Introduction: Challenging the Assumption of Effective Study Habits
As faculty, we may think that students in college or graduate school have “cracked the code” on studying. However, many students may not know how to study effectively and efficiently. We can help our students learn with the following activities:
Active Learning Strategies: From Ungraded Problems to Faculty-Student Dialogues
- Provide additional problems for students to solve–with no grades involved.
- Urge your students to rewrite notes in their own words. This type of deep processing will help them understand and better retain the information.
- Encourage the development of concept maps with an emphasis on connecting pieces of information from the material.
- Have students write multiple-choice questions (with answers) and include some of them on the graded exams.
- Develop students’ thinking by having them prepare crib sheets to compare and discuss at the end of class.
Conclusion: Empowering Students Through Active Learning Strategies
Talk with students on occasion to 1) find out how they think they are doing and 2) get more ideas on how you might help them learn.
Adapted from Faculty Focus by Lolita Paff, Ph.D.