Dear Colleagues,
These past few weeks just flew by! I hope that your recovery from the wretched ice-storm was quick enough, and you are back to a more regular teaching schedule.
As we gear up for another round of midterm exams, quizzes, and other course assessments, we will notice that some students are more engaged and motivated than others. Students that are motivated to learn often retain more information, push through the difficult times, and finish strong. Behaviors that we see in motivated students include high engagement in their classes, with their peers, and the overall community. They demonstrate persistence in their studies. Some of the factors that influence these behaviors are beyond our control, but there are others such as the classroom and learning environment we provide that are in our control.
“You motivate students using the same methods and formats that you do to teach them effectively” [1]. In her book titled, Teaching at Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors, Linda Nilson lists 55 strategies we can implement to motivate students. These strategies are broadly organized into the following categories: (i) Teacher presence in the classroom, (ii) the subject matter, (iii) our teaching style, and (iv) assignments and assessments.
Here are a few strategies from this extensive list:
(i) Deliver your presentations with enthusiasm and energy. Treat your lectures as opportunities to perform. Add dramatic pauses, tell stories, be expressive. Whenever I leave my classroom feeling exhilarated and exhausted, I know I have captured my students’ attention!
(ii) Make the course personal. Send personal emails to students when you are concerned about them, or when they have performed exceptionally well or have demonstrated improvement. Offer specific positive feedback. When students feel noticed and encouraged by their professors, they are more likely to seek help when they need it and persist.
(iii) Hold students accountable for coming to class prepared. Require students to complete short readings, respond to discussion posts, watch videos that have embedded quizzes (Panopto is a very easy-to-use tool), or solve an assigned homework problem
(iv) Create a safe learning environment. Foster an environment where students feel safe asking questions, where failures are seen as valuable learning opportunities
(v) Share strategies and tips for students to learn your material. Most students continue to use the strategies they used in high-school, and greatly underestimate the time and effort involved in mastering course content. Besides teaching them your course content, teach them how to learn your course content.
(vi) Bring the arts into your teaching to stir student emotions. This strategy can be used in a variety of ways such as playing music at the start of class or during breaks, showing photographs of various sites on our beautiful campus, or sharing a story or video clip about your discipline wherever relevant.
(vii) Reinforce the idea that all students can improve their cognitive and other abilities with practice, and they are in control of their academic fates. Build your students’ belief in growth mindset, credit their success to their effort and persistence. Provide second chances on assignments or offer exam corrections whenever possible.
(viii) Give extra credit or bonus points (or a chance to earn back lost points) only for work that depends on students’ having done their assigned work. I love this strategy, as it ensures that students are completing their assignments before asking for more.
This past year I had the opportunity of completing a yearlong ACUE (Association of College and University Educators) course on Effective Teaching Practices. We completed several modules including one on “Helping Students Persist in their Studies”. One of my biggest takeaways from this unit was that feelings of isolation are one of the biggest reasons for student attrition. Fostering an inclusive environment helps to keep the student community intact. Providing students opportunities to actively work with their peers on assignments, labs, and quiz corrections helps keep them committed while also mastering the content.
In my 20+ years of teaching, I have worked tirelessly with students using all the above strategies and many more. However, despite my best efforts and intentions, a few students struggle, usually because of reasons that are beyond my control. In these cases, I refer them to campus resources such as Sanger Learning Center’s one-on-one tutoring services or learning specialist services, or resources offered by the Counseling and Mental Health Center. Regardless of the outcome, it is important that we demonstrate that we care about them and their learning.
Sincerely,
