{"id":195,"date":"2023-06-07T17:50:29","date_gmt":"2023-06-07T17:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogschapman.wpenginepowered.com\/cetl\/2023\/06\/07\/teaching-tip-for-the-week-of-june-12-2023\/"},"modified":"2023-06-07T17:50:29","modified_gmt":"2023-06-07T17:50:29","slug":"teaching-tip-for-the-week-of-june-12-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/cetl\/2023\/06\/07\/teaching-tip-for-the-week-of-june-12-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Tip for the Week of June 12, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

This summer, the CETL will be presenting <\/span>one tip per week<\/span><\/b>, to provide a more in-depth discussion of evidence-based teaching practices. If there are specific topics you would like to see CETL explore, please <\/span>let us know<\/span><\/a>! We also welcome guest posts from faculty who have a teaching tip they would like to share with their colleagues.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Course Workload: Perception vs Reality (Quantity vs Quality)<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

College students often cite course workload as a source of stress and have <\/span>reported increases in workload<\/span><\/a> in recent years. Is this a result of students\u2019 <\/span>perceptions about workload<\/span><\/a> or failure to approach learning effectively? Or is there a disconnect when it comes to determining how much work to assign students for a course and how much time this work takes students to complete?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of our students are not adequately prepared for the college environment due to their learning experiences during the pandemic. This does not mean that we cannot, or should not, have appropriately challenging coursework, but we can be mindful of how much we are asking students to do, especially outside of class. We might also consider the idea that a high workload does not necessarily support student learning, and that \u201cflexibility and understanding can coexist with challenging students\u201d (<\/span>Supiano, 2022<\/span><\/a>).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As indicated in the policy on credit hours in Chapman\u2019s <\/span>Curriculum Handbook<\/span><\/a>, a 3-credit, 15-week course requires approximately three in-class contact hours and six hours of assigned coursework per week. Tools such as the <\/span>Course Workload Estimator<\/span><\/a> can be helpful in estimating the time it will take students to complete tasks such as reading, writing assignments, and taking exams. You can hear Besty Barre, one of the creators of the workload estimator, talk more about how (and why) to use this tool in this <\/span>podcast episode<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hogan and Sathy note in their book on <\/span>inclusive teaching<\/span><\/a> that an instructor\u2019s job is \u201cnot to cover all the content, but to ensure that all students learn\u201d (2022, p. 63). As you plan for your next class, take a closer look at your assigned learning activities, and consider the following:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n