Would Your Best Friend Recommend the Course You Teach?

While I was on campus recently, I was having lunch at the Student Union. I overheard two students talking about their courses. One was scrolling through the course catalog planning out their next semester, when her friend said, “Wait, you have to take this writing class. It is the best course I have taken here.”

That is a great goal, right? To have a course so good, students actually recommend it to others.

Students don’t recommend courses to their friends because of our academic qualifications or the depth of our knowledge in the subject. They recommend courses because of how those courses make them feel: capable, curious, like their time and effort matters. So if we set aside the learning outcomes and assessment rubrics for a moment, ask yourself: Would your students tell their friends to take your class?

If the answer is yes, you probably already know what makes the difference. If you are not sure, here is what students are really saying when they talk about the courses they love:

“I always knew what to do next.”

What they mean is simple: your course made them feel competent instead of confused.

When students don’t have to spend energy figuring out where things are, they have more opportunity to focus on the content and their contribution. If they know that Monday always brings new material, that assignments are posted in the same place, and in the same format, then the structure of the course fades into the background, and that lets students focus on learning instead of hunting for information.

A useful test is this: can a student who has a short amount of time  before they need to leave for work figure out what they need to do next? If yes, you are already setting them up for success. 

In practice, that usually means:

• Everything for the week is in one place, not spread across multiple menu items
• Due dates follow a pattern that can be easily learned
• A single Start Here page explains how the course works

“Everything felt important.”

This means that every reading, video, and assignment had a clear purpose. Students can tell the difference between what is essential and what is filler. When you show that you respect their time, they are more likely to value the course materials in return. The goal is not to expose students to everything. It is to help them learn something they will remember and can implement.

One professor I know cut her reading list in half and replaced long academic articles with a mix of podcasts, short videos, and web links. Her students started engaging with the content at a much higher level. She told me, “I used to use the D2L Completion Summary to guilt trip my students that hadn’t read the materials. But moving the readings to more interactive things, they get the same information but they come to class having engaged with the material, and our discussions and their essays are so much better.”

That is the value of strong curation. When students trust that what you assign matters, they are less likely to skim or skip over it, and more likely to engage with it.

A good way to test if the content in your course is the “nice to know vs. need to know” is: if you had to cut your content in half tomorrow, what would stay? Whatever remains is probably the core of what you most want students to learn.

Students notice when content is well chosen:

• Assignments build toward something useful (a chart, graphic, presentation, etc.)
• Readings connect clearly to discussions or projects

• The workload leaves room to reflect and make connections

“I actually wanted to show up.”

This is where the biggest shift happens. When students feel like participants instead of spectators, the course changes. They are not just completing requirements. They are invested in what comes next.

That doesn’t mean every class has to be entertaining. It means students need some ownership. They want to have a voice in shaping their experience.

Small changes can make a real difference:

• Let students choose between assignment formats  (e.g. Powerpoint vs. Video)
• End the week with a quick poll on which topic to explore more deeply  in the upcoming week
• Ask students to develop their own discussion questions for the following week

• Offer a low stakes practice exam so they can test their knowledge without a big impact to their grade

A chemistry professor I know lets students design one lab experiment each semester. The creativity was remarkable, and the level of engagement surprised her. Students were showing up early to set up. She said, “I thought giving them more control would create more work for me, but they carried the process. I just guided them.”

When students help shape the course instead of just moving through it, they remember it, they talk about it, and tell other people about it.
Nobody recommends a restaurant because the food was technically correct. They recommend it because they enjoyed being there. The same is true of courses.

The Real Opportunity

The next time you revise your syllabus, build next week’s materials, or think through what is and is not working, ask yourself: would my best friend recommend this course?

Not whether it is rigorous. Not whether it checks every required box. Would my best friend say nice things about my course behind my back?
The courses students talk about most are not always taught by celebrity professors or backed by large budgets. Students talk about the courses where the instructor paid close attention to the student experience:

• The course was easy to navigate
• The content was chosen with care
• Students felt included in the work of learning

That kind of course is possible to build. Most of it does not require more money. It requires thoughtfulness. With help from your Instructional Designer at UCATT, you can make this impactful change to your courses, too.