Are you preparing study guides for your students?

Do study guides enhance learning and increase student performance?  A recent study says, “It depends.” Faculty sometimes create study outlines with the good intention of relieving students of the burden of identifying the concepts they need to focus on while preparing for exams. If you (the instructor) are creating study guides for your students, their performance in terms of test scores may actually decrease, but if you are having students create their own study guides, their academic performance may improve. While students tend to prefer teacher-provided study guides and believe the guides help them prepare more effectively for an exam, research indicates that students who create their own study guides tend to perform better on exams. How might you create a study-guide assignment that strengthens student learning without feeling like dreaded “busy work”? If this idea piques your interest, contact the TIES Academy directors. We have some potential strategies we would like to share with you.