One of the main challenges teachers face is that of student effort: how do we motivate them to increase it? Today's blog addresses that problem with a solution that is beautiful in its simplicity: put their names up in lights. Read on to see what I mean.
My (college) students often disappointed me by earning scores that (I felt) were not indicative of their potential. I tried everything to get them to perform better: scolding, praising, challenging, teasing, coercing, begging, and encouraging -- all with little or no result. Then, by lucky happenstance, I discovered something that actually worked: public announcement and acknowledgment.
I had always posted an announcement on Blackboard (the Learning Management System - LMS - used by my University) which gave the class statistics following any major assignment (main project, test, midterm or final exam, etc.). I included the max and min scores, arithmetic mean (average), and sometimes even the (letter) grade distribution. I posted this so students would start seeing statistics in a meaningful way, so they could compare their individual score with the whole class and get a sense of "where they were" compared to others, and so I could monitor progress (or lack thereof) as the semester went on. But, upon conversation with my students, I discovered they rarely paid any attention to it (and certainly did not do the "comparison math" I had thought they would to see how their performance rated compared to the entire class). So, I envisioned a way to utilize positive peer pressure: along with the usual stats, I started including a list of students' names who earned a "B or better" grade and gave it the catchy title of "Names up in Lights". (I told you it was simple.) Since I know HTML, I included code in the announcement to make the title blink, often with a rainbow of font colors (which somehow made my students very happy):
I was AMAZED at the motivating power this little technique held!
Soon it was a regular part of classroom conversation:
OMG, did you see I got my name up in lights on test#1? ! This was the first time; I thought it would NEVER happen!
Seriously, how does she get her name up in lights every time? I want HER in my study group!!
My Mom said if I got my name up in lights on the midterm, I get a shopping trip! You better believe it will happen!
And it even made it to their social media world as I would often see gleeful status updates or tweets that exclaimed, "I got my name up in lights today!! Go me!"
If you don't use an LMS, you could put their names up in lights on the school (or your) webpage, on a class Facebook page, or via a Tweet with a specific hashtag. We know students today share most of their lives online -- let's share their academic successes and motivate the rest to get their Names Up In Lights!
Try it! Maybe it will be a technique that will work in your class as well. As always, I'd love to hear from you via email or Twitter.
The Solver Blog
Author: Dr. Diana S. Perdue