I used to conduct a survey at the end of the semester from students
attending my lecture. One of the questions goes like this:
How many hours per week did you spend on
revising the materials and/or doing exercises of the module (exclude
time spent on attending regular classes)?
More than 5 hours |
4–5 hours |
3–4 hours |
1–2 hours |
Less than 1 hour |
I am sure that most lecturers who have put in serious effort
in their teaching would like to see a survey result skewed towards
the left. But disappointingly, we often get the opposite result.
Whatever the definition of ‘enough time’ is, spending
less than 2 hours a week on a module is clearly insufficient to
achieve any learning outcome. We can’t really say that the
students are lazy or uninterested. Many of them have problems
with time management. The fact is our students today are very
busy. They are involved in residential hall activities, doing
part-time work, socialising and so on, in addition to taking five
or six modules in one semester. As a lecturer, I have to ‘compete’
with a student’s other modules or commitments to have him/her
spending some (quality) time weekly on my module.
Some of you may say: “Why bother? After all, it is the
students’ responsibility to do their own revision.”
This is right in theory. But the reality is, students are not
always disciplined; neither are adult learners, including ourselves.
So let me ask the following: “Why bother to make certain
modules compulsory in the first place? Isn’t it the students’
responsibility to take the appropriate modules in order to graduate
with the desired degree?” Though we may set guidelines to
help the students choose the right modules, if a student takes
an essential module and does not spend much time on it until the
eve of the exam, it is unlikely that (s)he will learn anything
deep out of the module even if (s)he passes the exam. So I believe
the students also need some guidance in disciplining themselves
to study.
Ideally speaking, the lecturer should cultivate a genuine interest
in his/her students so that they will be self-motivated to spend
more time learning the subject that he/she teaches. Unfortunately,
this approach usually works for only a small percentage of students.
Most students are pragmatic: they will allocate more time to modules
with heavy workloads and assessments, while putting in minimum
effort to those that do not require them to ‘do much’.
Every module comes with Continuous Assessment (CA). So theoretically
speaking, students are made to work ‘continuously’
on the module. However for many modules, the only continuous assessment
component is a mid-term test. Some students may try to find some
‘valid reasons’ to be excused from the test, while
some may simply choose to forego the CA if the weightage is not
too high. Although there are not many such students, having only
a single mid-term test usually is not enough to push students
to learn effectively.
To ensure students spend enough time on a module, it is crucial
to implement a carefully thought-out system of CA. An effective
CA should:
-
literally be ‘continuous’ throughout the semester;
-
have a weightage close to that of the final exam; and
-
comprise a variety of assessment components.
For more views on CA, please read ‘Making
Continuous Assessment Continuous’.
