transformation to solve an integral), but can be very challenging or nearly impossible to solve without it.
Strategies:
Look at past exams to see what is feasible for students to complete.
Ask previous course instructors to share past exams. They will help you calibrate length and even level of complexity.
Have your TAs take the exam and double their time.
Similarly, have your TAs take the test as if they were students, replicating the conditions of the exam (e.g., no books). They are not as close to the material as you would be, so it will take them longer. Double their time to estimate the average students time.
rather impenetrable. These examples show how easy it is for instructors to inadvertently overestimate what students know either explicitly or implicitly and create an exam question that is overly difficult.
Strategies:
Analyze exam items to identify the knowledge and skills they require.
To avoid creating questions that draw on knowledge that students lack, the first step is to be more aware of the knowledge your exam questions require. This is especially difficult for instructors who, as experts in their area, do not necessarily recognize all the knowledge and skills they automatically draw upon. To counter this, try solving your exam questions step by step (perhaps even writing out how and why each step was taken), and then identify the knowledge and skills that pertain to each step along with its reasons.
Strategies:
Provide sample questions that represent the exam format and content.
Just as a picture is worth a thousand words, often a sample test or even some sample questions can be worth much more than any verbal description you give about your exam. Giving students concrete examples of the kinds of question you will ask will help them better understand what they need to be able to answer (as opposed to simply giving them a list of topics to review). Moreover, sample exam questions give students a performance-based means of assessing their own readiness for the exam. If you give a full sample exam, consider encouraging students to take it during the same time frame as the actual exam. This will help them evaluate not only their ability to answer the questions, but also whether they can do so with the fluency needed for a timed exam. Keep in mind that you need not create an entire sample exam or write up a thorough solution set for the sample exam you provide. Rather, you can offer students a representative set of questions or perhaps an old exam from a past year of the course.
time management, note-taking, reviewing for exams, and academic reading. Help on these topics is also available as paper brochures or online.
Strategies:
Give students information on the exam format ahead of time.
Let students know whether the exam will be true/false questions, multiple choice, short essays, or whatever other format or combination of formats. Some instructors also use the front page of the exam as a table of contents, letting students know how many questions of each kind appear on the exam. Another way to familiarize the students with the format of the exam is to provide a sample exam ahead of time.
An exam can be particularly difficult for students if it requires them to draw on prior knowledge and skills from prerequisite courses. Even when students have completed these courses, there is no guarantee that they will have the knowledge and skills you expect or that they will be able to use the knowledge and skills in a different context. This reflects the different ways a prerequisite course can be taught over various semesters as well as how students come out of a given course with different levels of knowledge and skills.
Strategies:
Administer a prior knowledge assessment.
Determine students level of prior knowledge and skills by administering a prior knowledge assessment early on in the course. This assessment can help you diagnose students understanding of and proficiency with the material you expect them to have, so that you can design your subsequent instruction and exams accordingly.
Adjust your instruction when insufficient prior knowledge affects many students.
When the majority of your students lack sufficient understanding of a prerequisite topic, it is best to provide targeted remediation (e.g., spending class time on the topic, having your TA do a special session on the topic outside of class time, or suggesting reading material). Of course, the way you approach this remediation will depend on the resources you have available.
Advise individual students when insufficient prior knowledge affects few students.
If only a few students lack sufficient prior knowledge, you can counsel them individually according to the nature of the gaps in their knowledge and skills. For example, if a student needs help in only a few areas, you can suggest tutoring help from Academic Development. If a student has deeper or broader gaps in knowledge and skills, you can mention the options of dropping or postponing your course (if possible), so that the student can do what it takes to fill those gaps.
Strategies:
Students blame the instructor rather than themselves for their poor performance.
When people are trying to make sense of a negative outcome, such as an exam not going as well as they had hoped, they must identify the cause. Unfortunately, motivational theories predict that many people gravitate toward attributions that are external rather than internal, uncontrollable rather than controllable, and permanent rather than temporary. The excuse of the professor being too hard is a typical case. While external attributions protect students self -esteem, they also rob them of opportunities to take responsibility for their own education, to figure out how they need to modify their approach to learning the material, and to feel the satisfaction of having overcome a challenging situation.
Strategies:
Emphasize the ways in which students have control over their performance.
Talk to students about how they prepared for the exam, how many hours they put in, and under what conditions they prepared. Were they multitasking? Did they study in a quiet or noisy place? Did they procrastinate until the last minute? Did they seek help when they were confused? You can also reinforce this message with the language you use, such as talking about the grade students earned rather than the grade you gave them.