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Getting students to read before class: Innovation in a university in Chile

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Abstract

Reading before class has been demonstrated to improve student learning. This article describes the installation and effectiveness of a strategy to encourage student class preparation. The strategy, called the Class-to-Class Method, has been implemented in a large private university in Chile. The university hopes that this innovation will reduce differences in the level of prior knowledge of students beginning university studies. Elimination of these differences should make instruction easier and improve the academic achievement of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Class-to-Class has three major components: a detailed course plan or syllabus; short readings that enable students to understand the content of their next class; and emphasis by the professor on the importance of reading before class. An initial and essential measure of success of the Method is the extent to which students read the assigned text before class. There is some evidence that regular reading improves course grades.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Noel F. McGinn

  2. Metropolitan University of Educational Sciences (UMCE), Santiago, Chile

    Ernesto Schiefelbein

Authors
  1. Noel F. McGinn
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  2. Ernesto Schiefelbein
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Correspondence to Noel F. McGinn.

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McGinn, N.F., Schiefelbein, E. Getting students to read before class: Innovation in a university in Chile. Prospects 45, 447–464 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-015-9369-7

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