Last day of Class

Lesson Delivery

The last day of class is often at risk of ending on an anti-climactic note, characterised by unexciting wrap-up summary lectures or fun but irreverent food celebrations. Here are some ideas on how to create end your course on a note of promise and get students reflecting on how meaningful the course was, while leaving you with a feeling of excitement to teach it again next semester.

Reflection by students

Invite students to reflect on the knowledge they gained or how their learning approaches have evolved. Dietz-Uhler & Lanter (2009) developed four versatile questions that encourage students to “analyze, reflect, relate, and question” the material that they learned. Such questions enhance students’ retention of concepts and enable them to think about course material in more complex ways. Adapted to the purposes of the last day of class, these are:

1. Can you identify one important concept, research finding, theory, or idea that you learned while taking this class?
2. Why do you believe that this concept, research finding, theory, or idea is important?
3. Apply what you have learned from this class to some aspect of your life.
4. What question(s) has the class raised for you? What are you still wondering about?

You may also consider having students write a letter to next year’s class with advice on how to succeed in the course. These can be a rich and interesting resource for your use in the first day of class the next time you teach this course. Invite them to share how they could make a difference in the world with the knowledge they’ve gained.

Share your own learning 

Share what you learnt teaching this course. As faculty, we sometimes learn something new about our subjects or teaching because of interactions with students. Sharing that experience models lifelong learning and demonstrates that students have a lot to teach and contribute as well, an empowering view that encourages them to be more active learners in the future.

Have students look ahead

To address the common tendency of students leaving all their knowledge behind at the end of the semester, thinking it has no application to their future endeavors, invite students to imagine how they can apply their new knowledge and skills in future classes and beyond. It may be about the course content, or it may be about how they learn or work with new information. One variant is to have students write back to you a few months later with an update on that application.

Leave an impact 

Create a ritual for the last day of your classes. Having worked hard establishing a learning community all through the semester, why not end with a community event? This could involve giving out awards for those who excelled in the class, improved the most, regularly contributed to discussions, etc. Alternatively, have them create awards for their classmates. 

You can also personalise their exit. Shake each student's hand on the way out and offer encouragement for their future efforts with this topic and their future studies. This ends the course on a suitably personal, collegial and classy note.