Sorry for posting so late from last week!! I had a really busy/emotional weekend and it slipped my mind :(. Last week’s classes went well. A couple of people had a few comments on LearnSmart. The first one was that some prefer paper-based study material. This may be because a couple students mentioned that they have less of the Internet/facebook distractions, thus making them more focused. Also, the students may not be aware of it, but they may be “conditioned” to learn a certain way. For example, if I sit in a different seat in a class, I feel totally out of place for half of the class then. My mind is adjusting to the new position, people around me, and view of the board/power points. If students are used to studying class/textbook material on paper, then maybe using the Internet feels completely foreign/unnatural to them. Another example is when I try to study when I’m sitting on the couch. I can tune out the TV, but because I’m sitting crossed-legged and in a different lighting, I feel that it sometimes takes me longer to get the material. One other comment was that the students report that they do not have the time. One thing that may give students the “impression” that they don’t have the time is the mass number of questions that are available on LearnSmart. This may “scare” the students away, especially if they do not start off getting answers right. One thing that I feel could improve LearnSmart is to let students print off the online material if they prefer to.
The attendance on Thursday was not the best, which could have been due to a variety of things. In my point of view, I feel that most students were either skipping because of the flu going around, the fact that people are starting to get antsy/”senoritas” because of the ending semester, or because they know others in class that can provide them with notes. It is a good idea that we are looking at why students are skipping, because many teachers see attendance as the students’ responsibilities, and could care less if they had two students attending a 50-student class. I think that a teacher who really cares about their students would encourage them to attend, and look at how they can improve classes to effect this. For example, some of the students were talking about the class before it occurred, when you mentioned classical conditioning in The Office TV show. This caught their attention and gave them something to anticipate for the next class.
Maybe we could incorporate this for future classes. For example, we could show a short clip from a popular movie or a comedian. I really do not want to make it sound like the teachers should have to “lour” or convince the students to attend class, but mentioning something relevant to their interests may “prime” their minds when they are thinking about coming to the next class. 🙂
Hi Martha. Really good point about the mass of questions on Learnsmart AND the fact that ‘studying’ on a computer may not be natural. I wonder what we can do to make the computer more friendly for studying. I will see if I can tweak the last few learnsmart modules so it is less intimidating. Thanks