From Won't Read to Will Read: An Assignment to Foster Student Engagement
Date
2022
Authors
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Publisher
Iowa State University Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching
Abstract
In Fall 2020 I taught a graduate level course in the Interior Design Program face-to-face. One of the course activities was an assigned weekly reading to be discussed in class for which grade points were available under the umbrella of ‘course participation’. However, when I asked students to discuss the readings in class, I was met with glum silence, blank eyes behind blank masks. When I probed further, students admitted they had not read the readings. Students were jaded and did not have the spare capacity to do something perceived as ‘extra’ or of minimal graded activity. It seemed that, without a graded quiz, readings were the first item to drop off the students’ ‘to do’ list. Looking ahead to Spring 2021, when I would be teaching a different course, I considered how I could inspire students to study the course readings. The solution
was a Readings Lead Assignment.
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Type
Teaching Brief
Comments
This brief is published as Irish, J. E. N. (2022). From won’t read to will read: An assignment to foster student engagement, CELT Teaching Brief, Iowa State University
https://iastate.app.box.com/s/kr69lnjix5g3j860tuawyjlwkjtbf9ct