Student Guide Corner

By Chad Topaz , Williams College; and Jude Hidgon , Bennington College (guest bloggers) As a math educator, there is a good chance this thought has crossed your mind: �All my students care about is grades. They don�t seem to care about learning the material.� In the parlance of educational psychology, this complaint suggests a tension between mastery goal orientation (e.g., �I want to understand the material�) and performance goal orientation (e.g., �I want to get a good grade�). Research suggests that learning is optimized when learners have high levels of both mastery and performance orientations. However, the structure of higher education arguably stresses performance over mastery. We assign grades, grades get used by educational institutions and by society, and there�s little wonder that students care about the grade more than mastering the material. Grades remain relevant, and we certainly do not advocate their abolition. But it is important to balance an attention to grades with ...

My first class of the new semester will begin this Monday morning at 9 a.m.   It is a junior level class and I have sent those students about 12 emails throughout the summer to get them ready.   I imagine they are either intrigued by all the emails or terrified.   Nevertheless, I do suspect that they will be ready to go to work. One of the first things I will do on Monday morning is provide the students with seven pieces of advice that I think can be helpful.   I want to help them understand how to do well in my class, and I believe these seven pieces of advice can be very instructive.  Every teacher is unique and students need to know what works for you and your style of teaching.  Students certainly learn during the semester how to adapt to a teacher and do well.   However, I would prefer to get them headed in the right direction on the first day.  Plus, if they do better, my life is easier.  Definitely a win-win si...

I appreciate that many professors do not feel comfortable pushing their students beyond the subject matter of a college course.  I have no problem with that decision.   I have simply made a different choice.  I want to be more involved in the growth of my students.  That is why I got into this profession.  If I read a book, see a movie, or watch a television show that I think is worthwhile, I often email my students with a quick review, �I found this interesting for the following reasons.   You might want to check it out.  No points.  No requirement.  Just a suggestion.�  I am especially likely to send that type message if the thing that caught my eye is outside the sphere of my subject matter.  As a friend of mine recently said to me, �I want my students to be successful in living their lives, not just in accounting.�  I could probably write 100 pages on that one sentence.  What is within the responsibility of a...

Ice Cream Party by Karen.janowski

Over the years on this blog, I have written what seems like 10 million words.   Today, I get to talk with you about teaching using my real voice�Southern accent and all.   Bonni Stachowiak has created a wonderful website titled Teaching in Higher Education .   Her podcasts are one of the most interesting aspects of this site.  She talks with a variet of teachers about what they do and what they are trying to do.  She has developed a wonderful following and is doing great work to improve education.   Bonni was kind enough last June to invite me to appear on a podcast to talk about getting students ready for success.   That, of course, is one of my favorite teaching topics.   You have to prepare students if you are going to maximize what they can learn.  The podcast was posted yesterday as colleges now get close to the beginning of the fall semester. Below is the link to that podcast.   For 41 minutes, Bonni a...

If you have followed this blog for a while, you know that I try to use the summer to get the students ready for the fall semester.   I want everyone to be ready on the first day to take off and fly.  Time is short.  I want to use it all and use it effectively.  Consequently, I send periodic emails to my new students from May through August although I am never sure whether they pay close attention or not.  However, one email does seem to catch their attention.    Last week, I cut and pasted one of the questions included on the final exam last spring into an email.   I then sent it to the new students to give them a feel for what they are going to learn this fall.  Most students do not understand in advance the purpose of a course.  A final exam problem gives them an illustration of what they will be able to do after we spend the semester working together.   The reality of seeing a question that the previous class had t...