Applying relevance in teaching
Never question the relevance of truth, but always question the truth of relevance. — Craig Bruce

A recent internal document for faculty from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Academic Services and Enrollment Management highlights the “irreverent, authentic, and practical” characteristics of the Generation Z students in today’s undergraduate classroom. Key is the idea that students need to know how what they are learning impacts their lives. They are comfortable with change and pivoting to new strategies, they need their learning to have novelty and be collaborative, and they need to see how what they are learning is relevant in the real world and to their lives.
A perfect example is highlighted in a recent article on economics education. Consider the difference between lecturing on supply and demand of the avocado market, versus showing students how economic concepts relate to the healthcare debate. Sample questions that could be asked include:
- Advancements in technology tend to improve efficiency and decrease costs in many sectors, but not health care. Why is this?
- What incentives (if any) exist within the health care industry for increasing access to care and decreasing costs?
- Health care expenditures amount to roughly 20 percent of U.S. GDP. Why do we spend so much more than the rest of the industrialized world?
- What is rent seeking, and how does this concept influence the costs of health care?
The conversations that can result from asking these questions help students to understand the issues in the world today, draw connections with what they are hearing on the news to ideas discussed in class, and engage in interesting and relevant discussions with you as the instructor and peers. However, it can sometimes be difficult to see how you can take a course that has historically been “broadcast” based lectures with a smattering of question and answer moments, and pivot the course to incorporate novel, collaborative, and relevant experiences for your students. Here are a few tips for consideration:
- It can’t be memorization that gets them through your material. Even if they remember it long enough for the test, it will have no lasting impact on their lives. Familiarity with the content in the text makes students think that they “know” it better than they really do.
- Get students to talk to each other. Take breaks in class and have your students explain the concept you have just taught them to the person next to them. Talking aloud about a concept will help with recall, and if they don’t quite get it, they are faced with that fact and will have to pivot to better understand it. If they do understand it, it will build their confidence. These breaks also help to re-focus your students’ attention on the lecture delivery portion of your course.
- Increase frequency of exposure and assessment. Think of ways to get students to think about you and your content outside of class. Have a Twitter or Instagram hashtag that students can use to share examples of what you talked about in class. Highlight some of the best submissions the next time you meet. Have frequent, low-stakes quizzes or assignments that allow students to test their knowledge without high penalty for not having the correct answer (yet).
- Engage students emotionally. Show students the real world impact of what you are teaching. Help them connect your content to something they already know or care about. That doesn’t mean you don’t teach theory, you just have to show how the theory is useful. Take short breaks in class to engage in fun… a Kahoot! or tossing the Catchbox around for rapid fire Q&A will activate student’s enjoyment and keep them thinking about what they are learning after they leave class.
- Answer the “why am I taking this course?” question by connecting to the future career and life goals of students. A recent study on the effect of relevance strategies found that explicitly stating the answer to this question in lectures or assignment instructions improved student perceptions of the course, even in a required introductory course.
Resources:
- http://edut.to/2vkbMtm — Making Learning Meaningful and Lasting
- http://bit.ly/2vk4XYO — The Science of Attention: How To Capture And Hold The Attention of Easily Distracted Students — InformED
- http://bit.ly/2vjzSVv — How to Make Learning Relevant To Your Students (And Why It’s Crucial To Their Success)
- http://bit.ly/2vkhOdu — The effect of relevance strategies on student perceptions of introductory courses
- http://bit.ly/2vkiFLe — Why Economic Education Is Essential for Young Americans

