Two Easy Initial Steps for Better Grades

Some steps toward better grades are so easy and intuitively obvious you would think everyone would take them. Yet, many students fail to lay the ground work for good grades the very first day of the course. Be sure you take these easy initial steps.

Total Search Failure

In his article "Why Johnny Can't Search," Clive Thompson references a study at Northwestern University where 102 college students were asked to do research using online resources. Result: All 102 failed to check the author's credentials. Total failure!

Needless to say, if you want an "A" you don't want to be like the Northwestern students. You want to use peer-reviewed resources, which guarantee that the authors have passed at least one test of credibility. Careful instructors and course designers will be sure to write "peer-reviewed" before the word "research" in the syllabus. One reason we wrote the book is that we grew tired of saying "Google and Wikipedia are NOT peer-reviewed resources!"

Both Google and Wikipedia can lead you to peer-reviewed sources, however, which is why they are not totally useless. In fact, one of my favorite research methods is to use the resources and footnotes provided in Wikipedia to find the original (often, peer-reviewed) research on which the Wikipedia article is based.

As an experiment, try entering "globalization" as a search term at the following sites:

Google.com
Wikipedia.com
Scholar.google.com
Britannica.com
Questia.com

See the differences?
 

Online Collective Knowledge: Perks and Dangers

In online adult continuing education, it is not uncommon for the collective knowledge of an online class to exceed that of the instructor's. Think of a class in marketing where many of the class members have 10 or more years of practical experience. While the textbook and instructor can provide you with great summaries of current trends or the details of psychological studies, the class members have equally valuable information to share with you about their experiences in the real world. One of the perks of online education is that you get exposure to perspectives from students from many walks of life and many parts of the world. You'll want to access that well of knowledge provided by other students, using the techniques we explain in the book.

There are also some dangers to relying too heavily on collective "knowledge." It's possible for the majority of the class to get on the wrong track in a discussion topic. In the rush to answer discussion questions on time students sometimes rely too heavily on their experience or simply express what is "common knowledge" about a topic without carefully reading the text. Common "knowledge," even "common sense," can be exactly what your textbook is trying to argue against! That is why you'll want to be sure you read the text first and be sure you understand what the instructor wants and what the text says before you launch into a discussion with your fellow students. You need to keep focused on earning points by engaging in discussion questions in the way intended by your instructor and course designer. MANY students fall into the trap of thinking that simply because they have had rip-roaring discussions with their classmates, they are maximizing their chances for the best grades. This is rarely true. Be sure you integrate the knowledge in the text with the collective knowledge of your peers. Collective knowledge is a supplement to the course text, not a replacement for it.

Note: in our book, "text" refers to all the assigned readings of the course, whether they be online articles, a printed textbook, or videos.   

Power to Students…and a Theoretical Kick in the Backside

Our article about the book and the reasons we wrote it has been published in Evolllution, an online magazine about lifelong education. Please participate in the poll next to the article!