How Do We Get Students To Complete Assigned Readings?
So…what should we be doing? Last fall, CLC engaged in a reading climate survey and directly asked students that very question. I will be sharing instructional strategies throughout the school year, based on student response. Here are the top three responses to the question “What strategies can professors use to support your learning of the assigned readings?”
1.Tell us what is important in the text before we read.
- A simple oral preview of what you consider important in the assigned reading during the last five minutes of class can accomplish this.
- Study guides can also be a good tool – and don’t have to be overly complicated. They can be as simple as a list of subjects that will be important to a test, lecture or project.
3.Discuss how the reading connects to what we are doing in class. In other words, make references to the reading – explain how it connects to the lecture, lab or problem based activity.
A little more good news. Our research indicates that you don’t have to do a follow up activity every class. Having a follow-up reading activity for about half reading assignments seems to be enough to boost reading completion.
(Source: Kelly Black, Reading faculty)