The final installment of a discussion of Jillian Kinzie’s Occasion Paper, “What Faculty Members Can Do” focuses on the final three areas of promoting student success. If you’ve missed the previous six, you might want to either scroll down to previous entries or read through Kinzie’s article.
The seventh idea is to “Weave diversity into the curriculum.” This includes providing diversity in out-of-class assignments. Kinzie states that students “who report more exposure to diverse perspectives in their classes are more likely to report higher levels of academic challenge, greater opportunities for active and collaborative learning, and a more supportive campus environment.” Although many of our students are not financial able to travel very far to observe other cultures, they can learn from their own classmates. Many of our students have traditions and cultural aspects that are unique.
The EdChange project titled “Critical Multicultural Pavilion: Awareness Activities,” provides activities and exercises that bring diversity discussions into the classroom. Two categories, icebreaker and introspective activities, provide various levels of discussion.
The eighth idea to improve student success is to “Make time for students.” We as faculty members are required to have office hours, but we often sit alone waiting for our students to come and chat with us. Kinzie suggests collecting e-mail addresses and letting students know about upcoming events. EPCC’s SmartStart or a class Facebook page can be used as a classroom communication page. Letting students know you are available and willing to meet or exchange e-mails with them can make the difference between a successful student and one who falls through the cracks.
The final idea that Kinzie proposes is to “Hold students accountable for taking their share of the responsibility for their learning.” One aspect of holding students accountable is discussed in the book Teaching at Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors by Linda B. Nilson. An excerpt from the book shares four ways to hold students accountable for readings required in the class. Not surprisingly, these are homework, quizzes, in-class problem solving or written activities and giving oral performances or answers about the material. Once the student knows that the instructor will check to make sure they are meeting standards, they may be more willing to do the work.
Although we often think of student accountability solely in terms of grades and classroom performance, Kinzie also talks about student involvement in committees and the campus governance. Those who are involved are more likely to be successful.
Student success is important to not only the student but the college as well. Having our students successfully working in the community with the label of “EPCC Graduate” will make everyone proud.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Helping Students Succeed (Part 2)
In the previous entry, I discussed the occasional paper entitled “What Faculty Can Do” by Jillian McKinzie. While I stated that there were six different things faculty can do to help students become more successful, there are actually nine. Today I’ll discuss three more ways to help students. If you haven’t read the first three, you might want to scroll down to read about them.
The fourth item in McKinzie’s article is to “use engaging pedagogical approaches appropriate for course objectives and students’ abilities and learning styles.” As discussed earlier, part of the idea of getting students involved is to teaching according to their learning styles. But there are other approaches to use to keep students involved and successful, too. One way is to promote Service Learning. According to the EPCC Service Learning site, “Through Service Learning students can apply newly-acquired academic skills and knowledge to address real-life needs in their own communities and reflect on the meaning of this service.” Many students learn more from doing something that reading about it. Service Learning gives them a great opportunity to apply what they are learning in class in a concrete way. Contact EPCC’s Service Learning facilitators for ways your students can benefit.
Other ways to engage students are to have study groups, peer tutoring both in and outside of class, and collaborative learning.
The fifth way McKinzie says faculty can help students succeed is to “build on students’ knowledge, abilities and talents.” In jest, we may say that our students don’t have knowledge, abilities, and talents, but of course they do! Community college students often come to our classes with a wealth of information gleaned from their life experiences. They know what it’s like to live and work with a variety of people. Unfortunately, many of our students also know what it’s like to live close to violence. Their knowledge of the world can provide interesting additions to our class discussions.
Our students probably know more about technology than most professors, and we can use that knowledge to help develop better methods of collaboration, such as the use of wikis or Facebook. Students often have hidden talents that may help them be successful students, and our job is to draw out those talents so they can be used.
McKinzie’s sixth way faculty can help students be successful is to “provide meaningful feedback.” Providing detailed constructive criticism is beneficial to the students, and of course more meaningful than just a grade without comments. Giving students a high grade if they haven’t deserved it doesn’t provide them with information for their growth, either. If you’re an instructor reading and grading multiple papers, grading seems like a never-ending task. That may indeed be the case, but each student deserves to know what he or she has done incorrectly and how to fix it. The key is to guide the student. There may be internet sites, writing centers, tutoring, and peer evaluations than can also provide guidance. Continuous improvement should be the goal.
The final blog entry on this Occasion Paper will take a look at the final three items McKinzie says faculty should do to help students succeed. Helping our students is not just our job-it’s our duty.
The fourth item in McKinzie’s article is to “use engaging pedagogical approaches appropriate for course objectives and students’ abilities and learning styles.” As discussed earlier, part of the idea of getting students involved is to teaching according to their learning styles. But there are other approaches to use to keep students involved and successful, too. One way is to promote Service Learning. According to the EPCC Service Learning site, “Through Service Learning students can apply newly-acquired academic skills and knowledge to address real-life needs in their own communities and reflect on the meaning of this service.” Many students learn more from doing something that reading about it. Service Learning gives them a great opportunity to apply what they are learning in class in a concrete way. Contact EPCC’s Service Learning facilitators for ways your students can benefit.
Other ways to engage students are to have study groups, peer tutoring both in and outside of class, and collaborative learning.
The fifth way McKinzie says faculty can help students succeed is to “build on students’ knowledge, abilities and talents.” In jest, we may say that our students don’t have knowledge, abilities, and talents, but of course they do! Community college students often come to our classes with a wealth of information gleaned from their life experiences. They know what it’s like to live and work with a variety of people. Unfortunately, many of our students also know what it’s like to live close to violence. Their knowledge of the world can provide interesting additions to our class discussions.
Our students probably know more about technology than most professors, and we can use that knowledge to help develop better methods of collaboration, such as the use of wikis or Facebook. Students often have hidden talents that may help them be successful students, and our job is to draw out those talents so they can be used.
McKinzie’s sixth way faculty can help students be successful is to “provide meaningful feedback.” Providing detailed constructive criticism is beneficial to the students, and of course more meaningful than just a grade without comments. Giving students a high grade if they haven’t deserved it doesn’t provide them with information for their growth, either. If you’re an instructor reading and grading multiple papers, grading seems like a never-ending task. That may indeed be the case, but each student deserves to know what he or she has done incorrectly and how to fix it. The key is to guide the student. There may be internet sites, writing centers, tutoring, and peer evaluations than can also provide guidance. Continuous improvement should be the goal.
The final blog entry on this Occasion Paper will take a look at the final three items McKinzie says faculty should do to help students succeed. Helping our students is not just our job-it’s our duty.
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