QUESTION: SHOULD YOU BRIBE STUDENTS?

  

When I have a question about teaching, I pay close attention to what my friends do, especially those teachers that I respect a lot.  If a tactic works for them, then I should, at least, consider the possibility.  If a teacher is not careful, it is easy to spend too much of your time giving out opinions and not enough of your time taking in opinions (and evaluating them). 

Or, as I might tell my children, keep your mouth shut and your ears open if you want to benefit from a conversation.

I have a close friend who is now retired who was a great teacher.  He did an excellent job and the students loved him.  He used to give out extra credit points for many types of assignments.  “The cost is very little to give out a point or two and the students are just so much more likely to do what you want them to do.”  I suspect that he would have asserted that students are human beings who tend to respond well to motivation.  It seemed to work for him. 

I had another close friend who was also a fabulous teacher.  Unfortunately, he died a few years back.  He got great results.  However, he was adamant against giving extra credit points.  “Why should I bribe students for helping them to learn college-level materials.  If they are unwilling to do the work, they should suffer the consequences.  If they don’t do what I assign, they won’t learn the material and they won’t do well in the course.” 

Sadly, I see both points of view here and that leaves me in a quandary. 

Here is why I am asking.  I teach a very complex accounting course each semester.  This is tough stuff for the students.  So, I tend to give them advice over the summer about how to do well in the course.  There are certain things they can do during these final 6 weeks before the first class that will get them ready to do well when the semester starts.

I teach accounting and, for those of you who don’t teach accounting, the financial accounting rules are gathered into thousands of pages called the Accounting Standards Codification (ASC).  As with an attorney and the law, it is important for an accountant to be able to find things within this massive set of accounting rules.  So, I created a 7-question “Scavenger Hunt.”  I told the students what I wanted them to find in the ASC and how to locate it. 

I thought this was something that they would enjoy doing and would really help them be ready for my class on August 22.  They would know how to find things in the rules.

When I emailed this to the students, I went out of my way to tell them that this was purely for their benefit so I expected them to do it.   However, I was not going to give them a few extra credit points.  I wanted them to do it because it was good for them and not because they needed to be bribed.  They are not 12 years old.  They are on the verge of entering the adult working world. 

I was pretty sure that if I offered them a mere one or two points on the first test many of them would do the work (it would only take 20-30 minutes) almost immediately.  But, if I do that, am I creating students who must be bribed or they simply will not do anything even for their own benefit.  Are students becoming like Pavlov’s dogs they can only react to a specific stimulus?

Well, nearly a week has passed since I emailed this assignment and I’ve heard from none of my 17 students.  That leaves me wondering which of my two friends had the best approach to Extra Credit.  I wondered what you might think.

SUMMER TIME EXTRA CREDIT

I try, now and then, to provide teaching tips for the faculty members in my school.  However, since the pandemic started, we have all faced such unbelievable teaching challenges that traditional advice has come to seem irrelevant.  When some people are teaching in huge rooms with everyone wearing masks and others are teaching part live and part online and many are moving toward distance learning exclusively, advice that applies to more than a few seems hard to find. 

Having said that, I sent my faculty friends the following teaching tip this morning.  It seems to me that no matter how you are going to be teaching this fall this idea is one that can be helpful.  Not for every student.  No idea works for every student, but maybe this one will work for half the students.  In my classes, any idea that works for half the class is worth a bit of my time.

Here’s what I wrote our faculty.

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For several years now, semester in and semester out, I have given my students an extra credit assignment a month or two before the semester begins.  Some semesters it is about accounting.  Other semesters it is about learning.

Below is the extra credit assignment that I sent out earlier this summer to my fall classes.

Why do I do this?

--I think it sets a strong tone for the semester.  I am serious about the learning and I expect the students to be serious about the learning as well. 

--It opens up a line of communication between the students and me.  I have things I need for them to hear.  They need to be able to ask me questions and get help occasionally.  I want to establish a strong method of communication well before the semester starts.

--I want the students to understand that learning is important.  I am always amazed at how uninterested some students seem in their own learning as if it has no value at all.  I find that heart-breaking.  

--The students are often bored over the break and the summer of 2020 is probably the ultimate example.  If I choose the assignment well, they really can benefit from the work.  I am not offering them points for busy work.  I am bribing them to become better, more engaged students.  

--For better or worse, students love extra credit assignments.  I don't personally like that but you have to meet the students where they are and not where you want them to be.  

--I wanted the upcoming class to have somewhat of a normal feel about it.  “I always do this so we will do it this summer as well.”  Everyone seems to rattled that things have changed.  With my students, I am looking to stress things that are absolutely and totally normal. 

Here's the message that I sent out (several students wrote back immediately, thanking me for giving them something to do that had a value).

Is there an extra credit assignment that you could send out now that would get your students better ready for the fall semester regardless of how that experience is going to be structured.  

To:   Accounting 201 Students

From:  JH

I know some of you have ordered the Accounting 201 textbook.  If so, read Chapter One and come up with a couple of things you did not know before reading.

I do realize that it is easy to waste an entire summer.  Don’t do that.  Life is too short to waste.  Set a goal, “I will spend X hours each day doing something productive.”  X can be 3 or 6 or 9 or whatever you want but it needs to be more than zero.

So, I have a suggestion for making your summer useful and I’ll even give you extra credit if you do it.

About four years ago, I read a book titled Make It Stick – The Science of Successful Learning, by Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel.  As you might imagine, I am deeply interested in how to help my students learn more effectively.  I found this book to be very insightful.  One of the things the authors say frequently is that reading material repeatedly is not helpful in getting knowledge into your memory.  According to them, it is the mental retrieval of information that really solidifies learning and that is something we work on every day in 201.  If you want to learn something, pull it out of your memory over and over and your knowledge will get stronger and stronger.  As they say in the book, “One of the best habits a learner can instill in herself is regular self-quizzing to recalibrate her understanding of what she does and does not know.”  

We do that a lot in my classes.   One of my mottoes is, “We do it until you can do it.”  I like that thought.  My online materials are even built on that idea.  (You might want to circle that previous sentence.)

They even have a chapter titled “To Learn, Retrieve.”  

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The semester after I read Make It Stick, I offered my students bonus points on the first test of the semester if they would read this book over the break.  I have been doing this since then for my upper-level students and I recently began the idea with my introductory students.

The book is available on Amazon and used copies are fairly cheap.  I honestly believe my previous students have gained much more than bonus points just from the ideas and tips provided in this book.  I have always been surprised by how little some very smart students understand about the learning process.  In high school, it is easy to be successful just using memorization without ever learning how to learn.  In college, or at least in my class, you need to be more efficient.

In my initial experiment, it turned out that roughly half of my students read at least half of the book by the first test. 

Here are some of the things that students told me about Make It Stick.

“During high school, often times the material that you study is easy enough to cram in the night before an exam. When I started off at Richmond, I was overwhelmed with the amount of cramming I would have to do in order to make high grades. During my freshman and sophomore year at Richmond I decided to study a couple days in advance. After reading this book and seeing the results of students who study in advance and continue to look over what you learn, by the time of the test I often feel ready to go. This book has definitely had an impact on my semester, as I may be increasing my study times per day but by the day before the test, I don’t feel as stressed out and overwhelmed.”

“I think reading Make is Stick has reminded me of how to best study and learn material. After being abroad last semester, I was craving work but it gave me a sense of mind when it came to the best ways to study. I liked it because it didn't just plainly state how to memorize things efficiently. It provides evident and demonstrates why it works better. For example, sometimes when I don't feel like doing my homework or a practice problem, I think about how the more you actually do a problem the better you will know it. It is reinforcement such as that which gives sometimes seemingly repetitive and exhausting work purpose.”

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Okay, I could include dozens of quotes like these but I am sure you get the point.

I will make a similar deal with you.  In my online course, we will have a pretty good number of “Comprehension Quizzes” just to make sure you understand what we are covering.  These will be 10-30 minutes in length now and then.  Based on the percentage you get correct on each one, you’ll get a letter grade (A, B, C, etc.)  If you read the book Make It Stick prior to September 15, I will raise your grade on not one but TWO comprehension quizzes by one letter grade.  If you make two B’s, they will become two A’s.  (It does not have to be your first two Comprehension Quizzes – I will add the letter grade to the first two quizzes where you make less than an A). 

This is not a class requirement.  There is no penalty if you choose not to read the book.  I think it is good offer.  I expect you to tell me the truth.  You are my students and I expect you to be truthful with me.  Read the book Make It Stick and get an added letter grade on two Comprehension Quizzes.  If that is not clear enough, let me know and I’ll try again.

Let me know if you have already read Make It Stick and I will provide you with an alternative book to read.   There are a number of good possibilities.

Have a great, great, great summer.  Stay smart and stay well.  Get some rest and relaxation.  However, don’t allow yourself to be unproductive. 

I am looking forward to having the opportunity of working with you.  If we both do our part of the work with enthusiasm and ambition, you will be amazed by how much you will have learned by the end of next semester.  You will understand more about accounting than you could ever have anticipated.