This Q&A was adapted with permission from the book Chalk Talk: E-advice from Jonas Chalk, Legendary College Teacher, edited by Donna M. Qualters and Miriam Rosalyn Diamond –
Question
Dear Jonas,
I can’t believe how busy the end of the semester is getting for me. I’m trying to prepare a paper for a conference, teach my classes, and deal with several promotion cases in the department. Suddenly my students have realized that it’s the end of the semester, and they need help catching up on the course material – so, many of them are asking for time beyond my office hours. I’m behind where I expected to be on the syllabus, there are only a few class meetings left, and I still need to give a quiz. What am I supposed to do?
Signed: Busy Beyond Belief
Answer
Dear Busy Beyond Belief
I’m tempted just to write: “Get used to it. That’s academia.” However, I do have a few suggestions for things that you can do Instead of talking to your students on an individual basis, you could schedule a review session and announce it to your class(-es). While this still takes time, it’s only one block of time for many students, and you can schedule it for when you are less busy. You should also remind your students about the tutoring resources available on campus: 222 Snell Engineering for Engineering students, 115 Hurtig for chemistry, Cahners Hall for mathematics, 3rd floor of Churchill for physics, and the Peer Tutoring Center in the library for one-on-one FREE tutoring (this is paid for by the work-study program)
If you already have a Canvas site set up for your course, consider starting a discussion board thread where students can post questions. That can save you time answering the same question for multiple students. You can also use Canvas to post solutions to problem sets or study outlines to help students feel more confident as they prepare for exams If you really don’t think that you can finish the syllabus, then you need to look at the remaining material, and decide what looks important both for the final exam and for providing your students with the proper background for their future courses and careers.
Frequently, the material which appears at the end of a syllabus is placed there as optional material that can be included if time permits. Talk with your course coordinator or the instructors of other sections of the course to be certain that you are not omitting anything crucial As for the quiz, I’m guessing that the students actually want to have it for the sake of improving their grades; otherwise, I assume that you would simply cancel it. If you don’t want to cancel the quiz, you may want to consider the possibility of giving a take-home quiz. If you decide to use this approach, be clear about your policy on collaborative work and the use of reference materials.
Another option would be to still give the quiz in class, but to make it half as long as usual. You may not feel that a shorter quiz adequately tests the material, but it will satisfy the students’ desire to potentially improve their grades. Also, a short quiz is still a good teaching device since the students are forced to study everything, regardless of which topics you actually quiz them on.
Good luck with the end of the semester
Jonas
Quick Tip
As an alternative to a take-home quiz, Canvas allows you to build quizzes online and have them graded automatically. This can be a great tool for helping students assess their knowledge, with minimal effort on your part once the quiz is developed. You can even program in feedback to appear based on the student’s answer. With Canvas’s Gradebook, you can quickly review quiz results and determine if there is any material that a large percentage of students do not understand.
______
This content was adapted with permission from the book Chalk Talk: E-advice from Jonas Chalk, Legendary College Teacher, edited by Donna M. Qualters and Miriam Rosalyn Diamond.
Browse the complete Index of Teaching Challenges – Chalk Talk