A professor decides it’s time to reconceive how he comments on essay assignments.
This is GREAT! I have taken to requiring my students to do reflections (3 Up; 3 Down – Thanks for the great idea, Ben Sawyer!) on their work and it has a similar effect.
Too often we allow (often force, if inadvertently) our students to grind through their work, handing in assignments and projects, and then forgetting about them so they can focus on the next one.
In many organizations, the debrief is a crucial part of any practice or learning exercise. THAT is where the learning really happens. In formal education, we almost never do that, except in very superficial ways. We may “go over” the exam in class, or talk to the whole class about some assignment (it’s efficient, don-cha-know). We get our marks, and the student gets to charge ahead to the next thing.
Learning takes TIME. If we truly care about helping our students actually learn what we are trying to teach, then we owe it to them to allow them that time.
