Get Students Involved in Teaching and Increase Their Learning – Part 1

Student involvement in the creation of course materials

By Christa Bancroft, Associate Professor of Teaching in the Biological Sciences – October 12, 2020
In several of my upper division science classes I am consistently asked how to prepare well, or better, for the exams.  One of the techniques I suggest to students when looking over course materials is to try to frame the concepts in terms of exam questions and think about “how would the professor ask a question on this material?” This requires the student to understand the concepts at a deeper level rather than simply memorizing what is on a slide. They have to understand the idea, form a reasonable question and then answer the question.  If any part in this process is difficult, they would know that they don’t fully understand one or more parts.

To formalize this process in my classes, I have created the opportunity for students to contribute to the questions that will appear on a course exam.  Students are offered 5 extra credit points to write questions for one lecture/class meeting (I limit the extra credit to 5 points only per student). They are instructed to create exam questions that reflect the Learning Objectives for that topic, which they can find on the syllabus (ie. appropriate level in Bloom’s taxonomy). I agree to use student-created exam questions/answers for 10% of the total points on the test.

The nitty-gritty part of process goes something like this:

1) Create a sign-up on Blackboard on which one or two students can voluntarily offer to write 2 potential exam questions for each class meeting.

2) Create a discussion board on Blackboard for each lecture where students will upload their questions and answers.

All students can view these questions and answers and use as study materials in the course with the knowledge that a portion of those questions will be directly on the exam. This process results in increased mastery and retention of the material for those creating questions and develops their skill at creating learning tools. By being involved in development of course materials, they take ownership of their learning and the teaching of their colleagues.  And, especially during this time of online learning, they form connections with other students in the class.

If you are interested in developed some tools in your class by which students “Learn Through Teaching”, I would also recommend this CET attachment for more ideas.  I’ll come back next week with another tool I use with students to Learn Through Teaching.