Benefits for Instructors


  1. Getting a snapshot of the class as a whole, including:

    1. What questions students have, and what students feel confused about (from lecture, textbook, home-work, etc). It's often hard to read faces during class and to know what is clear, when the faces are confused, or when they are bored -- let alone tabulating the proportions of students in each category.


    2. Even if such in-class tabulation could be done instantly, a student who thinks they understand, may in fact be confused and carry significant misconceptions.

      From students' "what I've learned this week" summaries, the instructor also gains a peek at students' (possibly distorted) mental snapshots of the mathematics.

      "In doing [homework] I did not have many problems except I do not know what the slash symbol...in Pr(E|F) means"
      Since conditional probabilities were the primary focus of the homework, this is a student who thinks they are a lot less confused than they are! Thanks to cover sheet, this is revealed now, while there is time, rather than only on the next test.



  2. Ideas, concerns, and suggestions:

    1. Students can help the instructor improve pedagogy by asking questions about "why", motivation, context, and application -- and what we might want to change or add:

      "Why is composing functions important?" -College Algebra Student


    2. Students can tell us what is working well and should be continued:
      "...the discussion we had in class helped me to understand inverses more so than if I was just to read the book. When you picked on me to explain a question to another student [it] helped me to understand because I had to explain it verbally instead of just saying 'yes, I understand'".
      Instructors' Benefits II


      "The little word problem workshop that we had last week did help me..in figuring out what to look for and how to get the problems started. This is very helpful because this is one of my biggest problems. If I can just get it started then I am usually fine. The workshop really did help and I am glad that we did it"


  3. Motivation and Attentiveness:

    Instructor can gain and maintain the attention of students in class by launching a lecture, discussion, or activity with words like:

    "A few of you asked on your cover sheets for another example of..."

    or

    "Someone asked in her cover sheet why it's true that..."


    As a result, students feel they are being listened to -- as indeed they are.



  4. Student-Faculty interaction in a non-graded context.

    This can help foster the instructor's role as "coach" or "guide" rather than "grader". It also encourages student writing and solving for understanding -- focus is on learning rather than on "points".



  5. Students' Commitment to the Course:

    Students tend to genuinely appreciate and cite this as evidence of instructor's caring, listening, and trying to help them.

    In addition to modeling correct mathematics for the students, the instructor can model an attitude of enthusiasm and generally of caring about and taking the material seriously.



    Instructors' Benefits III


  6. Opportunities to put out fires:

    Instructor's responses to cover-sheet comments can include reminders for struggling students of available resources, including (repeating if necessary) general "study tip" suggestions and information, e.g.:

    "did you try forming or joining a study group"

    "did you try going to the Math Lab?"

    "Don't forget the Writing Center for help with your project"

    and even a polite

    "did you read the entire section before trying this homework?"

    tends to be appreciated by students.

  7. On occasion, the instructor may be the beneficiary of some beautiful glimpses of light bulbs going off in students heads, their increasing self esteem, as well as their very real struggles with the material.
    "Dr. Barzilai, I am so excited because I am finally grasping this material..."
    --Nursing student in College Algebra (Test 1 grade: 48; test 2: 84)