Following up with student assignments
Why is it important for you to follow up on assignments and readings you have given students?
Following up on assignments is not only important, but it is also important to assign a point value to each assignment. Students need to know that the material is important and relevant and their time is valuable so they don't want to feel like they're being assigned busy work.
It is so important to follow up on assignments. Not only does it provide a gauge for student comprehension, it demonstrates to the students that their input and responses provide context to the course. I think that is a primary complaint for students. When their work is not acknowledged, they lose focus and interest and may even consider that instructors don't respect the time they have invested in the course.
First of all, it shows that you are serious about deadlines. Students want immediate feedback about those assignments or tests in todays "immediate" world. I had the opportunity to teach a nursing pharmacology class. We have scantrons available and use them. I was informed that the other nursing instructors used the scantrons but didn't provide the results for several days when it only takes minutes to grade an exam. They loved that after finishing the exam I took a few minutes to grade the scantrons and pass them back to the students so they could have immediate feedback.
I grade all my students work. Luckly I get to make my own assignments and choose how much to they are required to turn in for grading but I think it gives them some ownership of their grade.
Speaking strictly from my experiences when I was a student, I can say that in classes where the instructors collected assignments and make comments and/or grades on them always made me feel that they were truly interesed in my learning process. Some classes had assignments listed but were never collected or graded and this was very frustrating because it made me think that my effort and time spent were not important and that the instructor must be too busy to really care about each student.
Lori
Hi Meagan,
When we do a great job of providing clarity to our students about what is expected of them and due dates as they pertain to various assignments, we do our due diligence and students cannot play the card "I did not know" card.
Patricia
Because students have a lot of reponsibilities to balance. There will inevitably be students who lose their syllabus or forget to write down assignments. I start writing upcoming assignments on the board at least a week before they are due. I also remind students when I see them in the halls, and post reminders on our portal. This way when a student complains they didnt know about the assignment, they have no excuses.
following up with student assignments makes sure they are participating and engaged with the curriculum.
Hi Melinda,
As instructors, we should do our due diligence to keep students on task. If you have a struggling student(s) offer help outside of class time so that the entire class does not have to be held up.
Patricia
I find most students including myself will look to the how the instructor attempts to keep students aware of assignments and deadlines.
If assignments and readings are not completed, the student will fall behind in the course work and may not be able to move ahead with the rest of the class. This situation has a snowball effect on the entire class, slowing everyone down so the student not completing the assignments/reading has a negitive effect on the entire class.
I know when I was in the military I hated busy work that our supervisors would periodically give us because they had nothing for us to do. As a student myself by the periodically been given assignments that appeared to be nothing more than busy work because the instructor couldn't or wouldn't come up with an assignment that met one of the learning objectives. Both those situations were extremely frustrating because I don't like wasting my time doing something that has no value added.
Hi Christopher,
Great points mentioned. As educators we should want to know if our students are grasping the material or not. Every assignment should be given to enhance the learning objective, therefore the assignment is important, and the instructor needs to do their part by grading the assignment. Our students have a busy life and giving an assignment just for the sake of giving it has no merit.
Patricia
There are some that consider many of the assignments busy work or square fillers. Not following up on the assignments just perpetuates that feeling. If you don't follow up the student can wonder what is the point maybe feel that it has no relation to their future career.
One of the assignments we use is a research paper. Students who are going to be medical assistants don't understand why they have to do this. Explaining the assignment and its relation to their future position helps. But following up and showing where the assignment could be improved and how the information they have provided could be used by the physician and/or the patient helps bring it into perspective for them and demonstrates it's not just a square filler.
One of the other things that follow up does is it helps both the student and the instructor understand the just how much the student understands and is able to apply to a real world situation.
While there are many more reasons to follow up one last one is for the instructor is by reviewing the assignments they make sure the learning outcome for the assignment is still relavent to the course or to the real world applications.
It is important to follow up with assignments to let the students know that the assignment was not given for busy work. They need to know that the assignment was improtant for them to do, and is equally important to be reviewed and respected.
Students are observant – if you don't place importance on the homework, they won't either. In the scripting classes I teach it's especially important to follow up, because the homework assignments are how the students demonstrate the ability to do on their own the things we do together in class. The lessons build upon one another and missing assignments mean missing building blocks and a shaky foundation for the rest of that student's class experience. Plus, the classes run on the quarter system, so it's a lot of information in a very condensed time and falling behind can make it hard for them to catch up. It's not helping the students if I don't follow up with them on their assignments, it's definitely hurting them.
Hi Kristina,
Students need to be taught the importance of deadlines. Homework is a good way to get students to understand how important it is to meet deadlines, otherwise repercussions will take place.
Patricia
Hi Sue,
You are on point! I love your entire perspective toward this. Students need immediate feedback to determine their understanding or lack their of. As instructors, we should certainly want to know how our students are doing.
Patricia
Hi Kim,
I concur! As instructors we should want to know if our students are grasping various concepts. In order to measure our students comprehension following up on assignments is crucial.
Patricia
