Sequence of homeworks and instruction

Bill Harris writes:

When I taught a graduate course at UW last year, I followed this sequence:

– – Student reading assignment
– – Student homework on the reading
– – Lecture and peer instruction on the reading
– – Homework graded and returned

Many reported they’d much prefer something like

– – Student reading assignment
– – Lecture and peer instruction on the reading
– – Student homework on the reading
– – Homework graded and returned

Do you have any pointers to evidence as to which sequence works best? I had been concerned that the latter approach involved students in three sets of work each week:

– – Reading the new material to prepare for class
– – Reviewing the previous week’s material to do the homework
– – Reviewing the material from two weeks ago to understand the feedback on the returned homework

but I guess there could be advantages in that. Thoughts?

I’m embarrassed to admit I don’t have any thoughts on this at all, but, yes, there must be some research on the topic. Can anybody help here?

6 thoughts on “Sequence of homeworks and instruction

  1. Well, I am coming from another discipline altogether, but I would say that students prefer option B to option A for the bad reason that it is easier for them to do the homework after the lecture. In the humanities, one often wants students (grad or undergrad) to wrestle with difficult new material on their own – if they write following a lecture, many students will just follow the contours of the professor's argument, so that there are times when I actively solicit assignments due on the same day we are going to discuss the text they're writing about in class. It is natural for students to feel cautious and self-protective in this regard, in other words – they do not learn what they do not understand until they actually sit down to write or do a problem set, and there are significant rewards to getting this to happen before the first lecture!

  2. During my PhD coursework, I saw these two patterns mentioned above. However, I saw that when the teacher assumed that it was important for him/her to explain the perspective he wanted to highlight, he followed, Reading-Lecture-Homework pattern. But where the teacher assumed that students should themselves come up with their own idea of the perspectives common across readings, he/she followed Reading-Homework-Lecture series. In my two personal favorite courses, Management Classics and Organization Theory, they followed 'Bill Harris' pattern.

  3. I like:

    – – Student reading assignment
    – – Student homework on the reading
    – – Lecture and peer instruction on the reading
    – – Homework graded and returned

    best. It's more challenging, and my homework is 'worse' than if I had the other option. By test time, though, I'm more thoroughly versed. Plus, it prepares me to ask questions in class, rather than coming up with questions as a response to the lecture itself.

  4. Does it make a difference if the course is more concentrated?

    After not teaching statistics since grad school (I work in industry) I'm teaching a once-a-week course next semester — 16 3-hour sessions for MBA students.

    I'm thinking I need to follow this sequence

    lecture introducing concepts briefly
    student reading
    student does homework
    lecture introducing concepts more fully combined with lecture introducing next set of concepts briefly.

    … but I'm really interested in advice here.

  5. I once cast my light into dark corners in the Art History Dept. at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

    A useful tool (ploy) for involving students (read: Future World Famous Artists) in reading assignments was to suggest several "connections" to "look for." The hook sets in that the reader didn't/doesn't know where to look and therefore must look/connect/trial-fit "everything" everywhere.

    Follow up w/ discussion then back to another spiral up the reading curve.

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