Like Ed Pollak and others, I too lecture on the first day after going over the
course outline. Moreover, I even give them a minor homework assignment (i.e.,
they must e-mail me with an interpretation of the quotes that I post on my
webpage [e.g., "education is one of the few things a person is willing to pay
for and not get"]) something that according to the Perlman & McCann (1999)
article cited by Dave Johnson (thanks for mentioning that article Dave) is
considered a pet peeve by some students.
I guess that if we wish to make a good impression on our students (be
'student-centered' ?) we may have to reconsider our approach. According to the
Perlman & McCann (1999) study "Many students want the class dismissed after
administrative details are completed and signficantly more upper-than
underclass, and men rather than women, expressed this view." (p. 278).
Earlier on that same page these authors report that "Only 1% of the respondents
said beginning course content (e.g., lecture) makes for a good first class
period and few students (6%) mentioned that keeping them the full class period
works well".
I have not done a careful reading of this article but I simply could not
justify not covering material on the first day, or even giving them that minor
homework assignment (it serves a couple of purposes) because students don't
like it. I think that the finding that more upper class students express this
view says volumes about students' approach to their education.
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Miguel Roig, Ph.D. Voice: (718) 390-4513
Assoc. Prof. of Psychology Fax: (718) 442-3612
Dept. of Psychology [EMAIL PROTECTED]
St. John's University [EMAIL PROTECTED]
300 Howard Avenue http://area51.stjohns.edu/~roig����
Staten Island, NY 10301����������
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