HUM250: Ideas and Values in the Humanities: Early Civilizations to the Renaissance is a sampler course, covering over 8000 years of civilization. My goal was to give students a chance to feel like they had the chance to go into more detail on topics without prioritizing one niche topic over another.
I initially discovered the problem through the progress assessments that I do throughout the course. Four times during the semester, students complete a survey that includes a grade check, a chance to share anything they found confusing or challenging in completing assignments, and a chance to share what suggestions they have for improving the module. Inevitably, students write in evaluations that they wish we had gone into more detail into some topic they are individually interested in, such as medieval weapons, the lives of every day people in Ancient Rome, the Pyramids of Giza, etc.
I observed that students had high completion rates for an assignment late in the semester when they research a medieval person of their choice. So, in fall 2025, I replaced two of my personal niche favorite assignments with a chance for the students to do a little deep dive into something about that time period or society that they were interested in. Just like my original assignment, students still needed to do find a minimum of one source that was not already part of the materials provided in the module. The written length was the same (300 words), and they still needed to make a connection back to what we were learning in the module.
Success! Not only did students no longer write that they wish we had time to study their niche topic, the overall completion and quality of the submissions improved. For instance, in spring 2025, an average of three students would skip the assignments when it was my topic and the average score was 52 out of 60 points. In spring 2026, only one student skipped the assignments and the average score was 57 out of 60 points.
Choice matters! I responded to student feedback that they wished we had more time for certain niche topics in a large survey course. I replaced two of my personal niche topics with the chance for them to explore topics that interested them. This improved submission rates, the overall quality of the assignments, and student satisfaction without compromising the overall learning objectives.