Thursday, March 10, 2016

Teaching Transparency

In "One Easy Way Faculty Can Improve Student Success," Cook and Fusch discuss the notion of teaching transparency and the empirical evidence suggesting it particularly helps underrepresented, first-generation, and low-income students.

Image courtesy of khunaspix at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Takeaway quote:
When students don't understand how a particular assignment will help them learn course material, they often perceive the assignment as "busy work" -- and fail to complete it successfully. Teaching transparently — explaining why the activity is important and what skills and knowledge students will learn — changes that dynamic, because faculty address the assignment's relevance as soon as they introduce an activity.