By Jack Prostko, Director, Faculty Development Center
For most of us, the university is more than a familiar environment--it's the community and context in which we've learned, worked and prospered for years if not decades. The operations of much of this particular setting take place like clockwork, and even the occasional bumps in the routine are expected or welcomed from time to time. Overall, the workings of the academy make some kind of general sense that we accept or celebrate, depending perhaps upon the season or the department's budget.
Our comfort as experienced academics allows us to forget that students, especially new students, need to be acclimated to this environment if they too are to prosper and succeed--and by 'this environment' I mean not only UMBC in particular, but the purposes and values of institutions of higher education. We assume that some of this learning takes place outside of the classroom, as students study, establish routines, and negotiate whatever processes are necessary to attend class or live on campus. But clearly a great deal of the understanding of how a university operates also develops in the classroom itself, as students learn not just the content of our courses, but also the workings and expectations of the academic community. Yet when you have a thorough knowledge of the landscape, as professional academics do, it's hard to remember how frequently novices need maps and guides.
To motivate students and help them succeed, it's important to articulate our assumptions about their participation in academic life, and make explicit what we too often leave implicit in our courses. Sketching in the bigger picture may take only several minutes each class session--time spent in class that can help faculty and students avoid problems later in the semester. For example:
*Announce and revisit the purposes and goals of our course (not just on the syllabus but regularly, in different ways); this helps students connect the details of what they are doing with the larger questions of why it's important. If possible, use examples from recent events to emphasize the meaning of what is being examined in class.
*Remind students what they need to do in order to succeed in a course, and how to set goals for themselves and measure their progress; provide short-term goals even in long-range projects. Managing time and setting priorities are essential (and often content-specific) skills.
*Provide frequent feedback on students' work so that they can assess their learning and their progress; not all feedback needs to be in the form of a grade. Highlight skills upon which academic achievement in a discipline is based, and provide suggestions about improving (or getting help in improving) these skills.
*Structure courses so that students can make informed decisions about their standing in a course; remind them of deadlines. April 6 is the next major deadline that may have escaped the notice of many freshmen. But it's the last day to change from audit or pass/fail to a regular grade (and from regular grading to pass/fail); it's also the last day to drop a class. Do your students know this? Might it affect them in your class on in another of their classes?
*Know about academic resources at UMBC and encourage students to take advantage of them. From tutorial services, to advising, to library resources, there are networks of help available that can get perplexed students back on track in their studies. When specific students could benefit from such help, tap them on the shoulder, listen to their concerns and let them know where to look for assistance. This is where individual attention can make a tremendous difference in an undergraduate's life.
*Talk about integrity issues. Not to belabor the point, but integrity means wholeness, completeness, something undivided. It seems ironic, then, to think of academic integrity as something we mention in a syllabus and ignore, under the assumption that everyone knows what's meant by general prohibitions. Instead of conceiving of academic integrity as something external to or added onto our course topics, we might connect it to the development and validation of knowledge in our disciplines.
This last suggestion also raises a larger issue of keeping our disciplinary culture in mind--and the advantages of letting students see how the classroom and their own studies operate in a larger global and historical sphere. Professor Kriste Lindenmeyer recently brought to my attention a scholarly discussion carried on in the Journal of American History about ethics, honesty, and plagiarism in the study of history. Such analyses have taken place in other disciplines as well, and are useful to share with students because they illustrate much about how research and scholarly work have firm foundations in a public world where accountability does matter.
If we assume that someone else will keep students aware of issues like academic deadlines and resources, the skills needed to succeed in our fields, or how academic integrity is part of the fabric of our work, then we are severely limiting the impact and significance of the information we struggle to impart. Indeed, mostly it remains information unless on his or her own the student can turn it into knowledge. On the other hand, if we guide students to learn how to take responsibility for acquiring and using the information we examine, then we have, we hope, given them the habit of learning well and using knowledge wisely.
For suggestions for motivating students to learn well:
Coffman, Sara Jane. "Ten Strategies for Getting Students to Take Responsibility for Their Learning." College Teaching. 51.1, Winter 2003. (Available at the Faculty Development Center.)
The Journal of American History, Vol. 90, no. 4. (March 2004).Davis, Barbara Gross. "Motivating Students," in Tools for Teaching. (San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, 2000).
teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/motivate
Cashin, William E. "Motivating Students." IDEA Paper #1.
www.idea.ksu.edu/resources/index.html
