Reading/ Review/ Recitation (RRR) Week
Plan ahead for what activities, if any, you’ll want to undertake during RRR week.
Please visit the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate's webpage to read about the RRR Week Guidelines
The Office of the Registrar maintains a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding RRR Week and provides links to relevant campus policy.
The simplest and most common solution is to hold additional office hours or standard review sessions. But there are other things you can do, too, that can enhance your students’ preparation for final exams. Some of the suggestions below are activities that faculty undertake on the last day of classes. These can just as easily be duplicated during RRR week. (Remember, these will not be mandatory.)
Enhanced review sessions:
Revisit your learning goals
Learning goals give you and your students a good idea of what “big” things they should end up knowing or things they should be able to do by the end of the course. This gives you a way to structure at least a portion of a review session. If you have five learning goals, three associated with knowledge students should attain, and two related to something students should be able to do, you might do the following. For the knowledge goals have students form small groups and assign each group a specific goal. Ask the groups to list everything they know in relation to the goal and report their list back to the whole class. You can then compare lists and point out gaps or mistakes. If it’s an action goal, or something students should be able to do try to give them a chance to actually “do it.” For instance, if one of your goals is to have students present an oral argument supported with evidence, give them the chance to practice during the review session. Let the students critique each other and you can offer feedback and suggestions.
Student teachers
In a review session, the first people to respond to students’ questions can be other students. Instructors then step in only when answers veer or no one can answer them. If no one can answer them, this should tell the instructor something.
Students present
on area(s) on which they have questions at review session(s).
If you have been using “clickers” in your class, use them during a review session
Students can take a first stab at an answer, see the range of responses, then get a quick lesson, and refine their answer.
Other activities:
Re-do the midterm
Put each problem up on a screen, and walk students through several points for each problem: Why did I ask this? What were the big areas of understanding I was trying to assess? Why this particular question? What specific ideas, pitfalls, etc. were involved? What does a good solution look like? What needs to be commented on, what can be just written down, and what needs to be worked out? (If there's more than one way to do the problem, I'll walk them through the alternatives, show what a good solution looks like for each, and contrast the approaches). (Adapted from what Bob Jacobsen, Physics, does after his midterm.)
"Three Questions for Students"
Ask students to bring their graded exams to a review session, and then give them ten minutes to answer the following questions. What did I do well on this test and why? What did I do poorly and why? What am I going to do about this problem the next time? You can then take any number of approaches from having them break into pairs or groups to discuss, or throw the discussion open to the class. (Adapted from materials by Ed Nuhfer, Center for Teaching and Learning, Idaho State University)
Reserve a room for a “class study hall”
Students can work in informal groups, or alone. You can choose be there to answer questions. You can arrange this for the entire class, or can arrange separate rooms for “section study hall.”
Encourage students to form study groups,
and arrange to meet with each group to answer their questions.
Discuss with students how best to use RRR on or before the last day of class
This is especially relevant for classes with large populations of students new to Berkeley. Discuss how to review the material in your course. Remind them of your goals on the final. Are they to spend their time memorizing? Synthesizing?
Consider using tools in bCourses that can enhance RRR week
Students can have virtual study halls using the forum tool, for instance. You can post occasional tips or reminders, perhaps a “tip of the day” each day during the week.