Reading text books for classes: Useful, or a waste of time?
There was an entry posted on Dear Professor/Dear Student-- a blog by the Center for Teaching and Learning on BYU's website-- about why students don't prepare for class. I thought it was a pretty good post. It had some flaws in it, especially relating to some of the suggestions from other students, ironically. Anyway, here's a link: http://ctl.byu.edu/?p=756
The comment I left on it is below. I was wondering what you guys all think about this, and as for you non-BYU people out there that have done university time, is this a common theme? Have you skipped out on text-book reading in favor of something else that seems more relevant, or is this just a BYU thing?
Anyway, chime in.
I agree with a lot of the points made in the article, but I disagree, heartily, with some of the ideas given by other students and noted with bullets at the end.
Doing pop quizzes and passing around an “I read” sheet to sign are not good ways to encourage good reading of the material. All those do are encourage brief skimming so the student can pick out the parts they think might be on the quiz, or so their eyes went over the pages and they can say “I read it.”
I’m finding out more and more as I go through college that I am a very slow reader. Many of my classes require (have required) upwards of 50 pages to be read in 2-3 days, with a homework assignment to be done as well, maybe in twice that amount of time if I’m lucky. When many of my homework assignments require upwards of 10 hours a week, the textbook is so dry and thick-to-read that it puts me to sleep, and any given reading assignment takes me 2-3 hours to do, (not to mention my 2 jobs) there is very little incentive to do it. I often describe text book reading to my friends as “slogging through mud.” It’s slow, dirty, annoying, and all you end up with after you get done is a very frustrated feeling. End result: I’m not going to do it.
I would rather try to gauge the probability that what I _would_ have read was relevant (usually a very low probability), and just try to get it out of the lecture instead.
So, my suggestions would be thus:
* Background information is good, but give it in the lecture where you can answer questions and point us at the relevance.
* Don’t assign long (or worse, long and heavy) reading assignments and expect the students to do them- it’s a huge time commitment, and one that a lot of us don’t have the room for.
* Make sure you relate what you just asked us to read to what you’re talking about in class. One of the biggest difficulties with reading is linking it to what’s going on in class. It’s very difficult to try to determine “How does this, seemingly totally different concept, have anything to do with what the professor is talking about?” (Math, engineering, science professors- this especially applies to you).
* Keep in mind that reading should be supplemental. It should not have to be the main venue through which a student learns the material. Personally I learn better when I can test the ideas I’m building against someone or something. The best way to do that is to ask questions, and you can’t ask a text book questions.
In short if the reading is to the point, easier to understand, and as an obvious supplement to what is being done in class, then I think the likelihood of doing it will rise dramatically.
The comment I left on it is below. I was wondering what you guys all think about this, and as for you non-BYU people out there that have done university time, is this a common theme? Have you skipped out on text-book reading in favor of something else that seems more relevant, or is this just a BYU thing?
Anyway, chime in.
I agree with a lot of the points made in the article, but I disagree, heartily, with some of the ideas given by other students and noted with bullets at the end.
Doing pop quizzes and passing around an “I read” sheet to sign are not good ways to encourage good reading of the material. All those do are encourage brief skimming so the student can pick out the parts they think might be on the quiz, or so their eyes went over the pages and they can say “I read it.”
I’m finding out more and more as I go through college that I am a very slow reader. Many of my classes require (have required) upwards of 50 pages to be read in 2-3 days, with a homework assignment to be done as well, maybe in twice that amount of time if I’m lucky. When many of my homework assignments require upwards of 10 hours a week, the textbook is so dry and thick-to-read that it puts me to sleep, and any given reading assignment takes me 2-3 hours to do, (not to mention my 2 jobs) there is very little incentive to do it. I often describe text book reading to my friends as “slogging through mud.” It’s slow, dirty, annoying, and all you end up with after you get done is a very frustrated feeling. End result: I’m not going to do it.
I would rather try to gauge the probability that what I _would_ have read was relevant (usually a very low probability), and just try to get it out of the lecture instead.
So, my suggestions would be thus:
* Background information is good, but give it in the lecture where you can answer questions and point us at the relevance.
* Don’t assign long (or worse, long and heavy) reading assignments and expect the students to do them- it’s a huge time commitment, and one that a lot of us don’t have the room for.
* Make sure you relate what you just asked us to read to what you’re talking about in class. One of the biggest difficulties with reading is linking it to what’s going on in class. It’s very difficult to try to determine “How does this, seemingly totally different concept, have anything to do with what the professor is talking about?” (Math, engineering, science professors- this especially applies to you).
* Keep in mind that reading should be supplemental. It should not have to be the main venue through which a student learns the material. Personally I learn better when I can test the ideas I’m building against someone or something. The best way to do that is to ask questions, and you can’t ask a text book questions.
In short if the reading is to the point, easier to understand, and as an obvious supplement to what is being done in class, then I think the likelihood of doing it will rise dramatically.