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A recent article posted on Faculty Focus caught my attention because it was all about advice. And who doesn't love giving advice? To share your knowledge with others. To help others. To set them up for success...
I for one have found myself on a soapbox once or twice, offering what I believe to be these knowledge bombshells, hard-earned nuggets of wisdom I don't have to share, but I will because I'm a good person.
And I'm sure I had the best of intentions...
But what if the advice isn't heeded? Or what if the person isn't really listening? Or what if the advice is unsolicited?
The article, "Advice for Students at the Start of the Academic Year" suggests that advice offered by teachers to students often isn't heeded. Weimer (2024) suggests that advice given is going to be discounted because;
You sound like their parents.
It's been ages since you were a student so what do you know.
They have already made up their mind and now you're calling that into question.
Instead, Weimer (2024) recommends, "challenge students to find out what they don’t know and test what they think they do know." Does reading the text ahead of class actually help? Does submitting a first draft get you better grades?
I'm going to offer an additional suggestion, one that I have seen in practice and was also written about by Brookfield (2015) regarding advice from previous students. And that is to gather and share (with permission of course) learning tips from previous students. It's one thing to hear advice from teachers on how to succeed, but hearing it from peers, from people who's shoes you're now in, helps the advice sink in. It also removes the first two reasons mentioned above for your advice being discounted. One of my recent PIDP classes shared a whole long list of advice from previous students and it certainly helped me set expectations for the course! This is something I'm going to try on a few of the the courses I run.
That all being said, every learner is different. Something that works for others may not work for you, and vice versa. So if you want my advice, listen to other's advice but don't just follow it without thinking. You know you better than anyone, so do what works for you. But try other things too, you never know, maybe someone actually has the secret to success!
Have a read of the article and comment your thoughts below, and any advice you may have too!
References
Brookfield, S. (2015) The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom (3rd ed.). Jossey-Bass
Weimer, M. (2024) Advice for Students at the Start of the Academic Year. Retrieved from https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-classroom-management/advice-for-students-at-the-start-of-the-academic-year/
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