Freedom To Learn

One of the exciting aspects of learning something new is that it typically sparks my interest in several other topics. I am grateful for the freedom to pursue what interests me. I lament that my students do not enjoy the same degree of freedom as I do. Their course work tends to restrict how far their learning can range. Students are constricted in their learning by prescribed readings, required assignments, and imposed deadlines. There are ways, though, to encourage students to expand their range of inquiry within a course.

One way I employ is to expose students to relationships between subjects the students may consider as unrelated. For example, in my management principles course I include a visit to the art museum on campus. The students and I explore what managers can learn from artists about innovation. After one such visit, one of my students was inspired to do his course paper on the subject of management as art. He is now honing that paper for publication.

Another method I use is to link students’ personal interests with the course material. How might management skills be applied to personal relationships, making career choices, team sports, shopping, or composing music? I encourage students when deciding on a focus for their course papers and presentations to connect the course material to areas of interest to them or to their personal experiences. I have them post their papers on the course’s website for all the students to read. After reading the papers and hearing the oral presentations of others in the course, students have reported to me how surprised they were by the range of contexts in which the subject matter could be applied.

Integrated learning can be facilitated by helping students make connections between various disciplines and by giving them the freedom to range far and wide in their pursuit of learning.

What's The Incentive?

In January I was appointed as the coordinator for my university’s student leadership development program. As I began planning the program's offerings, I wrestled with the question, “What is the incentive for students to participate in the program?” After my appointment, I established a student advisory committee for the program. The students raised the same question I did. So I asked them why they are involved. Because they want to learn how to lead, was their reply. They aren’t motivated by a grade or academic credit. They are motivated to learn about a subject that is of interest to them. Wow! What a concept. Students pursuing a subject for the sake of learning rather than for a grade! There was my answer. Design a program that appeals to those who want to learn to lead. After all, those are the students who I want to attract and work with.

I wrestle with the same question about motivation when designing my courses. How do I get students committed to learning the subject of the course? Again I turned to my students. In my performance management course this past semester I used the course as a laboratory. The students learned performance management principles by applying those principles to the course. In other words, the students designed the course. It didn’t take long for the issue of motivation to surface. What became obvious is that half the class wanted to learn the course subject and the other half wanted to know how early they could get out of class. After all, it was an evening course that ran nearly three hours. Who would want to stay for three hours to learn about performance management? I discovered the answer to that question one evening when I gave up on trying to devise incentives to motivate them all to learn. I gave the question of motivation to the class and I left early. The next day I received excited emails from a few of the students. The half of the class that stayed after I left experienced the most rewarding learning experience of the course; for some it was one of the best classes of their college career. And they stayed beyond the class period! Wow! What a concept. Students involved enough in learning to be oblivious to the clock!

For each subsequent class I gave my lesson, posed a question to the class, and left early. During the week that followed I received emails with answers to the question I posed. I emailed my feedback and in answer received the students’ revisions. Only half of the class was motivated to stay and work on the issues I presented. What those who stayed discovered, however, was that learning was more rewarding and energizing when not dampened by the listless attitude of the unmotivated students.

What did I learn? Design courses for those who want to learn the subject matter. As teachers we spend so much time and energy trying to devise ways to motivate the unmotivated that we neglect the students who are committed to learning. If someone does not want to learn what is needed to prepare them for a profession, why are we trying to persuade them to learn? We end up certifying mediocre candidates for professions they have little interest in. That is not serving the professions or the students. It would be better for us to help those who are not motivated to learn a subject to discover what they are excited to learn about. And if they can’t find a field that motivates them, then perhaps they are not ready for college.

Part of my university’s mission is to develop within students “a passion for learning.” I suggest we turn this around. Let us help students discover what they are passionate to learn. Motivation is inwardly generated. It cannot be imposed externally. Let us stop trying to persuade students and help them to discover.

I'm baaaack....

Did you miss me? Or perhaps you hoped you were rid of me. I was caught in an end-of-semester “perfect storm” of student papers, assignments, and tests to grade. Then I had a flurry of conferences to attend and present at. All that time I continued to reflect upon teaching and learning. I simply didn’t have the time to record my thoughts. So allow me to backtrack to the end of the semester.

After I dug myself out from under the mountain of student works I had to review, it came time for me to tally the final course grades. That is when I was confronted with the question from one of my readings, “Should the final course grade reflect the student’s cumulative efforts over the entire semester, or should the grade represent the level of expertise the student has achieved by the end of the course?” I have always practiced the first approach and did so again this semester. After all the grading I had just completed I was too brain dead to contemplate the philosophy of grades. The question persists, however. I don’t have an answer but intend to consider the question as I plan my courses for the next semester. Meanwhile, I welcome your thoughts. What do you think a final grade should represent?