RADIO SHOW/AUDIO PODCAST
Solutions...with Courtney Anderson! (SwCA)
Episode 170 -
Originally aired 8/18/2014 9:00 AM -
EDUCATORS’ EDEN series -
“Why Don’t Students Read…the Syllabus, Assignment Instructions, My Email, etc.?”
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TALK SHOW EPISODE NOTESThis is our EDUCATORS’ EDEN™ series wherein we explore the paradise that the most passionate, creative and committed educators create for themselves, their students, peers, administrations and institutions! This episode is, “Why Don’t Students Read…the Syllabus, Assignment Instructions, My Email, etc.?”
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” - Nelson Mandela It is exciting when we educators create and disseminate the tools to enable our students to succeed! We are eager for them to enjoy learning new content, to enlarge their vision of the world and to uncover their hidden talents via our course. Our intention is for them to have every available opportunity to prepare, plan and provide their best quality work! This drives us to provide clarity and communication to make their tasks as well defined as possible. What is required, when it is required, how it should be submitted, where it should be submitted, how it will be evaluated and graded, when it will returned to them, etc., are all important details that we want them to have by the start of the course! Thus, they will be able to plan ahead to achieve all of their academic goals in conjunction with all of their other responsibilities throughout the course term. We are in a constant improvement process to enhance and improve our syllabus, assignments, instructions, class communications, etc., to make them clearer and more comprehensive. Ideally, our students will be able to use these documents as guides to ensure that they understand all of the requirements and are meeting their own individual academic goals. The most pristine and powerful documentation is useless if it is not accessed. The deflating reality is that in some instances our students decide not to read the documents that we worry so much about (in terms of making them better and more effective for our classes). A great novel that is never read by a student is not a great novel for that student. The same principle applies to our class content. We educators lament, “The answer is in the syllabus. Why don’t they read the syllabus that I provided to them instead of asking me a question that I have already answered?” We lose perspective in that instant and selfishly focus on all of our labor, our love of the course content, our intense effort to create documentation for make their lives easier. We must step back and accept and respect the choices that our students make in their own lives. Some students read nothing in the entire class (no assignments, no syllabus, no instructions, etc.) and earn grades that satisfy their individual needs. Some students read everything provided in class and have skill deficiencies that prevent them from earning their desired grade in the class. No matter what choices the students make, they are their choices. That is what we should focus on. A) What is the purpose of the syllabus? “The syllabus for each class you take at the University is your passport for success. It is a contract of sorts and is filled with valuable information. “ (http://ssd.umich.edu/article/whats-syllabus-and-why-does-it-matter) “Everything is in the syllabus but most people don’t read it,” said Susan Bobby, Associate Professor of English. “Everything is on there.” (http://www.whetstone.wesley.edu/2014/03/24/teachers-say-students-should-read-syllabus-for-better-grades/) B) Do students read it? “Research examining what students pay attention to on a syllabus (Becker & Calhoon, 1999) indicates that most students pay attention to key dates (of exams and quizzes and assignment due dates) and grading procedures and policies.” (http://faculty.academyart.edu/resource/tips/1902.html) C) Why don’t they read it? “Hoeft (2012) reports that 56%-68% of students in a first-year class reported that they did not read assigned material before class. The most common reasons students give to explain why they did not read assigned materials are: They had too much to read. Their work schedule does not allow enough time for extensive reading. Their social life leaves little time for reading.” (http://ctl.byu.edu/teaching-tips/why-students-dont-read-strategies-increase-student-preparation-class) “Basic academic concepts --- understanding a course syllabus, knowing how to use library and information resources, attending class regularly, doing homework --- can be elusive notions for students who had few such expectations in their prior learning experiences.” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/college-grad-rates-are-bad-data/2012/01/26/gIQAfmdKTQ_blog.html) D) Tips on how to get them (potentially) to read it: Text reminders or use social media? Is the method of delivery of our class content the problem? Is email a poor method? “He soon learned that the students did not know he had changed the reading assignment because they did not check their e-mail regularly, if at all. To the students, e-mail was as antiquated as the spellings “chuse” and “musick” in the works by Cotton Mather and Jonathan Edwards that they read on their electronic books. […] That is when he added to his course syllabuses: “Students must check e-mail daily.” Dr. May said the university now recommends similar wording. […] At the University of Southern California, Nina Eliasoph’s Sociology 250 syllabus reads: “You must check e-mail DAILY every weekday,” with boldface for emphasis. In an e-mail, Dr. Eliasoph wrote: “Earlier it was because some students weren’t plugged in enough into any virtual communication.” Seven years later, she said she cannot remove the instruction because now students avoid e-mail because it is “too slow compared to texting.”- (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/fashion/technology-and-the-college-generation.html?pagewanted=all) Quiz them on it? - http://teaching.uncc.edu/podcast/getting-students-read-your-syllabus-quizzing-moodle E) How to improve it?http://teaching.colostate.edu/tips/tip.cfm?tipid=50 http://www.umbc.edu/fdc/topics/syllabus.php http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/syllabus/ F) Educator humor about it! http://chronicle.com/article/They-Scoff-at-Your-Piddly/64774/ We educators will continue to strive for preparing the most effective documentation possible and to ensure that it is delivered to the class. At that juncture, our individual students will make their own decisions on whether to accept what we have offered them or to take a different path. It is their path and their choice. |
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