»Rethinking Rigor

Student Conceptions of Rigor

Oftentimes, there is a misalignment between what students think of rigorous courses and what instructors believe to be rigorous. Understanding intellectual and logistical rigor can help you reduce barriers for yourself and students early on in the semester.100-level students identified affective terms, stressors such as fast pacing, high workload, unclear relevance to their life or careers, and low faculty support. 300-level students identified cognitive complexity as a contributor to course rigor, but course design elements as easing the learning process (Wyse & Soneral, 2018).

The difference between intellectual and logistical rigor is that intellectual rigor refers to cognitively challenging students where they are engaged in deep learning, and critical thinking with meaningful assignments. Intellectual rigor can include competency-based learning but also uses transparent expectations and student-centered pedagogy to engage students while logistical rigor relies heavily on rote learning, unnecessary busywork, inflexible policies, ambiguous expectations, unclear assignments, bell-curve grading, and tradition-bound practices that lead to anxiety-ridden students.

Why Reduce Logistical Rigor?

Reducing logistical rigor conserves cognitive bandwidth for critical thinking and helps students learn relevant skills instead of tricks to pass the class. It also helps create more equity for an increasingly diverse student body while lowering cognitive load for instructors and professors.

Strategies for Reducing Logistical Rigor

  1. Make students co-owners of the course
    1. Co-Create/Negotiate Policies and Procedures
    2. Creates a sense of ownership and increases student investment
    3. Reduces cognitive load because logistics are partly self-imposed
    4. Promotes student-professor teamwork vs. animosity
    5. Teaches real-world responsibility, not automated compliance
    6. Reduces overhead planning for professors
  2. Offer no questions-asked extensions 
    1. 1, 3, and 5-day extensions on request before deadline (each is only usable once)  
    2. Students have more flexible deadlines
    3. The onus is on students to plan throughout the term and ask for an extension in advance
    4. Believe students for absences, but set limits
  3. Review syllabus and assignments
    1. Clarity of expectations and grading helps guide student effort
    2. Explicit instructions reduce confusion and mistakes
    3. Scaffolding assignments reduces anxiety and leads to better learning outcomes