Informing students of status in course
Why is it important to keep students informed of their status in the course at all times?
I have an old school belief that a student should know where they stand in a course but not to the point where they are obsessed over it. When I was an undergraduate student you found out your final grade when the mail carrier put the postcard in your mailbox. Now with the help of engrade and gradekeeper the student can see their average in real time and up to the latest assignment. My experience with this is how many tend to bother me about the grades rather than working hard and letting the semester unfold.
It allows them to see where there at and make the needed adjustments to pass the course
Alicia,
This speaks to motivation. Like a coach offering encouyragement to a player, feedback can yield better results. And the sooner, the better.
Barry Westling
Students need to feel successful in order to continue being successful. When they have immediate feedback, they will feed on that immediately, even if the feedback is negative. There is also no value in delayed gratification when a student puts effort into a test or assignment.
Brenda,
Exactly. Students need direction in order to stay on course.
Barry Westling
Linda,
Students appreciate effort their instructor makes in grading and providing graded status. They may not say anything, but the recognize the quality and value added service this process provides.
Barry Westling
Adrienne,
Yes, there needs to be time for any needed correction and opportunity for improvement.
Barry Westling
Mark,
Yes, certainly an important component of providing regular, individual communications.
Barry Westling
Meri,
Sharing course status is as important as delivering the content.
Barry Westling
I like to give students a weekly look at their progress. It makes them aware and then responsible for the outcome of there final grade. No surprises.
I feel it is important to keep the students informed about their test scores quickly to decrease their anxiety and stress levels.
The students need to feel that the instructor is doing their job.
Being prompt will establish trust also.
Carole Ray
This way the students know where they stand as far as their grade goes and will know when they need to try harder.It also helps them learn from their mistakes.How will they know that they are doing something wrong if they do not receive any feedback from the instructor.
This allows for students to alot themselves more study time, get additional help from instructor and know how well they will need to do on any final.
Prof. Westling,
It is very important to keep students informed of their status in the course because this will help motivate them to work harder if need be. This stimulates their learning desire to succeed. Keeps them focused on the goal to finish the course.
I really feel strongly that teachers need to stay on top of grading. The sooner a teacher gets a grade back to a student, the student will know where they stand and be able to review missed answers and have an understanding of where they went wrong if correction is needed. I even will review the quiz or exam sometimes as a group to be sure that we are all moving forward together without any confusion.
Too many teachers do not correct papers, exams, quizzes, etc in a prompt manner. I see this all of the time in lower grades, especially middle and high school levels.
Students are very focused on grades as an assessment of how they are doing in the course. Keeping them informed of their current status allows them to evaluate if their knowledge of course material, study habits, etc. are acceptable. If not, need for tutoring or amount of effort/study time put into the course can be seen before it effects the outcome of the final grade.
Merralinda,
Good point about keeping up the level of enthusiasm. I believe we can be very effective in our ability to influence student behavior through positive support and encouragement.
Barry Westling
Its important to keep the students informed of their status so that if there is something that needs to be corrected it can be corrected before too much time lapses and its forgotten about. Also if the student needs help with a certain area of the course it can be addressed right away so it does not compound and become a bigger issue. Another reason to keep students informed of the grades could be to keep the student excited and enthusiastic about the good job they are doing.
Shon,
Ongoing, current, and immediate. Oftentimes, there is precious little time to make needed corrections.
Barry Westling
