You, my fellow students, are being watched. Not to worry, the CIA is not bugging your coffee. Instead, professors are the observers. Carefully, they take notes on us, deciding how to change their ways to better affect us. Before you freak out and seek asylum in Canada, take time to consider the outcomes of these “tests.”According to RWC English Professor Ruth Benander, an ongoing research project is being conducted by several RWC faculty, known as the “Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.” This research is based on what is going on in RWC classrooms.
The idea behind these actions, Benander said, is to better facilitate the student learning experience, tailoring classes to fit student needs like an overpriced Italian suit. Once upon a time, these experiments were conducted in sterile lab environments, devoid of that special ingredient that make real classrooms “alive.”
According to Benander, RWC faculty affiliated with the Ohio Teaching Enhancement Program gather each year to share their findings and to study teaching practices. All of this is in order to find out what techniques help students learn best.
So how does this all affect you? One thing you may notice in the classroom is what is known as an informed consent form. These forms are in existence to protect your privacy while divulging valuable data that will in turn change the way classes are conducted. Professor Benander said these forms will never affect grades or teachers’ impressions of students. She believes that participation in these studies will be extremely helpful to faculty participating, as it helps change teaching for more effective learning.
Benander said that some actions may be the collection of surveys, pieces of writing, project work, videos taken of presentations, or even interviews; all of which are possible only with the completion of the consent forms.
According to Benander, since the study has been in affect, there have been many breakthroughs in teaching methods for RWC. For example, it was found that students who stay with the same professor in a series of courses (ex: English Comp I, II, and III) do better on average, she said. Students who take courses in the right order of the series also do better, according to Benander. Benander attributes this mostly to the fact that students remember about 60 percent of a previous course on average, this being immediately after the course.
As a result of the tests, Benander said some professors are using more audio commentary on student papers because students reported that it was preferable (positive feedback).
As a tip for all students, Benander also said that students who practice anxiety reduction exercises such as slow breathing techniques more often than not do better on quizzes.