Ways to Evolve Your Classroom From a Student’s Perspective

Student Voices: Part 1

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Welcome to Student VoicesStudent Voices is a three-part series that explores students’ views on the current state of the classroom and areas for potential change.

We hope you find their ideas refreshing, thought-provoking, and encouraging.

Evolving the classroom doesn’t mean adding technology, it means becoming more efficient.

Rebecca Lynn Paul, a student at the University of Arizona, explores ways in which the 21st century classroom can become more efficient and better prepare learners for the workplace.

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Save Trees (And Sanity)

The situation: Printers can be difficult to find on some campuses, many students do not own one, and they waste paper.

Quick fact:

In 2015, there were roughly 50 million students enrolled at United States colleges and universities. If every one of them had to turn in just one 20-page essay, it would equal 1 billion sheets of paper harvested from 11,000 trees.

What you can do:

1. Let students submit their homework online. Online learning platforms enable instructors to closely manage deadlines, milestones, and due dates as well as help both the instructor and students stay organized.

2. Some online learning environments can scan student essays and research papers for plagiarism to help promote academic integrity.

Save Trees (And Sanity)

Stick With One System

The situation:

Learning management systems (LMS) are useful, generally well designed, and provide a hub for academic interaction and collaboration. However, there are just too many systems.

Quick fact: Students often have to utilize four or five different platforms every day to turn in assignments, access syllabi, schedule appointments with advisors, or complete homework.

What you can do:

3. Integrating systems such as a publisher-provided platform into LMSs like Blackboard® is an easy way to reduce the number of systems a student has to access.

Stick With One System

The situation:

Instructor-provided tips and tricks for students are extremely helpful. Apps help people manage their workloads and their lives, so why not utilize them in the classroom?

Make Learning App-licable

What you can do:

4. Let students know which apps you find helpful and valuable so that they could use the same apps to organize their learning.

5. Suggest appropriate apps related to the course material. For example, an Art History professor might encourage his or her students to use a particular image flash card app as a study aid.

Make Learning App-licable

Stay Relevant

The situation: Students are focused on their futures. Can I get the internship I want? What jobs will I be able to get before and after graduation?

Quick fact: The 21st century student’s main goal is to acquire the skills that can be transferred to the workplace.

What you can do:

6. Encourage students to think about their careers and encourage their drive for future success by relating learning activities to real-world applications.

7. Students often misinterpret learning activities as “busy work.” But when you help students focus on the bigger picture while learning the basics, you will also see a rise in student engagement and participation.

Stay Relevant

Clean Up Communication

The situation: Students utilize many forms of communication; they tweet, text, email, and chat. With all of these choices, the lines of communication etiquette can become blurred.

What you can do:

8. If you see something inappropriate, say something. Sometimes students don’t necessarily know how to conduct themselves professionally in online communication and could use some gentle reminders.

9. What should we include in our email signatures? How should we address people in professional communication? When do we need to be formal and when can we relax? Answering these questions can help students develop the “soft skills” employers desire.

Clean Up Communication