WHAT SHOULD THE STUDENTS DO RIGHT AFTER CLASS TO FIGHT "SWISS CHEESE KNOWLEDGE?"

Just a reminder that my new teaching book (Transformative Education – How Can You Become a Better College Teacher?) can be downloaded for free at the University of Richmond Scholarship Repository:

          https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/375/

And, if you want to read about the book, here is a story from Inside Higher Ed.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/student-success/academic-life/2023/08/30/why-one-professor-makes-time-take-classes-himself

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In my new teaching book, I talk a lot about “the Education Diamond.”  That is my name for the four points in time when a teacher interacts with students and can, therefore, improve the learning process.

1. ·      Getting students to prepare before class.
2. ·      Interaction during the class session itself.
3. ·      Helping students organize and strengthen their learning after the class session (when they face a severe challenge that I call “Swiss Cheese Knowledge.”) 
4. ·      Testing and other graded assignments designed to ascertain the students’ understanding of the material.

If you want to improve as a teacher, pick one of these four points in the learning process and begin experimenting with how to help students do better.  Experimentation is the key to improving. 

So, despite this being my 53^rd year as a college teacher, I have picked one of the points already and started working on it.  I chose the third point of the Education Diamond – what students do in the 12-24 hours immediately after class in order solidify what was covered in class.  I have long argued that this is the weakest point in the learning process for most students and teachers simply because most students and teachers ignore it.  For them, once class is over, it is time to move on to the next subject.  That’s why I refer to it as “Swiss Cheese Knowledge.”  Student understanding looks solid but it is actually just full of holes.   If the teacher doesn’t work to help the student fill in those holes, we all know what will happen—they will get bigger over time.  That’s why students often cry in our offices, “I knew this when we covered it in class, but I couldn’t seem to do it on the test.”  Their knowledge had holes in it that were never filled in.

This semester starting with my second class of the semester, I emailed my students 10 minutes after class. 

“I know our class today seemed helter-skelter.  My classes always seem helter-skelter because I like that.  Nevertheless, we covered a lot of important material today.  So, right now, sit down and write out 15 basic questions that you should be able to answer IMMEDIATELY based on our coverage today.

“You need to identify what we covered of substance before it begins to leak out of your brain.  Don’t procrastinate.  Do it now. 

“Then, find someone else in class and exchange lists.  That will give you two different perspectives of what we covered today that was important.  If there are any questions on either list that you don’t have an answer for, that means I should have covered it better.  Bring it by my office and I’ll try to give you a push in the right direction.” 

Okay, I think this is a great idea, but I knew it was never going to work without some help.  So, I wrote the first 15 questions for the students to model what I wanted them to do.  Showing students what you want them to do is always helpful. 

Then, immediately after every class since that day, I have sent them a quick email saying, “If you are truly serious about doing well in this class, take the next 10 minutes and write out your 15 questions about what we learned today.  I don’t need 16 questions, but I do need 15.”

Finally, my students create their own group chat rooms for this class.  I really like for my students to have a “we are in this together” mentality so that they will work together.  I suggest that they start putting up their 15 questions on that chat space.  I want my class to feel like this is a team effort.  They can probably teach each other better than I can.

Will this improve learning?  Heck, I don’t know.  That’s why I am trying it out this semester.  I do know that I want to improve what the students do after we have class rather than declare victory and move on.  This idea has potential, but I won’t know how well it works unless I try it. 

Now you.   Pick one of the four points on the Education Diamond and come up with your own experiment for improving the learning process at that specific point.   Then, evaluate how well the experiment worked.

That's how to improve as a teacher.

The Most Important Days of the Semester – Part Two

(If you would like for me to send you an email whenever I post a new blog entry, just drop me a note at Jhoyle@richmond.edu and I'll add you to my list.)

On October 1, 2017, I posted the first of a two-part blog entry on the importance of the 2-4 days after the first test of the semester.  This initial essay included an email that I sent to my current students immediately after their first test.   My assumption has long been that students are most interested in how to do well in a course as they leave the first test.   The email encouraged them to consider two specific aspects of their post-test assessment. 

First, if they felt they had not done well, I made three suggestions about what might have gone wrong.   It is hard to improve without some identification of the problem.  Students who do not do as well as they had hoped should come up with an honest ending to this sentence prompt, “I did not do well on the first test because . . .”    A vague response does not do anyone any good.  As I said in that previous essay, most students simply do not spend enough time studying.

Second, I tried to get my students to put themselves into one of four categories (confident and ready to build on that positive first step, over confident and relaxed, unhappy but ready to take on the challenge to do better, and terribly discouraged and ready to give up).   Obviously, I am trying to encourage them (whether they did well or poorly) to put on a burst of energy and enthusiasm after the first test.   It is still early in the semester.   I never want any student to feel defeated and hopeless.

The second part of my strategy to help the students make positive changes in their approach to this course comes on the day I return the graded first tests to them.   I walk into class with the papers under my arm.  However, before I hand them back, I make a few specific points about possible improvement.

I did not record my opening remarks this semester but the speech below is my best memory of what I said.   It only took a few minutes but I wanted to encourage them to start looking at the course in a different way.   Remember – my only goal is to guide the students to better learning and that should lead to a better grade.  

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“In just a few minutes, I will return your first test which is roughly 25 percent of your overall grade so you still have plenty of time to improve your average if you want or destroy it even if you did well on this test.   We have a long semester.  This is just the first test.   Whether you improve this grade is squarely up to you.

“I often tell students that learning only occurs at three points.  I refer to this as the learning triangle.  First, learning can occur during class.  We are together 150 minutes per week.  I want us to use each of those minutes wisely to enhance your knowledge of the subject.   To tell you the truth, most students (and I certainly include this class) typically do well during class.  No one falls asleep.   Everyone attempts to answer the questions as I pose them.   People take good notes.  Students can always do better, but I am not upset by the work you have done so far in class.

“The second point on the learning triangle is all the work that students do before they arrive at class.   I assign questions and you have to decide how much time and energy you want to expend to prepare answers to those questions.   Most students, and again I would include this class in this assessment, do fairly mediocre work when it comes to class preparation.  For most, there is simply not enough urgency to push them beyond doing as little as possible before class.   I honestly believe it is hard for any student to excel unless they do excellent work leading up to class – not mediocre work and not good work but genuinely excellent preparation.   Without good preparation, it is hard to pick up the subtle but key points brought out during class discussion.   You can only struggle to keep up with the main points.  Key little nuances are just missed. 

“The third point on the learning triangle is all the work that students do after class.   As I have said before, students invariably leave class with Swiss cheese knowledge.   It looks and feels solid but is totally full of holes.  To do well, you need to spend serious time after class filling in those holes.   For some, those holes are tiny.   For others, the holes are massive.   Either way, the reason I send you problems after class is to help you fill in the holes.   When I give a test, all I am trying to do is discover the size of the holes in your knowledge.  

"Most students are good in class, mediocre before class, and absolutely awful after class.   That’s the way it usually happens.

“Some students are mystified as to why their grades are not higher because “I worked so hard during class.”  However, that is only one of the three points of the learning triangle.  If you don’t get the grade you want on this first test, remember it is my opinion that it was the quality of the work you did before class and the quality of the work you did after class that led to the poor grade.  Work on those two and I think your grade can and will improve radically.  

“I am willing to help you improve your grade if you will come my office.  But, do realize that I will probably not be addressing our 150 minutes together each week.   Typically, that goes well.   If you want to do better, you have to start looking more seriously at the other two points of the learning triangle.

“If you twant a higher grade on our second test, you will need a grade higher than ‘mediocre’ on class preparation and a grade higher than ‘awful’ on filling in the holes of your Swiss cheese knowledge after class is over.” 

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I never like to hand back that first test without telling students in advance “listen, if you like your grade, don’t make any changes in your routine.  If you don’t like your grade, you have time to fix it and here is some advice about where you need to start putting in more time and effort.”   I believe it is unfair (at least on the first test) to give a student a poor grade (and I give plenty of them) without providing some type of framework to help them see where they are coming up short and how to make amends.  

If you can get your students to make necessary adjustments, the first test can be the key step toward turning a mediocre semester into an outstanding semester.