One of the greatest challenges for faculty is that students often come to class not having completed assigned readings. This makes it difficult for them to participate in discussion, and it may also make it difficult for them to follow the material you have planned for the day/week.
Synchronous or Face-to-face: Spend 5 minutes at the end of class going over key points in the readings you are asking students to do for the next class period. This type of advance organizer will enable them to place what you are asking them to read in a more meaningful and comprehensible context. Spend 5-10 minutes at the beginning of class having students discuss (in pairs or in small groups) two or three quick questions about the readings. Students can assist one another in clarifying the readings, or bring their collective confusion, if any, to you. You may want to have students turn in notes (or a Google Doc) from their discussions, or something similar, as evidence that they had something to contribute to the conversation.
Asynchronous: Without the cues of co-presence in the classroom, it is more important than ever to direct students’ attention before they read, watch, or listen to something. These concrete experiences are the foundation of an effective learning cycle. It is useful to explain the purpose of the experience or give specific guidance on what things students should be paying special attention to or looking for. Students report greater engagement with readings when they are given specific sections or pages to focus on and a purpose for the reading. Tips about how experts in your discipline read an article, a primary source, etc. are also useful (Middendorf & Shopkow, 2017). (A brief example of this from history can be found here.)
Specific strategies include:
Anticipation Guides: Before viewing a lecture or starting a reading, students can be asked to take a minute or two to generate an anticipation guide (Major et al., 2016). Based on the previous content, the main topics, and keywords, each student generates their own list of questions they expect to be able to answer at the end. This can be completed as a mini assignment in Canvas where students generate 3-5 questions before viewing a lecture and submit the answers to their questions after viewing. A video introduction can provide an overview and explain how the activity will help students practice thinking like an expert.
Guided Notes with a Twist: Basic guided notes are outlines or lecture slides with missing words or content that students complete during a lecture (Major et al., 2016). A modified version focuses students’ efforts on higher-order thinking. The shared document includes the lecture agenda, key definitions, and spaces for note taking, plus targeted questions that ask students to apply, compare and contrast, elaborate, or make connections (Golas, 2018). These questions provide great moments to pause a lecture when students’ cognitive load may be reached and switch to different cognitive processes that reinforce their understanding (Harrington & Zakrajsek, 2017).
For pre-recorded lectures, students can pause the lecture to answer the question in their notes or the questions can serve as a discussion forum activity between recorded mini lectures. Students have been shown to be particularly engaged with these notes when they are the same kinds of questions asked on quizzes, major assignments, or exams. Tools such as TopHat, and Kaltura can be used to integrate questions within the lectures and record student responses.
