Student Fellows Langley Smith and Jackson Calloway facilitated an Adams Center lunch session sharing their observations about ways professors communicate content in engaging ways with an eye toward the students’ future careers. Their session slides and summary:
A session on presenting course content in a way that is engaging and equips students for their careers was presented by Langley Smith and Jackson Callaway. They first talked about ways that students disengage from content because students do not understand the reasoning behind learning something. They each used their unique perspectives as a biology student and political science/history student to highlight ways that courses successfully or fail to engage students.They recognized four major themes that defined their classroom experience with engaging content:
- Avoiding content isolation
- As a professor it is important to remember that you are an expert while students are beginners with the information in the curriculum. As novices, students struggle to enjoy the course because they do not see how its content plays a role in the world like you do. Ensure that all content is interwoven and is given relevance in the lives of students rather than teaching content that is seen once, then never again.
- Sometimes, content isolation is unavoidable. Jackson shared an example of how his Immunology professor understands that the concepts of the course are rigorous and relevant throughout the whole semester, however, all the concepts cannot effectively be presented at once. He highlights how the professor is transparent that certain concepts are only tangentially touched on or will not be covered until a later, when they will make more sense in the context of the course. Transparency allows for the students to trust the professor as they continue through the content.
- Avoiding Mundane Assignments
- Students value quality over quantity of work and providing assignments just to get points in a gradebook is not effective for student learning.
- Jackson highlights his appreciation of benchmark assignments in large projects. Benchmarks help students to make progress over the course of a unit or a project. He sees that when students engage with benchmarks, they allocate their time more effectively throughout the unit and can integrate course content better. Professor feedback is also possible with benchmark assignments, allowing students to make corrections and have an improved final project than would have otherwise been possible. These benchmarks can instead act as extra points, providing students with “grade cushions”.
- Presenting Information in Different Contexts
- Throughout their future careers, students are expected to be able to engage with people and concepts from a variety of interdisciplinary backgrounds. By encouraging these interdisciplinary conversations within the classroom, you are both preparing students for the future while also encouraging a depth and nuance to the classroom information.
- Survey courses can be daunting for both the student and the professor. By interrelating content with a variety of disciplines and life experience, it encourages student engagement and understanding. In our experience, survey courses that have a variety of activities (debates, podcasts, student presentations, etc.) are more engaging and encourage students to participate.
- Classes that explicitly address the question, “why does this matter?”, are more engaging for students. When we feel like the subject matter doesn’t apply to our interests or future jobs, it is much harder for us to get up for our 8 AM class. But when we see the connections, we are more motivated to participate, learn, and engage with the material.
- AI Now And In The Future
- Please be transparent about your motivations and reasoning behind your AI policy. Students are more inclined to follow a guideline when we understand the purpose. Furthermore, creating an AI agreement together (as a class) encourages further contemplation, discussion, and student compliance.
- Langley highlights the importance of contemplating and addressing the use of AI in student’s career fields. For many entry level jobs, AI training, knowledge, and certifications are becoming increasingly preferred and required. As a political science major, I’ve (Langley) seen how internship and job descriptions prioritize candidates that have foundational knowledge about how AI is used within different industries. By avoiding and restricting discussion of AI, students are at a disadvantage compared to other candidates. Encouraging students to think critically about the implications of AI will prepare them for their future careers.
- Finally, be creative about how to include AI in class activities that promote critical thinking. Langley gave an example of an assignment in her ethics class that encouraged critical thinking, analysis, and showed the limitations of AI engines.