When I was in graduate school, one of my professors had "Participation" as part of the grading criteria. He was a well-known book author and expert in his field and I was very intimidated. I remember answering a question and watching him open his notebook and jot something down. I puffed up a little, sure that I had received high participation points for my answer. Unfortunately, I never found out whether my answers received any points or if the participation points actually counted for anything in the final grade.
At the beginning of the semester, it's a good time to take a look at what we are requesting of our students. Does your syllabus have a graded "Participation" section? There is nothing wrong with grading class participation, but it is one area that is often left unexplained. How do the students get graded for the participation? Exactly what is participation?
Educator Chrisopher Willard has discussed class participation in his article "Reconsidering Grading Students on Class Participation." In his article, Willard states, "I thought that a student’s verbal participation was a matter of just trying and I would call on them in my attempt to help." It didn't turn out that way. He further states, "The significant question that arises is this: If I am grading on participation, what am I doing to teach this skill? Or contrarily, how can I grade what I do not teach?"
Some educators have been more specific about teaching and evaluating class participation. Martha L. Maznevski, when at the University of Virginia, wrote an article titled "Grading Class Participation" for a Teaching Resource Center publication. She said that in work situations, the way to "evaluate performance on the job is to develop a set of behavioral indicators of good performance specific for a given job." Giving credit for classroom participation should be no different. In her article, she provides a scale that can be used for students' participation, which might be helpful to you. The top score requires that the student sythesize and evaluate, part of Bloom's taxonomy of learning objectives. By providing behavioral indicators, students are aware of what they need to do to receive certain points.
To some extent, our college classrooms have become what James Ricky Cox calls the "youth soccer phenomenon." Like children receiving a trophy for trying, our students may think they deserve higher grades simply because they've attended class or said one or two things while in class. If class participation is not defined and no specific rating system is given, our students may fight for a higher grade simply because of the vagueness of the situation.
It's something to think about as you begin your semester.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
It's All Worthwhile
As the end of the semester approaches, we are often inundated with students asking for extra credit or the chance to make up a missed assignment. Some students want "A's" when their work is not deserving of that grade. At times, the end of the semester is like the end of a plane ride. You know you're going to land, but it's not always a smooth finish.
But then, it happens. A student from the past comes back, either by letter or in person, to thank you. This is exactly what happened to Professor Thomas Enriquez this week. One of his former students sent him an invitation to her graduation from the University of Texas at Dallas. She attached a note thanking him for inspiring her to continue her education and preparing her for her major. He said, "It makes it all worthwhile."
And so, as the semester winds down, let's try to keep our eyes on the prize. Those students who come by tomorrow checking their grades may be the same students who come by to say "Thanks" in the future. Teaching touches lives, and we're lucky to be in the position of shaping those lives for years to come.
Happy Finals Week.
But then, it happens. A student from the past comes back, either by letter or in person, to thank you. This is exactly what happened to Professor Thomas Enriquez this week. One of his former students sent him an invitation to her graduation from the University of Texas at Dallas. She attached a note thanking him for inspiring her to continue her education and preparing her for her major. He said, "It makes it all worthwhile."
And so, as the semester winds down, let's try to keep our eyes on the prize. Those students who come by tomorrow checking their grades may be the same students who come by to say "Thanks" in the future. Teaching touches lives, and we're lucky to be in the position of shaping those lives for years to come.
Happy Finals Week.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Helping Students Succeed (Part 3)
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Helping Students Succeed (Part 1)
In her Occasional Paper, “Promoting Student Success: What Faculty Members Can Do,” written in 2005, Jillian Kinzie discusses six ways faculty can help students succeed. These suggestions are based on the National survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). The first suggestion is to embrace undergraduates and their learning. Collaborative learning and learning communities and “engaging pedagogies” are included in this suggestion. Setting and maintaining high expectations is the second suggestion offered by Kinzie. If we limit students based on the belief that they can’t reach a higher level, they never will. We need to allow them to achieve as much as they can with a push to “higher-than-average expectations.
The third suggestion is to clarify what students need to do to succeed. One professor, Dr. John Toothman, in his article “How to be a Successful College Professor” discussed what it was like to receive a paper with a big “F-“on the front of it. The professor giving the grade did not provide any constructive feedback and would not go through papers with students. John had no way of knowing what to do to get a better grade. While I am sure no instructor at EPCC would behave in such a way, we may be less specific in our guidance than we could be. According to Kinzie, “Do not leave students – especially newcomers – to discover on their own what it takes to be successful. Become familiar with and promote the available academic and social support resources such as writing centers and tutoring support programs.” A tour of the various writing centers, Tutoring centers, PASS programs, ESL Labs, and others may help in steering the student in the right direction.
I find that our students really don’t know how to study. They look over the book and notes the night before the test, and often rely on the outlines that were given to them in PowerPoint presentations given in class. They may not understand that the exams are not likely to be straight from class notes, and are not likely to be exams that look only at identification rather than the understanding of ideas and concepts.
The Student Academic Resource Center at the University of Central Florida has an inventory of college level study skills that gives student feedback in the areas of text reading notetaking, test pre, concentration, memory and time management. Students can put “MCLCW Seminar” as their advisor so that they can receive results. Study skills handouts, located at the left side of the webpage can then help students become more proficient in their weaker areas. This may be an inventory that you direct your students to throughout the semester.
Helping students succeed should be more than our jobs; it should be our passion. The next blog article, after spring break, will focus on the next three things faculty members can do to help their students succeed. Enjoy your spring break!
The third suggestion is to clarify what students need to do to succeed. One professor, Dr. John Toothman, in his article “How to be a Successful College Professor” discussed what it was like to receive a paper with a big “F-“on the front of it. The professor giving the grade did not provide any constructive feedback and would not go through papers with students. John had no way of knowing what to do to get a better grade. While I am sure no instructor at EPCC would behave in such a way, we may be less specific in our guidance than we could be. According to Kinzie, “Do not leave students – especially newcomers – to discover on their own what it takes to be successful. Become familiar with and promote the available academic and social support resources such as writing centers and tutoring support programs.” A tour of the various writing centers, Tutoring centers, PASS programs, ESL Labs, and others may help in steering the student in the right direction.
I find that our students really don’t know how to study. They look over the book and notes the night before the test, and often rely on the outlines that were given to them in PowerPoint presentations given in class. They may not understand that the exams are not likely to be straight from class notes, and are not likely to be exams that look only at identification rather than the understanding of ideas and concepts.
The Student Academic Resource Center at the University of Central Florida has an inventory of college level study skills that gives student feedback in the areas of text reading notetaking, test pre, concentration, memory and time management. Students can put “MCLCW Seminar” as their advisor so that they can receive results. Study skills handouts, located at the left side of the webpage can then help students become more proficient in their weaker areas. This may be an inventory that you direct your students to throughout the semester.
Helping students succeed should be more than our jobs; it should be our passion. The next blog article, after spring break, will focus on the next three things faculty members can do to help their students succeed. Enjoy your spring break!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Avoiding Plagiarism
Plagiarism is one problem that affects almost all academicians. We write our policies and warnings in our syllabi, yet we still get papers that we know are not the student’s work. Then we spend time googling phrases that may direct us to the original source and discuss with the student why he or she is receiving an “F” on the paper. Part of the problem may be the students don’t really know what plagiarism is and isn’t. Students may turn in work they think is OK because they’ve changed a few words in the original text, or they may site a source in the paper and feel that this allows them to use anything from that source for the rest of the paper.
In the January 26 issue of Inside Higher Education, Scott Jaschik discussed a study done by Thomas Dee and Brian Jacob. The study showed that students who received a tutorial about plagiarism were “less likely to plagiarize” on their papers (Jaschik, 2010).
If you want to teach your students about plagiarism and how to avoid it, you might want to start with the tutorial and quiz from the Plagiarism Resource Site. The information on this site was also used by Dee and Jacob in their study. There are excellent materials under the “Resources” section on the right side of the webpage.
As instructors, we talk a lot about plagiarism, but we may not follow up with concrete examples of what it is and how to avoid it. Threatening students with a bad grade or expulsion may be a deterrent to plagiarism, but education is even better. Send your students to the Plagiarism Resource Site to give them the information they need.
In the January 26 issue of Inside Higher Education, Scott Jaschik discussed a study done by Thomas Dee and Brian Jacob. The study showed that students who received a tutorial about plagiarism were “less likely to plagiarize” on their papers (Jaschik, 2010).
If you want to teach your students about plagiarism and how to avoid it, you might want to start with the tutorial and quiz from the Plagiarism Resource Site. The information on this site was also used by Dee and Jacob in their study. There are excellent materials under the “Resources” section on the right side of the webpage.
As instructors, we talk a lot about plagiarism, but we may not follow up with concrete examples of what it is and how to avoid it. Threatening students with a bad grade or expulsion may be a deterrent to plagiarism, but education is even better. Send your students to the Plagiarism Resource Site to give them the information they need.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Online Subscriptions
If you’re like me, you have lots of e-mail to sort through every morning. Some e-mails bring good news, some bring additional work. We may not, however, get many e-mails that focus directly on our jobs as teachers. To remedy that situation, today I’m going to suggest a couple of on-line subscriptions to teach us new ways of reaching our students and give us something to think about.
The first resource is Faculty Focus. This newsletter is published three times a week and has a variety of topics for those in higher education. Some of the topics that are discussed are educational assessment, learning styles, distance learning, online education and more. The articles are archived on the site. The only problem with this site is that there isn’t enough time to read all of the articles that sound interesting!
The second resource is On Course. The e-mails from Skip Downing always include a teaching strategy or activity. At the main webpage, move down to the On Course Newsletter. The annual conference is highly publicized in the e-mail, too, but if you’re not interested, just move down to the activity. (The conference, by the way, is one of the best I’ve ever attended.) The activities are archived on the On Course website. They are divided into the topics of getting on course (being a good teacher and student); self-responsibility, self-motivation, self-management, interdependence, self-awareness, lifelong learning, emotional intelligence, self-esteem, and staying on course. The activities vary in complexity and effectiveness, but they will get you thinking about what you can do to engage students in the class.
If you sign up for these resources, you’ll have something to look forward to. If you find you just don’t have the time or interest in them, you can always unsubscribe.
The first resource is Faculty Focus. This newsletter is published three times a week and has a variety of topics for those in higher education. Some of the topics that are discussed are educational assessment, learning styles, distance learning, online education and more. The articles are archived on the site. The only problem with this site is that there isn’t enough time to read all of the articles that sound interesting!
The second resource is On Course. The e-mails from Skip Downing always include a teaching strategy or activity. At the main webpage, move down to the On Course Newsletter. The annual conference is highly publicized in the e-mail, too, but if you’re not interested, just move down to the activity. (The conference, by the way, is one of the best I’ve ever attended.) The activities are archived on the On Course website. They are divided into the topics of getting on course (being a good teacher and student); self-responsibility, self-motivation, self-management, interdependence, self-awareness, lifelong learning, emotional intelligence, self-esteem, and staying on course. The activities vary in complexity and effectiveness, but they will get you thinking about what you can do to engage students in the class.
If you sign up for these resources, you’ll have something to look forward to. If you find you just don’t have the time or interest in them, you can always unsubscribe.
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