Learning versus Grades
I've been teaching for around 30 years in traditional and for-profit settings; ground and online. The biggest challenge I have faced is when a student goes for the grade and not the learning. anyone else ever experience that?
David,
It is interesting you posed this question. I have only been teaching for about 6 months. Our school is a (2) year school and I am teaching in the criminal justice field. In my short time I have seen the stress that the "grades" creates. I said something the second class about how I was more concerned about the learning that occurred rather than the grade received. I heard a "wow," from a couple of rows back. It was an "a-ha" moment for her and she said we should make that a bumper sticker.
John
Hi Dwayne,
You make a good point about learning content. You have to have a sense about what needs to be learned and how best to learn it. As instructors we need to strive to deliver the content in a way that will keep the students engaged and focused on the course content so when they complete the course they will be able to apply that content.
Gary
That is interesting. Learning online presents the idea of grade first whereas classroom instruction may steer away from grade achievement first.
A student that is organized and goal oriented will look at what needs to be done to gain the highest grade possible but the instructor may present the material in a way that mistakes are an acceptable part of learning.
In the end, I believe if knowing why is stressed, learning will take place and the grade will follow.
Yes, I have. What I've found to be helpful is to remind students that they're learning this information to help people in their job. I remind them of why they started the program... to help people. I've also created examples of situations in which they would need to use the information or give examples of situations that I've been in where the information was very relevant.
Hope this helps.
