Much research documents that motivation is a major factor in student success. However, although students often know what they should do (attend class, do extra credit, and get help), many of them don’t. Thaler and Sunstein’s popular book Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and
Students love it when teachers provide class notes—the more complete the set, the better. Students want the teacher’s notes online because it’s convenient, they’re readable, well organized, and relieve the student of having to expend much effort during class. A lot of students need the
Faculty and students are equally concerned about and frustrated with students who don’t do their fair share of work in groups. For faculty, it’s a concern that prevents them from using group work. With five, 10, or maybe even 20 different groups working on a
According to self-determination theory, a theory developed by Deci and Ryan, three basic psychological needs affect motivation: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Susan Epps, associate professor of Allied Health Sciences, and Alison Barton, associate professor of Teaching and Learning, both at East Tennessee State University, have
Many teachers experience “the decline in reading” as the weeks of a semester progress.To remedy the decline in reading and resulting silence, I conduct “guided tours” of assigned readings.
In my course, the required reading is intensive and extensive. Students must read multiple texts that range across disciplines, genres, history, and culture. The goal of this interdisciplinary course is improvement of critical reading, writing, and thinking skills. My students, like many others, live complicated
No, the objective isn’t to make assignments optional. But the article referenced below raises the possibility of giving students some choice over the kinds of assignments they complete. In previous issues of the newsletter, we have shared systems that give students some discretion in the
A line of research (done mostly in Australia and Great Britain) has been exploring what prompts students to opt for deep or surface approaches to learning. So far this research has established strong links between the approaches taken to teaching and those taken to learning.
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