This may sound silly, but in this situation where the student has missed crucial instruction that is necessary for success in later courses, you might require them to take the same lab during the next semester in order to receive a permanent grade in the course. In other words, any missed labs get a grade of incomplete. My son is taking a drivers education course from the AAA where each class has a topic and is required. If he misses a class he has to take that same class from some other ongoing course in the area in order to get his final certification. That particular class might not come up anywhere for months after his full course has ended. The idea is that he can't get the certification until he takes each of the classes of the course. No excuses. If you miss, you take it next time it is available. In Wisconsin a 16 year old has to have the drivers education certification to be able to get a drivers license. I think the situation is similar. Each lab in your course is one that every student needs to master. With such a demand in place (take it next semester if you miss it or lose your course credit) most students will think twice about skipping a lab but will, if they have to miss it, be given a (undesirable but available) chance to make it up.
Bill Scott >>> "Wuensch, Karl L" <[email protected]> 03/11/10 5:19 PM >>> There is value in "natural consequences" learning. That said, might you suggest that the absent ones pay classmates to hold their hands through the lab? Cheers, Karl W. -----Original Message----- From: Jim Clark [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 4:17 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Help! Hi Give them the lab to do on their own and wish them luck. As long as they do not experience any consequences for missing the lab (i.e., you do it again with them), then they are not very likely to be motivated to attend the class (as opposed to the other more interesting things Marc refers to ... sleeping!). Take care Jim James M. Clark Professor of Psychology 204-786-9757 204-774-4134 Fax [email protected] >>> Marc Carter <[email protected]> 11-Mar-10 3:08:10 PM >>> Hi, All -- I need some advice. I teach a methods class with a lab. About a third of the course content and grade-weight comes from exercises that we actually do in the lab. If a student isn't there, then the only thing I know to do is to walk through the lab exercises with him or her individually. I'm seeing an increasing number of students who are missing labs. And I don't know what to do. I can't be doing 3-hour labs with individual students (I very literally do not have that time), but the material in there is critical. As an example, today we learned how to do one-way ANOVA and post-hoc tests with SPSS, how to interpret the output and understand the result, how to keep digging and graphing as the results get more clear, and how to write up the result with figures and tables in APA format. I walked them through one example experiment, coached them through another, and had them work in pairs (with slight hints from me) on a third. They then turned in the three results sections. It really is the sort of thing that one needs to be there for. I don't expect that the students will all be able to do this, but the experience of having done and seen these things is something that I will build on as we keep going. Instead I have students staying home to pack for Spring Break (I love Facebook), students who choose to work on other things all night and then choose to sleep instead of coming to lab, and like that. Do any of you confront this situation? If you do, how do you deal with it? I'd appreciate any advice. I'm pretty much a hard-ass about this, but when you're doing things that are foundational for a lot of other things (they're going on to two-way, repeated-measures, and complex ANOVAs), it really does matter in more than just an evaluative sense because this is a bad grade that will keep on giving for about five weeks. You can be sure that I tell students repeatedly that missing a lab is unlike missing a lecture (that they have to be in lab to do the lab exercises). It just doesn't seem to matter, and I'm a little freaked out. Any tips? Thanks, m -- Marc Carter, PhD Associate Professor and Chair Department of Psychology College of Arts & Sciences Baker University -- The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by Baker University ("BU") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify Baker University by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a891720c9&n=T&l=tips&o=1226 or send a blank email to leave-1226-13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a89172...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13060.c78b93d4d09ef6235e9d494b3534420e&n=T&l=tips&o=1227 or send a blank email to leave-1227-13060.c78b93d4d09ef6235e9d494b35344...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13058.902daf6855267276c83a639cbb25165c&n=T&l=tips&o=1230 or send a blank email to leave-1230-13058.902daf6855267276c83a639cbb251...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=1236 or send a blank email to leave-1236-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
