Coming to class naked
Students are not likely to come to class naked—they seem to know that they need to be clothed to avoid the embarrassment of being unprepared. So why don’t they feel the same way about coming to class without reading and studying the assigned course material?
I like to encourage discussion in my classes, and often face the situation in which students come to class unprepared, causing problems with my carefully created plans to discuss, debate, or otherwise use the material in class activities. In such situations, I’ve thought about lecturing (which seems to encourage unpreparedness), cancelling class (which benefits no one), or kicking out those students who are unprepared (which should encourage them to prepare, but often doesn’t seem to).
I was discussing this situation with my brother, an experienced faculty member at York University in Canada. He suggested that I give the students a graded quiz either during class or the night before, asking questions about the material from the last class and the readings that are due.
So here are my questions:
- For those who teach—have you tried something like this? What were the results?
- For students—what do you think about this strategy?
I like to encourage discussion in my classes, and often face the situation in which students come to class unprepared, causing problems with my carefully created plans to discuss, debate, or otherwise use the material in class activities. In such situations, I’ve thought about lecturing (which seems to encourage unpreparedness), cancelling class (which benefits no one), or kicking out those students who are unprepared (which should encourage them to prepare, but often doesn’t seem to).
I was discussing this situation with my brother, an experienced faculty member at York University in Canada. He suggested that I give the students a graded quiz either during class or the night before, asking questions about the material from the last class and the readings that are due.
So here are my questions:
- For those who teach—have you tried something like this? What were the results?
- For students—what do you think about this strategy?
posted by Gayle Stein at
10:27 AM
52 Comments:
I dont think i ever see enough live feedback in the college system. Every class if full of different students that learn different ways.I think asking about students habits and learning styles are a great way to increase productivity in your class room.Metaphorically speaking , most people dont study material on their head. what inm saying this that the more comfortable a student is with the style of learning, the more the learn,the more conversation can be generated . Another point as well:Generally, i see more and more students going crazy about trying to get their A grade than they do trying to learn the material. Lets face it , sometimes , the style and manner of teaching can cause student to chase grades rather than knowledge.
it pains me to say it.
I experienced something a while ago in one class. the mentality really screamed,"relax and learn". THe instructor gave us verbatim what he was looking for , down to the last detail ( i mean last detail) . He gave us the required time to copy and have it down correctly rather than rushing through it ( i feel this happens from time to time) . he would then give us our midterm( take home , open note only) . their would be 4 or 5 questions we'd have to answer, and each answer would sum up to about 10 pages each ( more or less depending on the question and the detail given in the notes). we would then copy it down. he would grade tough. If you foregot a detail that he went over, big points were taken off. ultimatly though, students look at the info in full , at least 5 times , ( listening , writing it, reading and re reading it, and re writing it once more. ) Yes yes i know how it looks and sounds and it puts the grading system out on a limb, but i learned more in this class than ive ever learned in my life for a class. it was absolutly sensational. i felt i was chasing my knowledge in a comfortable way. my grade wasnt on the line because i had everything he wanted us to learn.
at the risk of embarassing myself by giving a seemingly idiotic response , ive given my opinion and will stop here. :)
Well, the idea of giving quizzes during class would generally work. Most of us students, my myself, would be more inclined to read at least some of the reading you may assign. Though,as you'd expect, nearly all your students wouldn't favor the idea. I'd say giving a minor quiz that asks about a central theme in the readings would allow you to have a discussion while not having your students to be too upset over reading the set material.
You should try kicking them out first to see if they wise up. If they don't, then proceed to give the quizzes.
You could also make participation a good chunk of their grades (20% for example). If they don't read, they can't participate, hence a 0 for the day.
It's such a shame that these measures have to be taken in college. Do you teach freshman?
student here...my professor also wondered about this issues and instituted quizzes as a regular part of each class. The students seem to have reacted positively when they know that preparation is part of their grade (as indicated by improving quiz grades) but the discussion has not improved. As such, she has required the submission of questions from each student that another student will answer. But because both the questions and the answers are in written form (uploaded to sakai) there is no actual real time discussion. Perhaps if each class were longer we would have time after the class to discuss the questions instead of simply submitting them. I'd also like to know how other teachers are handling this and how students are reacting. Thanks.
Having a quiz before class would benefit the student and help with retaining the material. My psych professor uses a clicker to grade participation and test readiness for class. When class started he would ask clicker questions that dealt with material from the last reading and lecture. Students score lower on questions pertaining to the past class than they do on clicker questions in class. The quiz will be helpful for consolidating memory and aiding the student when he or she studies for exams or writes papers.
Well I think that if your students are not coming to class prepared then they are as lazy as I am. So if you want to get them up to speed on this issue I would suggest that assigned group activities could be useful. If students meet and work together in study groups they may be more likely to know more of the material and as a group they may develop a larger understanding as well. Study groups are way too under rated at Rutgers and they really work. I hope that helped. Later
I am a student, but also a 28 year old grad student with a decent amount of life behind me. Oh, and I've attended classes at more than 10 colleges.
If it's a low level class then I think a quiz would be fine, but it seems a little beneath an advanced class.
I think students would appreciate a frank conversation from you to the class asking that they be more prepared and take the class more seriously in general. They want to have better discussions, but they are just regressing to the lowest common denominator.
If I am wrong and they are just lazy students, then perhaps a short writing assignment makes more sense than a quiz. That is, if we are still talking about an upper level class. It would be extra useful if the writing assignment was a launchpad for the in class discussion.
I am a student and I hate a pop quiz, or a quiz in general. I usually do all the readings, but I am a full time student and I work full time. Therefore, sometimes I need to read after it is due, or only portions of the reading. I usually can take what I learn in class and get a good grade. My GPA is 3.6 and I have 103 credits, so I have been somewhat successful. My advice to you is that a participation grade reflects the amount of effort they put into class discussion. This can be in the form of questions, or answers, or both. A quiz will be another option, though not my favorite. things come up in life, if you have a quiz or multiples of them, drop the lowest grade. That's my two cents...
In classes where quizzes are common, students study more but quizzes do not make them any more interested in the topic or class, and therefore do not stimulate discussion. Set aside about 10 minutes of every class (it's an investment...it sounds like they aren't listening anyway). Current news events (and current campus events) will grasp attention and provoke discussion if the professor applies the concepts of the class to the event in a way that stimulates a new perspective or understanding of the situation. Current celeb news also does the trick. Digressing slightly from the class objectives for only a few minutes every class helps keep students generally interested and more likely to voice their opinion. If you voice your opinion, so will students because not everyone will agree with you. Call on students randomly and unexpectedly, do not wait for raised hands at the beginning of a discussion. Getting to know what students are doing outside of the classroom and asking for updates now and then as part of class discussion will generate cooperation, too. Letting students know about one or two of your hobbies outside of the classroom and giving them updates will make you more personable. The more outgoing the professor is, the more outgoing the students will be!
It is not necessarily that students come to class without reading and studying. Sometimes it is simply that students read and study the material at a speed in which we cannot retain it because we have multiple classes all assigning varying loads of reading to do at once. Students like myself try to do as much of the readings as possible and study them to get an understanding, but sometimes we are attacked with questions that for whatever reason, we just don't know the answer to, and having a quiz in every class to evaluate how much we know from the 100-200 varying pages of combined reading, lecture slides, and online notes will do nothing to help us but stress us out or cause us to fail.
Hi Gayle,
As a senior college student, I am firmly against professors treating students like high schoolers. Yes, it helps the professor--and students--when most of the class has done the appropriate readings and classroom discussions are fluid. However, that is not the BE ALL END ALL of a class's success.
The bottom line is, the students that do come prepared will control, and subsequently dominate the discussions. Thus, they are the ones who will benefit most from having such discussions. The rest of the students will be penalized by getting far less out of such discussions. Thus, there is no need for you to enforce your will on them. In the end, these are adults who are PAYING to be there, and their paths to success should be determined by them, not you. If they can come to class unprepared, but still absorb enough material (in conjunction with adequate studying, of course) to achieve a sufficient grade, who's to argue? Just because they "bring down your class" does not mean that they are doing anything wrong.
In fact, from talking to many other students I've gotten the sense that many of them form feelings of spite and discontent when a professor constantly quizzes on assigned material--or nags students about coming unprepared. I tend to agree, for although I often find a way to participate, despite negating my "duty" to come prepared, I am often annoyed by professors getting "too involved" in my method of studying.
I believe that EVERY path to an "A" is a good path; there is no right or wrong. Professors of MOST subject areas should allow their students to LEARN about how they learn best by giving them the freedom to disregard reading assignments and class discussion.
In your defense, there are some courses that absolutely require fluid discussion, and preparedness should be a major factor in grading students.
I am a student who comes prepared and still never participates in discussion; quizzes would be a small nuisance, and would not prod me to contribute. Students who benefit from discussing will discuss; believe me, they will contribute despite the fact that have not read the assigned material. The reason you don't achieve the level of discussion you so desire is probably due to the following student-type-distribution of your class:
1/3 of them are unprepared,
1/3 are too shy, and
1/3 know what's going on, but don't care enough to participate.
Anyway, my point is, give a quiz if you feel that you have idle hands or something. Otherwise, quiz or no quiz, regardless of a 20% participation grade, I bet you'll have the same three people engaging in discussion as usual.
I would agree with you about the whole administering a quiz to see if the readings were done. It seems a lot more fair to the students who do the readings. I know that if I fail to do the readings for class, I tend to feel embarrassed because I do not want my professor to think that I am a slacker and an unintelligent person.
Sure, if you assign 200 pages of reading, it a little difficult to hang on to the information for an extended period of time, not to mention many of us have limited time to do large readings between work and other classes, but still, its college. You are expected to read the material and retain it.
Basically, I agree with the quiz thing. It awards those who are actually taking the time to do the work and put forth the effort.
As someone who has taken a class with you before, I think the short quizzes are a decent idea. They were easy if one did the readings, if not, you were screwed.
A lot of people also don't like to participate in class, especially if it is a large class - some people are shy about talking in front of a large group.
Or they need a little time to formulate an intelligent response, but always get shot down by another student who shoots up their hand right away (always happens to me).
I'm guessing you don't have the latter problem since you mention it's hard to get students to participate at all.
What types of readings are you choosing? I know the ones you picked for our class weren't too bad, but it's difficult to get students, especially in lower division classes, to read long academic papers. Keep in mind, to the average humanities student, more than 3 pages is long.
I have found at Rutgers that professors treat their lectures as if it were high school, not college. Instructors have this expectation that their class is the only one that matters, and take offense if students aren't up to date in the readings, usually prompting a lecture and threats of a quiz.University life is complicated today. Many students work, and have to deal with heavy work loads and extracurricular activities. It's not a matter of being lax. Okay, maybe in some cases. But Rutgers students are smart, and capable of doing the work.In my experience, I am never up to date in the readings, and it's not because of not trying.With a heavy reading load at RU, there is not enough time. Additionally, RU students are pretty laid back; they don't necessarily want to participate in discussion, they feel it's the instructors job to teach.Many know what's going on, but just want to soak it all in.Others know what's going on, but are just not caught up in readings.Still others, the one's that always contribute discussion, like to hear themselves talk, and suffer from "look at me, look at me" syndrome. Quizzes are bogus: it's just a snapshot in time and not reflective of a students abilities. Besides, at Rutgers, each class costs about $2000 total, and students have the right to determine their approach, for better or worse. If instructors came to class organized, clear in their execution, prepared to make the connections,and ready to think quick on their feet during lecture and adapt and keep things interesting, students will respond appropriately-except during mid-terms and finals!
I feel that by missing out on the discussion and failing to really be engaged and understand the material, the students are already being punished. Most likely they will have to do extra studying at a later date to catch up. The students are paying a tremendous amount of money to be there, they have a right to choose how they will study. The prepared students will end up learning more and getting a better grade anyways, so there is no reason to turn higher education in to high schoool with quizzes and punishments.
TIME! It is very simple. It is hard to transition into college by going from learning a subject in 9 months to 4 months. It takes 30 seconds to get dress (if your a guy) but sometimes can take an hour and a half to do all the necessary reading for class. Now that may not seem a lot but seriously, there is work, commuting, sleep. Sometimes it is hard to find time so to expect every single student to be prepared is ridiculous.
Quizzes don’t work, homework does. Have you ever tried to study/read something for hours only to realize that you don’t remember the last paragraph/section/chapter you just read? This is because at some point the brain’s “battery” has drained and needs recharging. Similarly, students coming into the class who have just had another class or work will not be capable of using their brain to its full potential, because they have used up their “brain power” elsewhere already. This is why class time should be reserved strictly for listening, taking notes, and light participation, and not for squeezing the brain. This is why assigning homework works and quizzes don’t. Homework is usually done by students when they have time and when they feel less stressed. This way they are forced to study the material. This way their grade is depended on work they do under favorable (to them) conditions. Quizzes don’t work because they reflect the work a student is capable of doing under stress.
Quizzes are generally allowed 15 minutes or so to complete. Since when has the point of the class became to teach students how to perform well under stress and pressure? To make things worse, they are generally given at the beginning or the end of the class.
tl;dr Quizzes = grade under stress. Homework = grade under little or no stress.
The idea of giving quizzes is not bad, but I feel like the purpose of having a professor and lecture sessions is to have an expert on a topic spend time teaching others about it. I love to read, I have nothing against that, but I feel that all the initial learning should be done during lecture. The books and reading should only be supplemental so that students who do not understand the material covered in lecture have a backup. Also, everyone has a different way of learning. So you can't expect people that read to get anything out of what they are reading. I like the comment about TIME as it is also a huge factor in college life.
Like kamal above said, I think lecturing with light participation is the way to go. Today's student often:
-Works part- or full-time while taking a full-time credit load
-Pays all of a significant part of their tuition, leading them to look to get value for their money
-Goes to college by choice, isn't forced into it by parents, and wants to get bang for their buck
I think more involved discussion and readings should be reserved for higher-level topics classes, where everyone in the class already has a good background in the subject and knows how to contribute well.
The disagreements I've had with the American undergraduate education system are long and grievous. As a student, of course, my opinions are slightly swayed by the all too common mentality of being absolutely sick of school.
Now, let me make a very important distinction. The ideas of "learning" and "school" have somehow begun to dissociate over the past several generations. It seems to me more and more that far too many professors are testing students, not based on what the students understand about the material, but based on what the professors present the students with in terms of textbooks and class notes.
This isn't a shot at the education system or the professionals involved in it... it's incredibly difficult to engage the class in a learning discussion when there is one lecturer facing a room of 300+ students, many of them mildly disinterested in the material.
The idea of having mandatory quizzes and forced discussions in class could challenge the students to the point where they don't participate in the quizzes/discussions for necessities sake, but to actually learn something.
However, I think the implementation of such a system would need to be approached carefully. It would be helpful to quiz the students on the interpretation of whatever ideas had been presented in the previous class, rather than the exact material. For example, after covering nucleophilic reactions in organic chemsitry, give a quiz that reads along the lines of "In your opinion, how revolutionary was the discovery of this reaction type and why?"
This kind of mental exercise would force the student to begin drawing parallels between the classroom and life. I know, personally, that one of the major turn offs for studying for exams is my thought that I have no real idea as to what I'm studying. I can learn the mechanisms, memorize the theories, read the literature, and get an A on an exam, and still have no idea how to apply my knowledge to real life.
And I agree very much with the above comment, college is incredibly fast paced. There really isn't enough time for students to ponder the deeper meaning of every single thing they learn.
Ah well, academics will always be a double edged sword. On the one hand, you can learn everything yet understand nothing, and on the other hand, vica versa. It's ultimately the individual's responsibility to find that happy medium.
Quizzes are stressful, stress doesn't help learning. I've gotten very good mileage out of classes where the professor assigns either a) a "reading guide" with questions to hand in the day of class, not graded but with check points or b)just to hand in a summary of the reading the day of class.
Often I don't really *understand* the reading until we go over it in class. Often these summaries are more full of doubts and questions than real information. But - they encourage your students to read, and they tell you what they aren't getting in the material, so you can go over in more detail.
Believe me. Not all academic writing is written to be understandable. It's easy to read something and misinterpret it or lack background info to really put it in context. It's unreasonable to quiz material that hasn't been explained. Just my $0.02
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The above statement proves my point in regard to instructors and their misguided sense of what is deemed appropriate for a university classroom. This is not high school. Class is not a Machiavellian attempt to find out who has followed with exactitude, a syllabus, which of course needs to be followed to the letter of the law, with all readings completed and fully understood by a schedule the instructor deems appropriate.The above instructor should have been reamed out, if for nothing else his attitude toward the student and parent in question. University instructors are determinists. They feel that their schedule must be adhered to and followed, and if you don't, you are a sub-standard student. Here is a clue to teaching professionals: Remember what it was like when you were in college. Every student's situation is different. Some in your class are in the major, some not. Some are vocal, some are not. Yet others have 18-21 credits, some have 12. Some students have a heavy reading load, others not so heavy. And by the way, it's not Kindergarten. We don't need to break into little groups and learn to play well with others. My advice for instructors is to check their egos at the door and teach. The rest will follow. If a student has caught up on the material by exam time or when papers are due, it will show in the work.Don't be a technocrat. That's why there is Motor Vehicle.
I'm an undergraduate student.
Quizzes would probably force students to prepare for class more diligently, but probably more out of fear for their numerical grade rather than for the joy of learning the material. In about half of the classes that I attend, I feel more comfortable sitting back and absorbing the lecture, taking meticulous notes and flagging concepts in the readings. A lot of times I just do not know that much on one topic or another, having done the assigned readings/prep work or not, and I'd rather listen to those more informed discuss the topic and pick it up that way. The other half of my classes, (i.e: my major or specialty classes) I feel very comfortable jumping right in and participating, because I am well versed in the subjects and would like to learn more.
A lot of students do not have the motivation to join discussions. They are taking one class or another only for the credits or the requirement fulfillment, and they won't care about the topic, regardless. Quizzes, in this instance, would only create resentment: toward the professor, and the work.
I think the easiest way out of this dilemma is to make sure that an appropriate amount of work is assigned. A lot of professors lose sight of the fact that many college students are stretched very thin: many work; participate in clubs, sports, or other activities; as well as pull a heavy course load; and assign work as though they are teaching the only class. Students should not be babied, they're taking on the work load that they decided they could handle. But they should not be expected to bring their 100% to every course and every lecture. This does not apply to the students who are in the back of the room posting nonsense on their Facebooks and not paying a scrap of attention. These students should be either ignored or kicked out, and their grades should reflect this apathetic performance.
There seems to be two different conversations here: teacher and student. As both, I'd like to think that I have an objective perspective of each side. I worked all throughout college to pay for it (sometimes 60 hours a week) and juggled many extracurriculars as well and I continue to do so now. As such, that is a choice that I make and I accept the responsibility that comes with it. If you can't do the do the work that is expected of you for each class while you are taking 18-21 credits, then DON'T take that many. Otherwise, know that just because you work hard does not mean that you may not earn the same grades than if you were taking fewer classes.
Yes, as someone else said, you are adults PAYING to be there, but you also pay to take the SATs and it is the score that your EARN based on your performance that determines your worth to colleges. In the same way, it is the grade that you earn by following a certain curriculum that determines your worth to employers. A college curriculum is developed around learning and tasks that will demonstrate a student has attained a certain level of competence in a given area. This is not just going to be diluted because someone has chosen to take on 15 other responsibilities, too.
It would be completely unacceptable to think that you could go into a business meeting unprepared, or a courtroom, operating room, etc. For the record, I prefer that my doctor actually earned his/her grades based on rigor and academic excellence rather than good intentions. You don't get paid for what you don't do and you don't get to determine a class syllabus based on your 'learning style.' I'm not sure where this notion has come from that entitles students to think that the world should to bend to their needs. The world isn't fair. You don't just get something because you want it. If this seems to be "kindergarten" or "high school" as some have called it, then stop acting puerile (such as having parents call college faculty as in Professor O'Brien's example).
Take a look at the economy and the job market and step into reality. If you do the readings, then you don't have anything to worry about. If you don't, then you aren't meeting the requirements of the class, requirements which are much more than one professor's "elitist" decisions about curriculum. Please note that this professor has approached this dilemma by pondering, "How can I get my students to do the reading?" not, "How can I fail a portion of my students?" Whether students are motivated by grades or learning or both, I think that some sort of task that insures the preparedness of students prior to class is completely appropriate.
The above post seems to have a rather narrow,and determinist view of "preparedness". Rather appropriate I would say for most instructors, especially at Rutgers. See above posts...get off yourselves and your inflated sense of self-importance and teach the class.
p.s. If I hear one more time "if you do the readings", I am going to vomit. Reading is just more than reading or regurgitating a couple of lines to make it seem a student is staying on top of things. It requires, reading, comprehending,analyzing, and making connections..and having the LUCK of understanding which points instructors find significant.All in the one or two days between classes...Yup, I'd say the vociferous reading and participation "advocates" are full of themselves...
The above post that claims to "have worked sixty hours" while going to class and understanding both sides is, well, spurious at best. Once again, the tone of the message favors the narrow and determinist view of the instructor- "don't take 18-21 credits". How about this: the instructor not being so narrow-minded by demonstrating recycled teaching cliche's, instead coming to class ready to deal with diverse circumstances? We all understand college is an appendage of the state and is a government operation, but you can't just force your methods down every students throat as if one size fits all. But that is what MOST Rutgers instructors do, and they are clueless about their execution and delivery. The teacher evaluations on webreg are invaluable..and mostly accurate from what I"ve experienced. Bad teachers deservedly receive low scores, good ones receive high scores. The expectation game waxes both ways...I repeat, for the instructors that don't get it..this is not high school..be a professional and get the job done without resorting to dogmatic assertions..
I've removed my posts from this thread. I haven't the patience to receive vitriolic, sanctimonious, poorly-written, AND anonymous private emails from anyone too thick-headed to even "do the reading" on a blog to which they're posting.
I wholeheartedly agree that there is more to "preparedness" than having done a set of readings. If the problem is that students are not keeping up with the readings, that is an entirely different issue than if they are not prepared or willing to pay attention and/or participate in class. I know several students who read snippets of the assignments, and pretentiously quote them back during lecture/discussion. Who benefits from this escapade? The concern could really be with student apathy. Did they not read because they were swamped with work, or because they skipped class and homework to go to the beach?
This is not at all comparable to a professional showing up to their workplace unprepared. Sure, one might be very behind at a conference if they did not get to read all of the materials being discussed. But, it is understood that that individual would be a professional, and they could function even without the particulars. There are no college students who are professionals in the areas the classes are teaching them- they're there to learn. If they don't want to learn, they won't
I had a professor who made debates graded. She expected everyone to participate and if you had not by the midpoint of the semester she told us she would call on us. This definitely encouraged me. Another professor assigned weekly 1-2 page reading responses. However, one of my professors who did this hardly ever returns with feedback so we (the class) have assumed that she doesn't read them and therefore don't put in the effort. However, if you return the responses back relatively quickly, your students will respond in turn.
Giving a short quiz will work. I have one class where it is done and I always make sure that my reading is done.
I still do my reading for other classes, but it isn't always done timely. I often don't finish assigned reading until the test is coming up.
I do not agree with the quiz idea. As a previous poster said, it treats students like they are in high school. In reality, professors should be treating students like adults, and adults make choices.
At the end of the day, people are not required to go to college. If they want to spend their time wasting their money by not doing the assigned course work, that is their prerogative and, most importantly, their problem.
A lack of reading during the semester shouldn't matter. As the aforementioned poster also said, there is more than one path to an A. If students choose to do all the reading at the end of the semester, let them. If they choose to do it the night before, let them. Whatever works will work.
Everyone learns and studies differently, and professors need to understand that. Students should not be forced to read when the professor wants them to and be given quizzes on said reading (outside of the exams, of course) to satisfy a professor's need to not be frustrated by a lack of preparation. The accountability for lack of preparation, reading, and studying comes on the exams, not on mindless quizzes meant to prove to students that they need to read.
Giving a pop quiz the day the readings are due (the day you want to discuss them) are a great way. You can spread them out, unpredictably, or on the day where the material is really important. This was done in many of my political science lectures, and it's great. It does work. So many student who seem like the lazy type, force themselves to study and do the readings, and during lecture actually speak up and contribute the discussions and debates.
Most students are motivated by grades, not learning, and will procrastinate until deadlines are imminent. Even those who are genuinely interested in the material will often behave this way. Regular quizzes are really the only way you'll get the majority to do regular reading.
On the other hand, self-motivation and discipline are important and rare skills which you rob them of the chance to develop by seeking to control their study behaviour using this method.
Personally, I decided keeping students up to date with the material was the more important factor, so I give quizzes in every class, potentially counting for a very significant part of the grade. However, I also give the option to completely override some or all previous work by doing well on the final. This provides a real incentive to work consistently throughout the semester but ultimately leaving the choice in their hands. It works well for my discipline (mathematics), although I'm not sure it would be as effective in others.
I'm a prof who uses reading quizzes for first year courses.
The trick is, that I make them "open notes" quizzes, and I make them "scenario" type questions where knowledge needs to be applied rather than regurgitated.
They can bring in all of the notes that they took while doing the readings but not the readings themselves.
First, these types of quizzes encourage students to take notes while reading, not simply skim.
Second, it provides me (and the students) with immediate feedback on how well they are learning the material. If the whole class bombs, I know I need to back up. If the whole class sails through, I can speed up. Much better than waiting for the midterm.
Third, it provides an entry into a class discussion.
I also drop the two lowest quiz marks for the term.
The intent is not really to evaluate the students for marks (although they are worth 1-3% each for a sum of 10%), but rather to help me learn how well the students are learning, and to encourage preparation.
So far it has worked quite well.
This is not as useful for upper level courses.
You should read about "Just in Time Teaching". I've used it, and it's quite effective. 1. It encourages them to do the reading, 2. it allows the professor to enter the classroom with a sense of what they do and don't already understand, 3. you can ask thought-provoking questions that "prime the pump" for what you want to deal with in class, making participation more likely, and 4. you can provide space for them to give feedback, making them feel more invested and responsible for course content. I'm a big fan.
See www.jitt.org for more details.
I am also a student. I think quizzes would force people to do the reading, but not to actually learn the material. One of my classes this past year used 6 quizzes periodically through the entire year, with the professor posting study guides online beforehand. While it did make me go back to the readings and find the answers/make notes on them, I found I learned the material for the quiz but didn't retain it past that.
I think class discussion are a whole separate issue. Some students do not learn much from discussion, or prefer to listen and make their own notes. For myself, I find I learn a lot more from listening and thinking about the material than I would from participating. I don't like how professors try to force participation by making it a considerable chunk of our grades. We always have the same few people who like to speak up, a bunch who are unprepared, and a few in the middle (myself included) who do the readings, but need a minute or two to formulate a response, or learn better by listening.
I think some students feel as though they are paying to be taught by an expert, not to listen to other people at their own level struggle with the material. Sometimes listening to other people who did not understand that material at all ends up confusing those who did, as they remember some of the wrong information that was brought up. Or, they get bored listening to people struggle with a concept they found easy, and will disengage from the discussion.
As a side note, I also do not think participation in discussion in any way accurately reflects who is prepared. To draw from my own experiences, I do the readings before each class and attend every lecture and tutorial. However, I rarely participate in class (for a variety of reasons, but primarily simply because I learn best by listening and taking my own notes). However, my performance on tests and assignments has always been sufficient to show that I know the material, and outweigh a lower participation grade.
I'm an adult student returning to finish my degree after a five year absence from the education system. In my own personal experiences, the best thing I’ve ever seen a professor do is to issue a brief graded quiz at the beginning of each class. A simple 5 or so questions reflecting on the assigned text that only require brief answers, it shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes to complete, and can also serve as a means of verifying student attendance, and encourage students to be on time. Even as a student, I get aggravated when someone stumbles in late and must shuffle around the room to whatever seat happens to be available.
As far as discussion goes, I find a lot of professors don’t engage their students properly. Many will simply ask a class a very general or vague question, and many times nobody will speak up because they aren’t sure what the professor is looking for. It’s also a simple matter of fact is that many students are protecting themselves. Remember, you are the authority figure in the room, they’ve had 12 years of a “you vs. them” mentality hammered into their heads, where sadly, they more often than not were not allowed to have an opinion, so when called for class discussion, it can be intimidating, and many would rather be silent than say something wrong. Far too many professors these days make a point to ridicule students, sometimes subtly, but I’ve had tenured professors outright insult a student for giving a wrong answer.
What I would suggest is if you’re having a discussion in class, start with simple prompts, a thought on the subject for a student to finish, rather than having them formulate a point of discussion all on their own, a sort of a warm up round to build up the classes momentum. I’ve seen this end with nearly the whole class engaged. Another thing I’ve seen work well is to have the class break into groups, or have them discuss with their neighbors for a few minutes, and afterward have a group representative share their thoughts. It’s almost always always much easier for a student to talk with another student in a smaller group setting.
I think that students lack of consequences directly affects their lack of preparedness. It wouldn't be any one teachers fault but if a students behavior is allowed to continue to the point that it has becomes a habbit its simply because the consequence for his or her actions hasn't reached a point where the student see's a need to change their behavior.
As a student with a 3.5 who has made Dean's List the past two semesters and will make it again, I can honestly say that even if I find a class interesting it is not important to me as getting an A. Everyone knows college is about teaching you how to learn, very few 3.0's would pass a final from a previous semester, and that most students are relatively lazy. Since students will try to minimize effort and maximize grades, they need motivation. I have not taken one class other than calculus where I was legitimately challenged, but because I know I'm an above average student who actually goes to class that even if I do poorly I am in a better position than most of the class. The solution is not quizzes but rather tougher exams, less generous curves, and incentives (not punishments for not) for participating.
You might lose the excitement of your students if you enforce study habits through negative measures such as giving pop quizzes and throwing them out of class.
If you would like to offer quizzes, why not have them count for extra credit? Or even forgo the quizzes and give them discussion questions prior to the class that they can use to prepare themselves? You can still count participation as part of their grades, but communicate to the class that it will allow them some wiggle room with their final grade if they do not do as well on their class assignments.
Hopefully by offering positive reenforcement you'll regain the class' excitement for learning and reap the benefits of a more interactive learning experience.
As a student it is obvious that I would be against graded quizzes that would test student's knowledge of the material they were assigned to read. However, it is more than just it being graded that leads to my opposition. I have a professor who assigns us not only reading the weekend before we discuss the chapter in class, but also graded homework assignments. These are in depth, very thorough 50 multiple choice questions. It has come to my attention that many people in the class have not done well in these homeworks, and by this I mean not just those lazy kids who don't even bother doing the reading. Students read the chapter, take notes, reread the material and go over the professor's short notes on it, yet they seem to score very low on the homework. In my personal opinion, the homework did not at all help me understand the material, in fact it left me even more confused. The questions were poorly worded and the answers very confusing. What is interesting is that the professor agrees that the homework is bad and that we should not even bother looking at it to review for the final, yet he still assigned it and counted it toward our grade. Week after week students slaved over the homework that hardly helped them in any way.
I suggest giving maybe a shorter assignment that is not as detailed, maybe just general questions about the reading or using clickers in class. That is one aspect of the class that I thought was not only helpful, but fun. Through the use of the iclicker, I was able to understand the material better in class and also it kept me engaged and more focused. The iclicker makes it almost seem like we're playing the Ask the Audience part of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Clickers, I believe, provide a good incentive to read the material and are better and more helpful than graded homework given before the material is presented. I am not against homework entirely, however, I just believe that homework should be assigned after the material is covered in class. Assigning it prior does not do much to help the students better understand the material. To encourage the reading, I believe clickers seem to be pretty effective.
Encouraging discussion can be very difficult in a college atmosphere. I think the truth is most students are very opinionated and would be happy to have discussions, but the atmosphere needs to be right because students are so concerned about self image and don't want to say anything "dumb". A lively and interesting discussion itself will spur students to prepare and read course material so they can be involved. So one thing would be to make sure the first discussion is very interesting, about something in current events or the like that people are already opinionated about.
Unconventional classroom methods might be needed as well, simple ice breakers like going around and asking students what their interests are or majors so they will have had a chance to talk in front of everyone and won't be afraid to speak up in the future, just get everyone to talk, one way or another, and once the ball is rolling discussions will get more and more lively as the semester goes on.
I wasn't able to read through all of these comments so this may have been said already, but as I went through college, I noticed that no professor has any regard for the fact that students take more than one class at a time. I am happy to participate when I have done (and understand) the reading, but there are times, especially during midterms and right before finals, where any assignment that is not turned in and graded MUST be put on the back burner so as not to hurt my grades. Whether or not I would prefer to learn your material over writing a graded paper for another class, the grade on my transcript is what follows me for the rest of my life. If you want to increase participation and learning in college, eliminate the entire concept of grades. Since that is impossible, I would recommend using a participation grade rather than quizzes, and do NOT count attendance. Have each student say their name before they make their contribution so that you know who they are and their classmates know who they are. I would be more comfortable speaking in a class full of people I know. Incorporating attendance into a grade only encourages those unprepared people to show up, but calling names randomly or learning the students' names and recording their participation should increase your discussion. Another important thing is the syllabus - this should list all assignments, and none of that "subject to change" BS. By having all the assignments from the beginning and being aware of what they entail and when they are due, students can balance their time more effectively. Having a professor announce a 10 page paper 2 weeks before finals is only hurting the students and their grades.
I require students to write weekly reading responses. It improves discussion immeasurably - they are much more likely to have read, they have even thought about the readings, and, if I can get to it, I have a clue about what they are thinking and what may have been difficult for them.
Let's face it... most kids at college don't really care about what they are learning. In the past, 13% of 17-21 year olds attended college. During this time period, a college degree was a guarantee of professional respect.
Nowadays, everybody and their cousin goes to school, regardless of their professional aspirations, intellectual ability, or level or education.
As with the fiat increase of any good, the value of a college degree has diminished tremendously. As such, the process is treated with a diminished level of respect by both the administrators and the students themselves.
Everybody knows that college is a place to have fun in between mind numbing classes that are exercises in indoctrination rather than processes of growth. Those who do not share this sad and cynical view upon entry to school quickly discover the error of their ways.
Additionally, the fact that one is unable to even attempt to apply for a decent job without a college degree puts all the power in the institutions' hands (in this case Rutgers.)
College is a luxury item, like a BMW or a Lexus. If I was given the type of sneering, haughty, entitled responses in my interactions with any other institution than Rutgers, I would take my business elsewhere. Unfortunately, as universities aside from the very top one in this country are organized along similar principles set forth in prescriptive guidelines and standards from outside bodies and agencies, they form, despite their superficial appearance of difference, a cartel.
I can tell RU that I'm appalled at the way they treat me, because I understand that I'll experience the same thing at any other school I go to.
If colleges want students to respect the course material that is presented to them, colleges should respect the student with which they are presented. Until that time, ever more specific, invasive, and arbitrary seeming classroom procedures will be enacted.
This process will end with either the schools revising their behavior, or a massive rebellion of college age individuals simply refusing to attend. In the second case, this will most likely accompany trends and events in other areas of social life that will be most unpleasant.
Colleges and Universities have the moral responsibility then, to end the charade currently masquerading as "higher" education and to begin, once again, to educate their students rather than treat them as fiscal fodder.
I am a student and I too hate pop quizzes for the sake of encouraging preparedness. Usually professors will ask questions that illicit no emotional response from students. Such questions simply quiz the student body orally. I would recommend that professors tie the material to something that students themselves would find worthy of discussion. Only a couple minutes of such discussion could carry over and fuel debate on whatever the professor intends.
I haven't read through the other answers, so I apologize if I'm repeating others' advice. I'm a graduate student and taught my first lecture this summer, and I had an enormous amount of class discussion, with nearly everyone participating. I gave out class discussion questions, based on the readings, and had my students discuss them in small groups. Then we came back together and discussed questions as a class. Since students had already had an opportunity to discuss with their peers, they weren't nervous about making "stupid" comments. But since they were the ones leading the discussions, they were forced to come in having done the reading. We used the questions as a springboard for discussion, but I let the discussion veer off in other directions to some extent. I realize I'm not yet very experienced in teaching, but I definitely plan to use this technique again.
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