Grading Participation: An Alternative to Talking for Points

Is there a way to motivate and improve student participation without grading it? I raise the question because I think grading contributions gets students talking for points, not talking to make points. Verbal students make sure they say something, but often without listening

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Unraveling the Messages Our Behaviors Send to Students

How we teach begins and ends with behaviors. It’s good to remind ourselves of that every so often. Most of the ingredients identified as the components of effective instruction—things like clarity, organization, and enthusiasm—are abstractions. They’re intangible, without physical form. Their

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An Intriguing Participation Policy

I was looking at participation policies in a collection of syllabi this week. I wouldn’t give most of them high marks—lots of vague descriptions that don’t functionally define participation and then prescribe instructor assessment at the end of course with little or no mention of

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Promoting Digital Citizenship and Academic Integrity in Technology Classrooms

Experts define digital citizenship as the norms of appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to technology use, which includes the safe, legal, responsible, and ethical use of digital information. Users should respect copyright and intellectual property and appropriately document sources. Faculty can promote digital citizenship and

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Grades: Either Good or Bad

What’s a “good” grade as far as students are concerned? What’s a “bad” grade? Are some grades “neutral” and cause neither disappointment nor pride? Where’s the cutoff for good grades and the starting point for bad ones? In the study referenced below, researchers solicited data

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Helping Students Overcome Learning Anxieties

The prevalence of “math anxiety” or “math phobia” is well established. Most of us who teach math have seen it firsthand. But math isn’t the only subject that students find frightening or think they can’t possibly learn. I’m writing about my efforts to help students

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Nudge: Improving Student Decisions to Increase their Academic Success

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

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More Than a Contract

Several years ago, I read Judith Grunert’s book The Course Syllabus. The book taught me several things about syllabi that changed the way I look at them and use them in my courses. Too often we have a limited view of the syllabus, seeing it

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