This is a very good question. Probably, we need to set different milestones during a semester to "relax" this situation (midtern exams, presentations, homework,...) What do you think?

This is a very good question. Probably, we need to set different milestones during a semester to "relax" this situation (midtern exams, presentations, homework,...) What do you think?

Dear Professor Reiner Creutzburg, Thanks a lot for being the first to respond. I agree with you about giving more exams. Presentations may hinder the coverage of the course material through the semester & students usually refuse additional lectures. Unfortunately, I found out that the homework questions are solved by few & copied by the rest of the students without thinking in many cases( i.e. a mistake is subjected to copy & paste)!!

The rational answer is to stop using big exams. After all, an exam only values what a student can perform in a couple of hours.

A complete flip

Allocate marks for "authentic tasks" - actions that have a real value in the world: providing a service, creating something, solving a real problem.

Give students the responsibility to show how their service, product or solution used the knowledge in the course. Give a bonus credit to any who can improve the work of another student, because that usually takes deeper understanding and skill. Give a bonus credit to any student whose work cannot be improved by another student.

Once you are rewarding skilled performance, you have to replace lectures. Instead, focus on training students to help other students find the knowledge they need. 

In the end, there will be powerful intrinsic motivation and social rewards for students to internalise and apply their learning, and sustain their effort over the long term.

This approach draws on patterns of Authentic Assessment, and Flipped Classrooms.

The gentle change

If that is too radical for your university or your students, try adding peer-review to the course, very early and for low marks. Discuss the feedback, so the students see that you respect and value their judgement of each other. Then add tasks for small groups, and a unique task for each student, and encourage students to get advice from peers. 

In the end, there should be a strong social value and a reward in grades, for working to schedule throughout the semester.

This approach leans on scholarship of Peer Review and theory of Social Learning.

Possibly we have to take out focus on the outcome that students have to learn. While admitting teachers have time constraint to complete syllabus, at least 40% of time we have to see that students enjoy the class room session, though it may seem to come with compromise on syllabus coverage. Pre-class material in the form of case studies, stories may help. As we know students are always on lookout for role -models which  strengthens them to solve their issues. We can provide them in reading material.  We stress more on problem solving & decision structures rather than personalities in such write-ups which might be less interesting. The much talked about Flipped class rooms seems to be successful. All said, but can be done only if teacher's work load is reduced.

Dear Russell , I really like your approach to a "dramatic" change in the evaluation of students which will make the majority of them "involved" & hence they will allocate more time for reading the subjects of their courses. However, a "sticking" point is getting the approval of the university's administration for such a change. Lecturers are usually "watched" & most of them have fears from the "big brothers"! 

Tough question! I believe by showing them, dear Nizar, that we (their professors) study and do research continuously!

Very good answer dear Dr. Marwan. The teacher ought to set an example for the students; if they see him/her more often in the office glancing through books or papers they may hopefully follow suit. If they see him innovating through research, they will try to do like what s/he did. 

Dear Uma Lakshmi, Your contribution is highly valued by me because I just have a diploma in education besides the PhD in chemistry. As educator, you gave very good solutions which will works (if the load is reduced, as you rightly said). I may add that the number of the students ought to be reduced as well. We cannot improve thing when a science lecture contains 45-59 students as we have here. 

I agree with Marwan M. Obeidat. I have not very long didactic experience, while I'm young researcher and I runned few classes at my university, but maybe my experience can give some tips.

I tried to organise my classes as projects. Whole course was dedicated to one project. Inside bigger subject area students were able to choose their own subject and step by step I required effects. I provided some materials and literature. We agreed some deadlines and they worked under my control. In such way I could observe their progress and if the work was done alone or not. I think the final effect of the coure was better than in the model: lecture and exam. Student have to learn in progress and read professional literature if they want to finish the project and pass the course.

Instruction to ensure that their skills continually improve

• Reading earlier than their peers,
• Spending more time reading, and
• Reading a greater variety of literature

Differentiation is an attempt to address the variation of learners in the classroom through multiple approaches that modify instruction and curriculum to match the individual needs of students. When teachers differentiate the curriculum, they are not dispensers of knowledge but organizers of learning opportunities

THE NATIONAL RESEARCH CENTER ON THE GIFTED AND TALENTED 2003

I agree that by our words and actions (or example), we encourage students to study continuously; to become a LIFELONG LEARNER.  My research is in this direction, to help my students to be self-directed, autonomous, lifelong learners (but the paper has only reached the stage of been sent to a journal).

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Based_on_current_research_in_self-directed_learning_SDL_and_SRL_what_activities_have_you_been_implementing_among_your_students?_tpcectx=profile_questions

Motivation is the most important factor that instructors can target so as to improve learning. Please find the attached file which contains an article talks about the role of motivation in the learning process.

The problem of campaign learning is present in the student population. Aware of this problem, various measures are taken, such as the constant, everyday tasks, tests, homework, etc., which urges students to continuously learning.

The teacher needs to set objectives  and laerning goals with the students. The students have to understand the importance of those new skills acquired from the learning teaching process. At first the students do not need to learn the content, but what use he can give to those new abilities. If that is true, a few student will not study. 

We , teachers, also can benefit greatly if we understand our group of students as a part of a bigger group, as one body. The students can construct the knowledge in a colaborative way. Usually we devide students in goups, we give each one one part of the objectives and ask them to present to the class what they have learned. But we should also try to make these groups discuss in a master group to build a greater objective. The final goal of the whole group needs to be one. The final goal should not be to present the content found, say from pages 10 to 30. But they should put group 1, 2, ...5 and come out with the solution to a problem given (PBL). Most importantly, the students need to understand they have the same needs until the end. They are not responsible for a chunk od the whole only.

I faced the same problem, when I was teaching in the University of Delhi. I think, having a  trimester system is one solution, so that there is performance pressure on the students continuously. That is what we have in my institution. It is difficult for students to just work in the end of the term. We evaluate them on the basis of group projects, four surprise quizzes in each course, class participation, mid-term and end-term examinations. All these help them to study continuously.

Dear Anna Kawalec,Your idea of  assigning a small project to each student is a clever one but I assume that there are continuous tasks for each one otherwise the student will stop studying upon finishing his/her part.   

Dear Palani Shanmugasundaram, Your contribution is much appreciated.

 The Tamil wisdom “don’t pass a day without reading” is magnificent & it is wise to teach it   to the students in their childhood under the hope of following it later on.

Tamil Wisdom Bis: Don't pass a day without consciously observing

Dear Krishnan Umachandran, Your brilliant ideas are welcome. I agree that instructors must ensure that the students skills improve continuously ( but through a system of reward for the active – no reward for the lazy) & that the role of the instructor ought to be changed into organizer of learning. However, the teachers require encouragement, motivation, and support to change the classic teaching-learning process.  

Dear Miranda Yeoh, Your contribution to advocating SDL is highly valuable & I really wish you all the success in your research towards this goal. It is better to teach a poor man fishing than giving him one fish every day!

Dear Dr. Mohammad Hamad Al-khresheh , Thanks a lot for the pdf file. Your statement (Motivation is the most important factor that instructors can target so as to improve learning) is very good but I think that motivation ought to combine “the carrot with the stick” i.e. to give reward to the hardworking & to deprive the careless of any reward.

Dear Prof. Ljubomir Jacić , I totally agree with your superb suggestion. The students must be subjected to “persistent” everyday tasks & tests (as you put it). Their professions are students & they have to live up honestly to what they are described. The university was not constructed for recreation.

Dear Vilemar Magalhaes, Your opinion of PBL is splendid but I think that there has to be some reduction in the number of chapters covered in a course , say from 12 chapters to 10 chapters, to allow the implementation of PBL. No harm will be caused because after they gain this experience, I think they will be able to read to chapter 14 not to 12  only.

Dear Marcel, Your spontaneous wisdom reflects deep vision of a thinker. Yes, conscious observation is the father & mother of what we gain from each passing day.

Dear Prof. Debi S. Saini , Your contribution is impressive. I think that  the older  generation of scholars such as you, Prof. Ljubomir Jacić, and me support the idea of exerting continuous pressure on the students so that they study continuously. This is a remedial solution to an existing mainstream problem of carelessness. It is for the students own good & they will be thankful to the teachers, who did it, when they grow more & see the facts of life very well.

Dear Dr. Nizar,

Tough question and a dilemma for most professors. Continuous assessment throughout the term and making the lectures more interesting can provide consistent motivation for continuous learning.

One of the most fundamental roles of assessment is to encourage and facilitating learning. If a student is engaging in assessment, this opportunity can be capitalized upon. This occurs when assessment is well planned, aligned, and designed to measure the full range of identified outcomes. As a result, focusing on the assessment will ensure that students are also learning and demonstrating the intended outcomes (Biggs & Tang, 2007).

Changing the way assessment is conducted, and activities that students are being engaged in can require them to develop a deeper understanding of the material and wider background knowledge. For example, assessment could be more efficient by redistributing the focus of attention from the last week of term (in the form of a three hour summative exam) to more continuous, formative tasks. This would capture a wider range of topics over a longer period of time.

Biggs, J., & Tang, C. (2007). Teaching for Quality Learning: McGraw-Hill

Dear Dr. Behrouz Ahmadi-Nedushan, Your contribution is wonderful. While welcoming all who participated in this thread, I sent (Question shared) to selected friends, including you, because I expected to get genius answers to a tough question. The RG colleagues were up to my expectation. Your idea of (Changing the way assessment is conducted, and activities that students are being engaged in) can rectify the situation. Few years ago, we were allowed to give the students 5 exams + the final exam / semester but now we can only give 2 hourly exams + the final exam/semester. The person who changed the assessment has caused a real harm because since then we have seen a decline in the quality of graduates.

Dear prof. Nizar!

I believe that another key aspect is the stimulus. Currently, I teach classes to students from ten areas of engineering. Students crave only practical classes, with minimal theory. Now we all know that this is not possible, mainly in mathematical classes, which are responsible for the fundamental tools. I think it is important that the teacher/professor knows very well in which subsequent matters their contents will be used, and that the teacher/professor  try to bring to the classroom applications of the content. One thing that stimulates the student is when he can see where that content will be used in his professional life. I have also made short presentations of applied papers, and come bearing videos for classes, including TED ones. Still, as our students work all day and attend classes at night, we also face this difficulty in keeping them continually studying. Perhaps this will be our eternal challenge.

Teaching children is really instilling more about inciting inquiry about life and the world around them, creating lifelong learners of them, and helping them find the resources and methodologies from which to find the facts. It also is about assuring the types of activities and personal habits that allow them to develop to their fullest extent possible. For instance, under today's more passive, more sedentary world, physical exertion is needed to overcome the cognitive and spatial stunting that comes with such lifestyle. Development of personality and self-actualization are rooted in the parts of the brain that respond to movement. Cognition and spatial development are affected by the degree of development of the corpus collosum, the best development of which has been found to be in the development of skills of music and the fine arts. These are foundational for producing students with the highest cognitive and spatial performance. It is not coincidence, for instance, that when just about every one of the above principles are disregarded that academic performance, including advancement of society as a whole, suffers. The top nations in math and science performance among its students are the nations who have a vigorous fine arts and physical development curriculum intertwined with their academic curriculum. They do not teach to the test or even by rote, nor do they have to. Their students develop the ability to reason and are more naturally curious about the world around them. In other words, the object of education is not to require students to study continuously, but to have the desire to do so. When they do, the knowledge expands and each succeeding generation builds knowledge beyond the previous generation.

I think Professor Marwan points out something really really critical. The students have to know that you are engaged in research and reading. You do what you expect the students to do. In my opinion, that creates a difference. 

From following you Max, I know that you can evidence the assertions in the above post. Given that, it is a shame, and worrying, that in some countries, mine included, the arts and music are often first to suffer in times of austerity and/or concerns about what is worthwhile in the curriculum in terms of how much time is devoted to them. Devote more time to them and  general interest across all subjects, along with continuous study, might just follow automatically.

Most students (even graduate students) have one goal: the degree (graduation). They usually have lives (outside classroom) to live, jobs, stress due to financial worries, relationships or other social engagements, and other distractions, so developing a "learning mindset" is likely not high priority.  We all know many exceptions (or else you would not be reading this yourself), but the vast majority fit the description above. Most students do not aspire to a "continuous learning" nirvana de novo but they will respond to motivation and incentives.  Frequent graded problem sets, short essays, and other homework assignments, frequent in-class impromptu short presentations, frequent verbal quesions (in class), and other frequent engagements that require the student to be prepared and be present in person can provide the necessary toos and structured environment to result in an approximation of "continuous learning" - or at least frequent repetitive intermittent learning encounters.  Professors must be realistic and practice. Students struggle with practical problems and live in the real world  - not the ivory tower. 

By engaging students in research projects initiated either by ourselves or preferably by them with our encouragement, we stimulate them to study continuously. I remember teaching a course on fundamentals of bioethics. Each student in a class of thirty-five chose his own bioethical problem to research, and we all proceeded to learn how to solve them step by step.  Students studied continually, always bombarding the professor with questions, and the results were original and rewarding.

In my opinion, a mere reproduction and strict alignment with each educational system should be proven ineffective to students’ studying. The absorbance of new knowledge is mainly a personal way of life, rather than a package of wellbeing that is offered indiscriminately from each distinct educational system. I believe that an ideal educational system should encourage students to activate their creativity and experimentation, spark their inspiration, release their imagination, and motivate their personal traits; enabling students to maximize their cognitive capacity and foster their capabilities towards a constant, sound, and long lasting search of knowledge. Proposed educational tools for the aforementioned educational reforms should be the collaborative learning, the scheduled in-field visits to representative places of high environmental (landscapes, thematic parks) and socio-economic (companies, industrial plants, parliament, local municipality hall) impact and the “learning how to learn” schemes. New generation is the hope and the actually leading human resource of our planet to the future. A solid and long lasting learning will be one of the most valuable, endure, and trustworthy values that could be inherited from the world of educators/adults throughout their socialization process.

Honestly, the most potent re-inforcement is grades... b/c that is pretty much the only reinforce an instructor has

Dear Professor Max Stanley Chartrand, I am very grateful for your highly valuable contribution. I agree with you that the process of education ought to encompass a broader development of skills & I also agree with you that the students themselves ought to have internal driving force for continuous study. I think that our generation, you & me, was lucky in having less distractive effects & more concentration on study than the present young generation. I really think that the teachers (at schools or  at universities) ought to work harder to attract the students more to education & reading.

Dear Prof. Nelson Orringer, I really admire your inventive approach towards learning & continuous studying through projects. But this requires financial support in sciences based on experiments & the support requires a decision from "above". The "above" , in our country & may be in other countries, tries hard to show the top management  how much they are keen (by less & less spending!).

Dear James Bowman, Thanks a lot for your realistic & thorough approach to the subject. It is unrealistic from any scholar to turn his students into "bookworms". But on the other hand, the young generation needs guidance into the correct order of priorities. I have noticed in many universities that study occupies inferior place in the ladder of priorities & this requires efforts by the teachers to rectify. The examples, you gave, about diversification of class activities are really outstanding.

Dear Dr. Nizar Matar,

Dear All,

It is a pity that most of students do not like to study. As I can see I am not the only teacher who has this not wanted experience. I teach a morphological subject, entomology which needs to learn a lot of data as well as students should keep in their mind many (too many?) visual patterns. If one wants to be up to the task (the exam) should learn continually. I have prepared so called record or minute models of the teaching material delivered during classes. Students should prepare these minutes and submit them. These minutes are evaluated and marked and the mark makes a part of the exam. The minutes contain most of the knowledge on which I demand to examine the students. Unfortunately, this is not a magic bullet because many works are superficial but I could achieve that students touch the textbook or copy the minutes of another student.

Dear Marwan,

Unfortunately, many students are not interested in the activity and moral backgrounds of their teachers.

Dear Dr. Grigorios Kyriakopoulos, Many thanks for your wonderful contribution. The teaching profession is really a hard one especially when dealing with highly sensitive age group. This age group is so self-confident that it may reject  an opinion from an older person as self-assertion or just to display rebellion.  What we ought to do is to approach them in a delicate manner so as the driving force (for learning, creativity, exposure of skills, and showing capabilities) comes from within as if it is a self-made demand. The places you suggested for visiting are worthwhile & I may add that some sort of student service in such places will enrich the process of learning.

Dear Nelson,

It seems to me you live in Wonderland. My reaction is –certainly – as a consequence of the envy: how excellent students you have got! Most of our students do not prefer “research” or degree subjects needing hard work and thinking.

Dear Prof. András Bozsik, I really  appreciate your joining the discussion here. As an experienced man in teaching, you know for sure that many students do not study 3 hours/night on daily basis after they leave the university for home. Many of them see the textbook  just 24 hours (maximum) before the exam.

It is amazing that we both , you & I, have similar experiences. Many times, the students asked me to photocopy the condensed notes “minute models” they see me carrying. Fortunately, the administration has prevented us from distributing short notes so I already have the excuse.  

Dear Prof. C. Haetinger,  Thanks a lot for your constructive contribution. I totally agree that applied sciences are better than pure sciences (without downgrading the value of the latter). However, most universities worldwide have more theoretical courses than practical courses in their programs. The reason ,of course, is economical since theoretical lectures are less costly. The situation is relative between universities. When I was M.Sc. student in England, “many” topics presented in lectures were either practiced or applied before or after and this led to information deeply stored in the memory.

Dear Dr. Brenda A Hannon, You gave a brief statement but  it is a smart one & to the point. A student in our university told me once about his classmates "They worship grades!". To pull the students towards reading more, the effective tool, we have as teachers, is the grades. A lenient teacher in grading harms the students more than benefitting them.

Make continuous study worth while - for example by following up on the assignments, by giving course credit for regular work, by giving feedback and showing that you care about the continuous contributions, by assigning meaningful and doable tasks, by using quizzes to collect course credit ... to sum up: by providing the structure and by re-enforcing this structure.

We tried other avenues, too, as, e.g., sharing the findings from our own study which showed that students who worked continually over the course of a semester outperformed the jammed learners by one grade. But this did not help at all. The only effect of this "warning" or "encouraging" intervention was that the students felt even worse, because they knew what they should have done and did not do.

Another avenue which did not work was to put students in groups. They start with some energy but we saw it fading and failing in a short time. To break the habit and to make students study continually is an ongoing challenge.

The next part of this challenge is to reconcile the idea of providing a structure to guide students with the idea of fostering student autonomy and intrinsic motivation (see Su, Y.-L. & Reeve, J. (2011). A meta-Analysis of the effectiveness of Intervention programs designed to support autonomy. Educational Psychology Review, 23, 159-188. for a nice review full of practical implications).

Dear Professor Margarete Imhof, I am grateful for this contribution which comes from an expert  who conducted research in this subject. I share your view that making students study continuously is a challenge for the teachers who ought to pay more continuous effort to this effect. We cannot, as teachers, escape from this responsibilty because bad quality graduates will cause harm for the society & the world at large.

Dear Dr. Nizar,

As you said that the majority of students just study well the day or the night preceding an exam. This attitude harms the student and the whole education process. I agree with you about that. One of the ways to solve that is the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of these students.

"Educational psychology has identified two basic classifications of motivation - intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation arises from a desire to learn a topic due to its inherent interests, for self-fulfillment, enjoyment and to achieve a mastery of the subject. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation is motivation to perform and succeed for the sake of accomplishing a specific result or outcome. Students who are very grade-oriented are extrinsically motivated, whereas students who seem to truly embrace their work and take a genuine interest in it are intrinsically motivated".

For more information on the subject you may look at the link here-under:

http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/affective/motivation.html

Dear Dr. Prof. Nizar,

Dear Colleagues,

In my opinion it is hard to make most of the students study during all semester or even during all course. Until now I can cont less than 5% of all students do this. I have tried once, when I presented classes, in changing the way of the class presentation (using multimedia presentations, java applets), I have also prepared a special content for them (substituting the books for class notes and show them practical applications for each part of the subject), and also changed the form of assessment: Instead of only tests during the semester, I gave them small works (for e.g I picked up one exercise in the class notes and they had to solve me in the class) to be done that could help for the tests. These small works were corrected and the sum of the scores was carried out for the final test. This small works would make them to study continuously.

With this, I could see that the students were more prepared for the final tests. One thing have to be mentioned is that the students have no obligation to make the small works. They did the works which they were prepared.

The unique problem is that my work have increased a lot because I had to prepare the classes, do and correct the works and make the final tests.

Best Regards,

I think Jorge that it is a common experience that teachers share with you that the more you want to engage your students, whether at school, college or university, the more work you end up doing. More rewarding though. Of course, the problem is that even the most enthusiastic teacher can only do so much. There is a sub text here. How much responsibility for engaged study lies with the teacher and how much with the student and at what level or form of education does the balance swing to the student?

Following are some research-based strategies for motivating students to learn.

Become a role model for student interest. Deliver your presentations with energy and enthusiasm.  As a display of your motivation, your passion motivates your students. Make the course personal, showing why you are interested in the material.

Get to know your students. You will be able to better tailor your instruction to the students’ concerns and backgrounds, and your personal interest in them will inspire their personal loyalty to you. Display a strong interest in students’ learning and a faith in their abilities.

Use examples freely. Many students want to be shown why a concept or technique is useful before they want to study it further. Inform students about how your course prepares students for future opportunities.

Use a variety of student-active teaching activities. These activities directly engage students in the material and give them opportunities to achieve a level of mastery.Teach by discovery.  Students find as satisfying as reasoning through a problem and discovering the underlying principle on their own.

Cooperative learning activities are particularly effective as they also provide positive social pressure.

For more information on the subject, you may look at the following link:

http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/motivating-students/

DEMANDING STUDENTS

How do you cope with a child who demands your constant encouragement?

TeacherVision, Classroom Management Strategies

It is indeed very alarming to note that majority students do not study continuously. From my personal experience I have noticed this tendency mostly amongst the professional students. There could be primarily two reasons, first the professional students are considered more smart and intelligent as compared to the rest which offers them job guarantee to a larger extent; secondly they could feel a state of ‘burn out’ due to their semester/trimester assignments/activities and they follow ‘one-night fight’ as their exam strategy. To bring continuity and quality, every day there need to be one compulsory session/hour relating to extra-curricular activities be it music/sports or any other activity and correlating it with job potential.

Dear Doctors Jorge Souza & Colin A Smith, Many thanks for your contributions into the discussion. I agree that the teacher (at school or university), who wants students to study more, will have an extra burden. I may add that this extra effort ought to be rewarded by those who are in charge of education. Any government , who complains about a decline in the quality of graduates, holds a responsibility for the dire state of affairs.

I agree that we as educators, need to be the students' role models in studying and doing research ourselves.  Moreover, we need TO BE with students and sometimes we have to teach them skills as time management, communication and coping skills and especially during their initial stages of any course.  I also find that with the help of a SWOT analysis which is discussed on a one to one basis the students so not remain passive but they become participators in the teaching and learning process.

Dear Prof. Dr. Mahfuz Judeh, Thank you for your highly valuable contribution which is systematic, well-organized, and draws a road map towards achieving the goal of making the students more keen about studying their courses on a daily basis. Doctors Souza & Smith have raised an interesting point: the extra effort of the teacher. I really wonder if this effort will be rewarded or not by those " high above" ! Improving education, as you know more than me, requires positive incentives.

Curiosity and its place in formal education is significant as curiosity motivates learning! We learn when we are challenged!  Being challenged is critical for learning! I do attach a fine paper Motivating learning : Why do we learn ? 

https://students.education.unimelb.edu.au/selage/pub/readings/psyexlearn/PELmotivation.pdf

Dear Prof. BK Punia , Your participation in the discussion is most  welcome. I may add another reason to your insightful analysis. In this IT age, some young persons have fallen under the illusion of  being smart & of having broad knowledge. We, the older persons, ought to help them to get out of this trap!

Dear Carmen Camilleri, Thanks for your thoughtful contribution. I agree with you that we, as teachers, ought to be examples for the students to follow. To be involved with the students ,on a one to one basis, to teach them skills is not easy when the numbers are high. We usually have 45-59 students in a minimum load of 4 courses per semester for each lecturer. 

Dear Prof. Ljubomir Jacić, You are absolutely correct in saying (We learn when we are challenged!). I saw it myself many times among my students. A pharmacy student ,who was excellent((90+) at high school, took with me general chemistry in her first university year, but she got a mark in the 70s & that was the scene in her other courses. She did not surrender & considered it as a challenge so finally she became at  the top in the pharmacy college. She has obtained afterwards MSc & PhD!

Dear Dr. Nizar Matar,

The problem is that many students do not read the textbook but a syllabus like pseudo-teaching material prepared by students. This pseudo-syllabus is good for nothing, it is full with mistakes.

Dear András,

you are right. These compendia present just results, no logical developments and derivations or general rules. So the cited pseudo syllabus contents can, if ever, just be learned by heart, but not understood.

Dear Dr. Nizar Matar

We have large groups of students especially the Diploma students who are over 100, sometimes even 160.  However, we have a link-lecturing system whereby each lecturer is allocated with a number of students from various groups.  In that way we may follow students both on the academic and the clinical areas together with their mentors.

Dear Professors András Bozsik & Hanno Krieger,  It is amazing that this world in which we live has turned to a "small village". Few months ago the head of the department caught a pseudo-teaching material prepared by students on which some names of the lecturers were written. The lecturers denied any involvement & we recommended banning this low level shallow  booklet. Nothing happenned & I just saw new prints in the hands of the new students! Of course, this will hit education very hard.

Dear Hanno and Dr. Nizar Matar,

Thanks for your comments and findings. I am glad because our student editors did not used the name of teachers in their garbage work. I used to ask humbly the students to use real and suggested books. The trouble is that textbooks cannot be read and learned during some hours…

Dear András,

yes, this short time knowledges dissapear immediately after the examination. There is no survive of these knowledges, because they have no fixed fundaments and redundance. 

Dear Hanno,

I hope that your students do use real and good textbooks and their knowledge does not melt like wax in the sunshine.

Dear Dr. Nizar Matar

This is one of the most interesting questions because as you said the majority of students start studying a day or two days before the exam. I personally face this problem with my students. However, there are different ways to encourage and motivate our students to study continuously and regularly. First of all, they should be highly motivated. As we all know that motivation plays an essential and important role in the development of education. It is obvious that students will be more motivated to study if they know what goals they are studying towards. No one can deny that studying requires motivation. Thus, it is a good idea not only to articulate goals for the course, but also for specific lectures, discussions, and assignments. Encouraging students to beat their personal best can highly help them keep motivated to study. Moreover, there are many factors that should be taken into consideration when talking about the process of continuous studying. For example, textbooks, teaching strategies, environment, life demands and many can play a fundamental role in students' lives.

Regards

Students should feel the purpose of their education; and its impact it can on their life, then Learning is inseparable

Dear Marwan, a good example surely will help, but please don´t forget, the human brain some times needs brakes to recover and handle and structure our knowledges. I remember my own student days with breaks, which didn´t harm my results and success. Humans are no machines!

Students learn when they develop a hunger for knowledge and realize that knowledge enriches their lives. It is of no small significance that the brain burns the largest amount of energy of the body when it is in action--rather than wasting it being entertained and pacified, it is meant to learn, to create, and to solve the ills of mankind and build a better world. 

Dear Professors Al-khresheh, Umachandran, Krieger, and Chartrand:

I am truly thankful to you all for revitalizing the discussion in this immensely important topic. I believe that scholars involved in education (teaching & research) have one of the noblest professions in this world. Our students are our product & we surely want them to be of very high quality & caliber. This way, the curve of human progress will move up for the benefit of all of us & the generations to come.

At our relatively old age, we want our students to hold the banner & to ascend. I agree that there is need to motivate the students, that the students ought to understand the value of what they learn & its impact on their lives, and that the golden machine "the human brain' has to be fully utilized in learning, creativity, and solving the many problems that still hit the humanity on various fronts. Yes, the students are humans & are not robots and there is always a need for "breaks" in order to refresh but the younger generation ought to have the correct order of priority. A student has joined the university to learn in the first place so it is inappropriate if the top priority is entertainment then gaining knowledge. We have at our university many students who are ready to not attend lectures if there is a festivity or even a cheery sitting in the cafeteria. These time & brain-wasters ought to be targeted by some mechanism to have them study well so that they deserve to be called "students" & not "jolly seekers".

Well said, Professor Matar. Knowledge is hidden away waiting to be discovered. Some of it is found in books, some in life itself, some in the doing, but always, always it is in the mental powers of the individual--their innate desire to know, to think through, and to implement--that matters most. Then, when a question is answered it has first been asked by one who wants to know.

Good blog and good book. It is all about to help students to motivate themselves!

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2011/02/19/helping-students-motivate-themselves-practical-answers-to-classroom-problems/

Ljubomir, this is a treasure trove of resources. Thank you!

As always, you are very welcome dear @Max! Thanks!

Dear Professors Max Stanley Chartrand & Ljubomir Jacić , Thank you very much indeed for your valuable rich contributions into the discussion of this topic. I learned a lot from you both in this thread & in other threads as well. Much appreciated.

Students that come to a college have different traits & backgrounds. We understand that more they pay attention to their studies,better it is for them & the society. One way could be to involve them in exhaustive practicals.Let them carry out practicals in labs. & in fields by them selves, so that it could be easier for them to understand, under the guidance & superintendence of the teacher. Seeing & doing by them selves can go a long way in their understanding of the subject.

A second way could be to encourage the students to read as many books as possible  , & in this case the college/university needs to have a well stocked library. The library can also be encouraged to have related audio-video material, which helps them to imbibe points in the subject that they might not have understood.

The teacher concerned can keep a question & answer session once a month to clear all the doubts of students.Students may get held up in some points here & there & it then becomes the duty of a teacher to clear all of these.In this way, students gain enough amount of confidence & an interest in the subject.

When students learn the pattern of teaching and get to exercise it, they learn the pattern of learning. For the teacher is his/her own best student.

In assessing reading skills, first teachers identify learners’ needs, also teachers need to assess both reading strategies and comprehension level of reading by identifying tasks and activities used in the class that serve for assessment, it means that teachers must provide a choice of reading selections and ensure that students are reading text, encourage them to reread the texts, and allow students to discuss what they read with the others to encourage social negotiation of meaning. 

Students can assess themselves; this method helps both students and teachers become aware of students’ attitudes, strengths and weaknesses in reading. It also encourages students become independent learners and it can take various format s such as checklists and question/answer.

Students can assess themselves because self- assessment encourages students to think about their purposes in writing and to reflect on what and how much they are learning, also students can evaluate each other’s writing through peer assessment, this involves the students in evaluation of writing of each student, it is not necessary to rate or grade everything. Each student produces but it want to ensure that students receive some form of regular feedback

http://bu.univ-ouargla.dz/master/pdf/maarouf_nadia.pdf?idmemoire=271

Yes, Krishnan, self-assessment is the heart of critical thinking. When students develop critical thinking they develop objectivity.

Dear Dr Nizar and friends, when students realize that knowledge is power to survive in this world, they will study.  Here is something quite humorous: 'Knowledge is power assuredly. When you have all the facts surrounding a situation, and know everything you are dealing with, you are able to defeat your enemy. You can get through to the other side, reach a destination, achieve a goal.. Without the support and foundation of pertinent knowledge, it's as if you are flailing at the wind, shooting at windmills. You have no target or destination...and no power.'

Sometimes, I allow my students to exchange papers and mark quizzes (feedback and assessment).  And we discuss why some answers are acceptable, and some aren't.  It's a good meta-cognitive exercise!

It is possible only by making the teaching interesting, not by traditional lecturing method which is more boring and authoritative.

Well said dear Subhash, Drawing the students' attention can be much better by avoiding traditional teaching methods and following new methods and teaching techniques that make lecturing very much interesting..

I agree with you both respected doctors (Subhash & Mohammad). However, some colleagues adopted non-traditional teaching methods & techniques but the effects were limited. Today students are distracted by many things (e.g. following football games, facebook, internet, satellites...) leaving them with little time for studying. We have just finished the first semester of 2014/2015: the number of failures among 1st & 2nd years students was high while the number of failures among 4th year students was low. The newcomers to the university suffer from chronic distractions!

Dr. Nizar Matar, I agree with your version. We are also facing this problem. But, to avoid such type of distractions, definitely we think about making our class room and method of teaching more interesting than mobile, internet, etc. However it is very challenging.

Distractions and changing social mores are indeed making it less inviting for many young people to love to learn. Somehow, though, we must reach through that and connect in a way to the individual student that helps them see that empowerment and individual worth tracks closely to knowledge and utilization of that knowledge. For instance, I have long told incoming grad school students that vocabulary is is empowerment, it has a lot to do with how far you will go in life, and the influence you will yeild. Yes, it is a correlation, but a strong one. Once they see the power of vocabulary and develop a hunger for learning and reading, the social mores of the day seem cheap and tasteless in comparison. 

I agree dear Professor Max that vocabulary is an empowerment in all university's disciplines. Scholars , who cared about accumulating & using vocabulary, have excelled relative to others. Some years ago, I was astonished by students "who had B.A in English language" asking me for help in filling their applications for postgraduate studies!  The present youth generation is good at SMS , chat, and facebook short messages.

Dear Dr. Nizar Matar,

I think that if we cannot beat them then join them.  So using SMS, Virtual Learning methods and emails together with classroom discussion and tutorials have helped me to keep contact with the students and encouraging them to study.  I even ask them to look for medical terms during the sessions in order to get their involvement and participation.  However, there will always be some who on the eve of examinations realize that they have to study.  Unfortunately, sometimes we may find that students enrolled for the wrong course and so these would need more guidance.

Regards

Carmen Camilleri

Dear Dr. Carmen, Your comment is a very good one. You really know what is going on in the minds of the present youth generation. This explains to me why some male & female students asked me to join (Facebook) recently. I have some hesitation because I may become "addicted" to FB plus I cannot reject any student who asks for friendship plus I will make a sensitive youngster angry if I do not reply. In short, joining FB will bring to me too much work & I cannot simply cope with it.

Dear Dr.Nizar Matar,

I have not joined them on face book because I know it has its own disadvantages besides the advantages, but I only use VLE through our University to give them videos or lectures pre-session and so they are supposed to come prepared with questions for the lecture.  During the lectures we deal with case studies. Then, after the lecture discussion I also receive emails regarding their problems and then decide when to give tutorials to groups who really need or want to discuss themes from the lectures.

Regards again

Carmen Camilleri 

I agree with Carmen and Nizar on the social aspects of the teaching relationship. Keep it relative to presentation of new material and resources and the students will be guided toward that which will enhance their studies. 

Dear Professor Max,

Your participation in the discussion enriches it, indeed. Thank you for the constructive advice. In next semester, I shall keep in contact with the students concentrating on the subjects that I teach without going into other irrelevant areas. 

Dear Prof, If we create interest in the related field and if we teach it practically then the students will think in a different way.

Students have chosen a field of study alone! They have a freedom for! You may bring them the most sophisticated labs, it will probably make a better results, but creating synergies between professors and students will make students to study continuously!

Dear Swapnil, instilling interest within the students & combining practical work with teaching are 2 valuable suggestions from you. From my experience, there are generally 3- 5% of highly interested students/course. If we can double the figure, then there will be catalysis to increase the percentage more. Most of the students,here, describe the 3-5% minority as "nerds"!

As for practical work, you & me need the approval of the administration. Cost may hinder their (Yes).

Dear Prof. Ljubomir Jacić, Very wise statement comes from you. I think that there ought to be harmony & rapport between the professors & students for a successful education process. If the professor is valued high by the students, his/her subject will be studied continuously. 

Students who study continually are the ones who realize, and been made to realize, that knowledge is the capital that we need to do our business in this life, and to be useful in our generation. Without better knowledge, we cannot solve our problems.  Let's continue to tell them, 'Study'.