Okay. That might be an overly optimistic goal, but I’m going to give it a shot.<\/p>\n
I’m bad with names. Depending on how much sleep I’ve gotten, I periodically call one of my children by the other’s name. Last semester I had 225 students between two classes. These were new classes for me, so I was mostly concerned with keeping the ship afloat. I knew there was no chance I would learn 225 names, so I made no concerted effort. (I picked up a few names, but only students I had frequent interaction with).<\/p>\n
Frankly, it was a bit embarrassing. I could recognize many of my students, but I didn’t know their names. I recently attended UBC’s graduation. I recognized many students (and they recognized me), but few names came to mind.<\/p>\n
I need to do better<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I\u2019ve been thinking about this for a while, and then I saw a talk by Dr. Sara Brownell<\/a> of Arizona State University (Brownell, 2019). If you\u2019ve read many of my posts, you\u2019ll know that I love<\/em> to see data and evidence on teaching and learning. One of Brownell\u2019s postdocs, Dr. Katelyn Cooper<\/a> led a great study regarding instructors learning students\u2019 names (Cooper et al<\/em>. 2017<\/a>).<\/p>\n In a large-enrollment (185 student) active-learning format biology course, students made and displayed \u2018name tents\u2019 on brightly-colored card stock. If students forgot to bring theirs on a given day, they were encouraged to make a new one.<\/p>\n In a survey, when asked if instructors knew their names in a previous<\/em> large-enrollment biology course, 20% thought they likely did and 80% thought they didn\u2019t. There was a significant gender effect, with female students 2.9 times as likely as male to state that the instructor did not now their name.<\/p>\n At the end of the semester students in the biology course considered in this study (the one using the name tents) were surveyed, 78% of the students perceived that the instructor new their name while only 22% did not, and the gender difference disappeared. Most interesting is that the instructors actually knew only 53% of the students\u2019 names. So, because of the name tents, students perceived that the instructors knew more names than they actually did.<\/em><\/p>\n In the survey, 85% of students reported that it was important to them that the instructor knew their name. In open-ended questions, students cited nine reasons why:<\/p>\n Aside from student-instructor relationships, there was another interesting finding. Students noted that the name tents facilitated increased interaction with their classmates<\/em>, as it allowed students to easily learn (or remember) each other’s names.<\/p>\n Okay, I\u2019m sold. Now, how on earth am I going to learn these names?<\/p>\n I love the idea of name tents, but in the large lecture hall I teach in, the seats are auditorium-style with just a small, fold-out writing surface. No room for a name tent. Students do have lab once a week, with a seating arrangement that would allow name tents. Labs are primarily TA-led, but name tents would allow TAs to more easily learn student names (and this would also facilitate students learning their classmates\u2019 names). I think it\u2019s a great idea.<\/p>\n In my other course, students sit behind long, narrow tables on tiered risers. Name tents are a no-brainer here, and students will be able to easily see each other\u2019s name tents.<\/p>\n Given the inability to use name tents in my larger course, I think I will simply need to make flash cards from my photo roster and regularly take a few minutes to quiz myself. I will also start using students\u2019 names in lecture, lab, and outside of class.<\/p>\n I teach a large proportion of international students, and I have a harder time remembering a name that I\u2019ve never heard before (compared to a name I\u2019m familiar with). I want all students to have an equal chance that I will learn their name, so I will consciously put more effort into learning names that are more challenging for me.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Brownell, Sara E. (2019, February). Hidden inequities in active learning classrooms: How groups of students are differentially impacted by active learning<\/em>. Presented at the Biology Seminar, University of British Columbia.<\/p>\n Cooper, K. M., Haney, B., Krieg, A., & Brownell, S. E. (2017). What\u2019s in a Name? The Importance of Students Perceiving That an Instructor Knows Their Names in a High-Enrollment Biology Classroom. CBE\u2014Life Sciences Education<\/em>, 16<\/em>(1), 13 pages. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1187\/cbe.16-08-0265<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Okay. That might be an overly optimistic goal, but I’m going to give it a shot. I’m bad with names. Depending on how much sleep I’ve gotten, I periodically call one of my children by the other’s name. Last semester I had 225 students between two classes. These were new classes for me, so I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55423,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[546588],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-classroom-practice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/teachingamongtrees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/teachingamongtrees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/teachingamongtrees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/teachingamongtrees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/teachingamongtrees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/teachingamongtrees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":452,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/teachingamongtrees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444\/revisions\/452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/teachingamongtrees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/teachingamongtrees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/teachingamongtrees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The study<\/h1>\n
Students\u2019 views of instructors learning names<\/h2>\n
Why is it important to students that instructors know their names?<\/h2>\n
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Name tents?<\/h2>\n
Good old-fashioned retrieval practice<\/a> and distributed practice<\/a><\/h2>\n
Not all names are alike<\/h2>\n
Wish me luck! I\u2019ll report back after my next round of teaching.<\/h3>\n
References<\/h1>\n