The Power of High-Structure Teaching

When biology professor Kelly Hogan and statistics professor Viji Sathy rehauled their courses to include more structure, they saw powerful results: the class as a whole performed better, with extra gains for first-generation students and those from minoritized backgrounds. Hogan and Sathy published the results of their experiments in two studies (Eddy, Hogan, and Sevian 2014; Sathy and Moore 2020), and elaborated on the implications of their findings in a recent book, Inclusive Teaching. Strategies for Promoting Equity in the College Classroom (2022). A body of recent research (Freeman, Haak, and Wenderoth, 2011; Casper, Eddy, and Freeman, 2019; Theobald et al., 2020) confirms Hogan and Sathy’s conclusions: high-structure teaching grounded in active learning can benefit all students, while narrowing or eliminating achievement gaps.  

What is a high-structure course?

In contrast to a traditional low-structure course, where a series of lectures is followed by a handful of high-stakes assignments (exams or research papers), a high-structure course provides multiple opportunities for guided practice, setting up feedback loops that allow students to gradually gain mastery of required skills or content. Many instructors enjoin students to practice material—but such injunctions are typically heeded only by highly motivated students, or those who already possess strong study skills and robust support systems. Students lacking college know-how can easily miss these opportunities for improvement, and thus miss out on the learning that would allow them to succeed. Instead, as course material gets harder and harder, they might assume they are simply not cut out for the course, field, or higher education in general. By making regular practice required rather than voluntary, and by explicitly communicating to students the benefits of practice, instructors have the power to open educational opportunities to greater numbers of students. As Kelly and Sathy put it: “chance won’t get us closer to our goals of equity. Structure will” (22). 

Adding structure to your courses

How can we add an overlayer of high structure to our courses? In lecture-based classes, skeletal outlines (partial lecture notes that provide some but not all content) help students understand the conceptual schema of each lecture and develop note-taking skills. Quick in-class activities like mini-quizzes, minute papers, or problem-solving tasks can help students retrieve material and test understanding in real time. Frequent low-stakes homework assignments like guided reading questions (GRQs) or online discussion boards help students process course material and arrive to class primed for learning. Feedback loops, where students receive timely feedback on low-stakes practice attempts, allow for continuous learning and improvement throughout the term. Whatever the format, high-structure courses establish a pattern of regular pre- and post-class work, allowing students to practice the skills needed for high-stakes assignments. While setting up a high-structure course may initially require some extra work on the part of the instructor, many tweaks can be achieved with little additional effort—while yielding outsized benefits for learning. For example, creating effective feedback loops can include group feedback, peer feedback, automated feedback, or even guided self-assessment. Adding a layer of intentional facilitation to class discussion or groupwork (assigning individual roles within groups, building in thinking/processing time, clearly displaying prompts, communicating the goals and outcomes for each activity, setting a timer, etc.) does not have to be time-consuming, but can boost engagement and draw out students used to sitting on the sidelines. (See Hogan and Sathy’s Chronicle of Higher Education article for more tips on adding structure to academic courses.) 

Hogan and Sathy invoke the familiar figure of a novice driver to help students (and faculty) understand that deep, lasting learning requires many hours of regular, distributed, guided practice. Baking required practice opportunities into the course structure itself—and making this intentional course design explicit to students—can go a long way towards improving student outcomes and making our courses more inclusive and vibrant.