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Abstract:

In an ongoing attempt to improve undergraduate education, the college of engineering at North Carolina A&T State University organizes a group of core courses engineering educators to meet regularly to discuss and share ideas on class room issues. Three key factors were identified: preparation, attendance, and note taking will be studied and discussed their effect on students’ ability to succeed.

Introduction:

Educators all agree that there are several key factors in a students’ ability to succeed in the highly demanding Engineering curriculum. In an ongoing attempt to improve undergraduate education the Dean’s office at North Carolina A&T State University organized a group of core topic engineering educators to meet regularly and discuss and share ideas on classroom issues. Three of those key factors are identified and will be discussed and studied at NCA&T.

First, preparation for class; we find that students who prepare for each lecture by pre- reading the material in their text will understand the lecture. This preparation is one that few students take seriously. There are diverse methods that can be used to encourage this before class preparation and a variety of these means will be discussed.

Attendance is the next step towards success. Students when they hear the information, process it, and write it in their notes they are already beginning to learn the information. Reinforcement of the information through review of their notes completes the learning process. However as much as educators realize the importance of attendance we must pass this opinion onto the students. Several different means by which attendance is recorded and then weighted will be discussed. Should one take attendance every class, should a professor call out the roll, should a roll be passed? While class size may dictate the method to a certain degree a professor has choices.

Finally, if the student is prepared and if they attend their lectures, note-taking also is a key part in their academic achievement. Taking notes is an activity that is rarely analyzed carefully, yet is worth inspection. We assume underclass students learned these skills in high school but the reality at NCA&T is that our diverse student body comes to college with very different backgrounds.

Ornstein (1994) believes that all students would benefit if teachers intentionally trained their students in note-taking techniques, especially the lower-achieving students. Research performed by Carrier & Titus (1981) proposes that the act of taking notes is significant because it 1) increases attention and concentration, 2) encourages students to process the material at a deeper level, and 3) provides a means of connecting new learning with prior knowledge.

As faculty and not wardens we have no means to force quality note taking but from experience we suggest several different methods such as the possibility of introducing lecture outlines as a way of helping students to structure their notes. While there is no single format for

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Waters, C., & Abu-Lebdeh, T., & Saad, M., & OneYear, S. (2006, June), Preparation, Attendance And Note Taking, How To Promote Student Buy In. Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--828