Enhancing students’ sense of responsibility in learning by a weekly reflection activity

Problem Many Furman students believe that a meaningful and successful learning experience depends solely on the instructor. Why shouldn’t they think this way? –End of the course evaluation form Therefore, they don’t always realize that they are responsible for the success of their learning experience. –They think studying and memorizing course content is being responsible.

Problem (on the side) Some faculty members use these evaluation forms as their guides for course design and to allocate their teaching efforts, for lack of a better course evaluation form.

Goals An activity to enhance students’ sense of responsibility in learning An evaluation form that is useful for course design

Hypothesis Students who are engaged in the “sense of responsibility in learning” enhancing activity will master each lecture topic with greater confidence.

Method Two sections: one experimental group and one control group Activity: Students are asked to reflect, not to study, what they have learned on a weekly basis, then answer these two questions: (1) I wish my teacher had spent _______ more minutes on _______ (topic/concept). (2) I think I can be responsible for learning ________ (topic/concept), which is _____ minutes (ideally the same # as Q1) worth of materials, on my own. They the answers to their instructor before Monday lecture.

Method We all know that any task with no points attached or no response provided, students won’t do it. Therefore… On Monday, or the first lecture of the week, the instructor will give a practice question on the topic/concept students identified as “needing help”. Also give this question to the students in the control group. Difference between these groups: one asks for help and one is given help.

Method Assessment –Identify key concepts I want my students to take away with. –“How confident am I if I were to explain this concept to a high school senior/a first year college student/a biology major?” –And other questions

Expected outcomes Students who reflect more frequently will be more confident in the subject matter. Instructors can use the results of the assessment for future course design.