Effects of Various Methods of Assigning and Evaluating Required Reading in One General Education Course

Abstract

Different approaches to creating out-of-class reading assignments for university general education courses might affect the amount of time students actually spend reading. Five instructors of a required religion/philosophy class used different approaches to assign out-of-class reading. Subsequently, their students (n = 504) were surveyed about their reading completion, their motivation to read, and ways that out-of-class readings affected their learning and personal study habits. Results showed that students who were assigned to read for a specific number of minutes outside of class completed the task more consistently than those who received other forms of reading assignments. Results also indicated that students who were graded on their outside reading completed it more frequently than those who were not graded.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John L. Hilton

John Hilton III recently completed a Ph.D. In Instructional Psychology and Technology at Brigham Young University. His primary research interest is in measuring the impact of free e-book downloads on sale of printed books.

Brad Wilcox

Brad Wilcox is an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Brigham Young University where he teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses in literacy education. One of his research interests is education in international settings.

Timothy G. Morrison

Timothy G. Morrison is an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Brigham Young University where he currently serves as associate chair. A current research interest is comprehension assessment.

David A. Wiley

David A. Wiley is an associate professor in the Department of Instructional Psychology and Technology at Brigham Young University. His research interest focus on open education, intellectual property policy, and educational data mining.