Overview

Dubious minutes indicate sessions of poor training. This article will explain the reasons minutes are marked dubious, how to find details about dubious sessions, and how to help the student improve their training.

What are Dubious Minutes?

Membean keeps an eye on your students' training and will automatically flag training that is unproductive as dubious. There are three reasons sessions are flagged as dubious:

• Very Low Accuracy: The student's accuracy is 30% or less. 
• Inactivity: There was no clicking or scrolling for at least two minutes more than three times during a single training session. 
• Cheating: The student used a script or other automated method to train for them. For more information, please review our article on cheating.

Viewing Dubious Minutes on Reports

First, click a class to view its report.

Next, look at the Dubious Minutes column. You can find out why a student has accrued dubious minutes by clicking on the number of dubious minutes detected. 

Finally, click on Training Details to see more information on the dubious session. 

How to Handle Dubious Minutes

Dubious minutes tell you that ineffective training occurred. Whatever the cause of dubious minutes, it's important to address it quickly, so the student's learning is not significantly impacted.

Step 1: Determine the cause of the dubious minutes.

To effectively help a student who is accruing dubious minutes, the first step is to figure out why it's happening. A student who is getting dubious minutes for inactivity may have attention differences that are interfering with their focus, or they may be trying to multi-task by completing other assignments at the same time. A student who is getting low accuracy may not know how to effectively review the word pages, or they may be distracted by their environment. 

By clicking Training Details, as shown above, you can see information such as the question types they miss during training, their review pace, and the amount of time they take to answer questions. These details can provide important information to guide a conversation with the student about their training. 

Step 2: Make a plan to adjust the training environment or training behavior.

Once you've figured out why the student is accruing dubious minutes, work with them to make a plan to adjust the training environment or training behavior. Here are some ideas for interventions that may help students improve their training: 

• Identify a time and location that's more conducive to concentration. For example, if they're training during band practice, have them make a plan to train during study hall instead. 
• Use strategies to help with Word Page review. We have a Training Tips resource that provides guidance. Students may also benefit from using visual timers to track word page review time.
• Model effective training. Training on Membean is unique, and students may not be used to learning in such a manner. Project your own Membean training session on the board, and talk students through your own training. Beware: they love it when you get a question wrong! Click here to learn how to train like a student.
• Chunk training time if focus is a challenge. Have the student train for 5-10 minutes, take a break, and then train for another 5-10 minutes until they've met the daily expectation. 
• Provide accommodations through the student's preferences. If the student is missing questions because they need more time to process and respond, or if they need additional reinforcement, adjust their training preferences. 

Step 3: Monitor the student's training to track their progress. If dubious minutes continue, it's important to hold the student accountable. 

Monitor dubious minutes through your Training Report and check in with the student. If dubious minutes continue, we recommend that you don't count them toward their training time. Require students to make up dubious minutes and deduct points from their grade if they don't.