>   What I remember learning is
> that asking students to summarize what they have learned is one of the
> best learning exercises that we can ask of our students.
>
> I'm interested in knowing how to improve learning. Does anyone know of
> research that demonstrates that comprehensive final exams improve
> students' learning?

My own experience has been that the single most effective learning
technique I encountered was when I was a doctoral student and teaching
asst. Having to stand in front of a class of masters students and teach the
content required having a thorough enough knowledge of both the content
and the interrelationships, etc. to be able to answer questions, field
challenges, etc. The only other alternative was to engage in a 3 hr non-stop
lecture that would put is ALL to sleep!

Also, it has to be recognized that certain topics lend themselves more to
requiring memorization than others. But I still recall all those advanced
statistics and experimental design courses where we students fretted and
labored through trying to understand formulas, procedures, the mechanics
and derivation of which seemed like secret code. Then at the very end, the
professor would make some statement or comment that actually translated
into what this statistical procedure was actually doing! Then Voila!
everything else fell into place (to some extent anyway) and we were left
with the question of "why didn't he/she explain that in the first place?". Can
anyone identify?

And in conclusion, I hope this discussion stimulates interest and
participation in some of the quality presentations (including the retreat) of
Instructional Excellence. The Case Study, the Team Presentation Projects,
and the Learning Styles all stand out in my mind as great experiences (as
well as some of those whose names I can't remember but that have still
influenced me)

Good discussion,

ED




Ed Smith, Ph.D.
Psychologist and Clinical Services Coordinator
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Counseling and Career Planning Center

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