Initiating Student-Teacher Contact Via Personalized Responses to One-Minute Papers
Although the author did not design the concept of one-minute-papers, Gale Lucas uses the one-minute-paper to personalize the relationship with her students as well as to discover what the students bring away from her classes. This is how the one minute paper works. After a class or lecture, students take a couple of minutes to answer questions from the professor such as, “What did your learn?” and “What remains unanswered?” While some professors only comment on answers and answer questions to the class as a whole, Lucas proposes in this article to e-mail each student individually and answer or comment on the what the student had to say.
By e-mailing the students individually, Lucas found that one-minute-papers were helpful to initiate contact with her students. She begins her e-mail by explaining that she wants to personally respond and then does so. Many students like getting responses and feel that Lucas cares about their “own personal learning and greatly appreciate such concern.” (p.40). This direct contact with her students additionally benefits students who speak up less in class.
Students reported that getting these responses from their professor helped their learning. It also helps the teacher monitor what they have taught to see if it is effective.
Lucas, G. M. (2010). Initiating student-teacher contact via personalized responses to one-minute papers College Teaching, 58(2), 39-42. doi:10.1080/87567550903245631
MaryAnne Nestor 