CASE/Summer 09

This presentation has been adapted with permission from
Dr. Gayle Brazeau, the State University of New York at Buffalo.
CASE/Summer 09

• Designing your course and developing your course syllabus
• Developing course outcomes and objectives
• Important considerations in your course syllabus
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• Books
• Web Sites
• Teaching and
Learning
Centers
• Other Programs
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 Work Done Prior to Putting
Syllabus On Paper
 Anticipate Student
Questions and Concerns
 It is Your Blue Print for
Success!
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Best Teachers
“Promising Syllabus”
1. Provides the promises and opportunities the course offers to students.
2. Provides the students with a description of what they will be doing to achieve these promises.
3. Provides students with the methods by which they can understand their learning.
“Learner Centered Syllabus”
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Key Questions
Prior to Organizing Your Class
 Where does the class fit into the curriculum of your department/ college/ school?
 What is the level of your students?
 What are the courses your students will have prior to your course?
 How many students will you be involved with in this course?
 What are the desired learning outcomes for your course?
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Where Does Your Course Fit?
• Course Ability-based Outcomes
• Department Educational Outcomes
• Mission Statement of the College Accreditation
Standards Guidelines
• Mission of the College
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Teaching Goals Inventory
• Developed Thomas Angelo and Patricia Cross
• Goal for Faculty Members
– Become more aware of what you want to accomplish with your course
– What are the best classroom assessment techniques and activities
– Starting point for discussion with faculty
• Community of Educators
• Online:
• http://fm.iowa.uiowa.edu/fmi/xsl/tgi/data_entry.xsl?-db=tgi_data&-lay=Layout01&-view
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What are Ability Based Outcomes (ABO)?
Knowledge
Integration of knowledge,skills, and attitudes/values objectives
Skills
Attitudes/
Values
ABO
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ABO
ABO is NOT an
Objective/ Competency
Objective/ Competency
Integration of knowledge, Relatively specific, atomistic skills, values and discrete.
and attitudes.
Often one and/ or two component/s of an ABO
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BLOOM’S LEVEL
KNOWLEDGE
COMPREHENSION
APPLICATION
ANALYSIS
SYNTHESIS
EVALUATION
SAMPLE VERBS
Write, List, Label, Name, State,
Define
Explain, Summarize, Paraphrase,
Describe, Illustrate
Use, Compute, Solve, Demonstrate
Apply, Construct
Analyze, Categorize, Compare,
Contrast, Separate
Create, Design, Hypothesis,
Invent, Develop
Judge, Recommend, Critique,
Justify
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Starting Point ABO
Writing Objectives
---ABCD Approach
 A for Audience—Who are your learners?
 B for Behavior– What do you expect them to do?
 C for Condition—What will the student be given or expected to know to accomplish learning?
 D for Degree—How much will be accomplished or needed to be performed?
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?
• Outcome – Clear picture of what the student will be able to do
• Practice – The assignments or opportunities to practice what you want them to be able to do
• Criteria – Are indicators of what will be a successful performance
• Feedback – Recommendations on how the student could improve
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Choosing Learning Activities
 What type of facilities or classroom do you have?
 How large is the class?
 What is your own teaching style or personality?
 Where are you in the semester?
--Takes time for students to get use to these techniques.
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Focused on “Student Learning”
 “You” versus “The Student”
 Being involved or an active participant in the course
 Clear
 Easy to read and follow
 Organized with appropriate headings
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 Provide the foundation for the course
 Pre-Requisites and other knowledge or skills you assume students know prior to this class
 Facilitate Student Learning
 What is needed for successful completion?
 Logistics of the course
 How long will assignments take in your estimation
 Reduce test anxiety and exam taking skills
 Sample Examination
 Sample examination with components of the syllabus
 Assignments, Activities, Concerts, Programs
 Relevant Handouts or Readings
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Syllabus is Not a Static Document
 Can change over the semester
 How change should be outlined early
 Cautious
 Too much change
 Better to wait until next year
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 Departmental Expectations
 How much you incorporate in the syllabus?
 Clearer the syllabus
 Avoid Student Confusion
 Avoid Issues with Grading
 Avoid Issues with Assignments or other activities
 Too much – does it limit your flexibility during the semester?
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Before Final Version and Class
• Ask a colleague review your syllabus- Is it clear?
• Discuss your course outcomes with others!
• Develop syllabus
– Put away and come back to see if you are missing anything or is it clear
– Look at it from the your student’s perspective
• Check for errors – This is your student’s first impression of you and your class!
• Post or make available for the first day of class!
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In Class – Day 1 and Beyond
 Day 1 is Critical
 Spend time - explain the format and design
 Go over pertinent points
 Beyond and into the semester
 Make it a living, useful document
 Are you heading towards the course outcomes?
 Refer to syllabus as needed for assignments and grading
 Modify components as needed
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Remember You are NOT ALONE
Like research - share and discuss teaching issues, dilemmas and successes!
– Work Together!
– Ask questions!
– Read!
– Attend local or national meetings of similar educators
Teaching and curriculum is an evolutionary process
Incorporate new technologies
Implementing new techniques can involve scaling the wall and taking risks!
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Resources
Centers
•
Teaching and Learning Center, University at Buffalo http://etc.buffalo.edu/
• The Center for Teaching and Learning, Stanford http://ctl.stanford.edu/
• Center for Teaching and Learning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill http://ctl.unc.edu/
• Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Illinois at Chicago http://teaching.uchicago.edu/
•
Center 4 Teaching and Learning, Wright State University http://www.wright.edu/ctl/
•
Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Minnesota http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/teachlearn/
• Center for Teaching and Learning, Cornell University http://www.clt.cornell.edu/
• Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University http://bokcenter.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do
•
The Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Florida, http://www.fctl.ucf.edu/
• Center for Instructional Development & Distance Education, University of Pittsburgh, http://www.cidde.pitt.edu/fds/
•
Other Available Programs
•
Case Studies in Teaching, The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science
Case Collection, University at Buffalo http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/cases/ubcase.htm
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Resources
Books
•
K. Bain, What the Best College Teachers Do, Harvard University Press, 2004
• S.A. Baiocco and J.N. DeWaters, Successful College Teaching, Allyn and Bacon, 1998
• R.A. Berk, Humor as an Instructional Defibrillator: Evidence-Based Techniques in Teaching and Assessment, Stylus,
2002
•
R.A. Berk, Professors are from Mars, Students are from Snickers, Stylus, 2003
•
B.G. Davis, Tools for Teaching, Jossey Bass, 1993
•
J.R. Davis Interdisciplinary Teaching: New Arrangements for Learning, Oryx Press, 1995
•
R.M. Diamond, Designing and Assessing Courses & Curriculum: A Practical Guide, Chapter 13 Developing a
Learning-Centered Syllabus, Jossey-Bass, 1998, 191-202
•
W.J. McKeachie ad M. Svinicki, McKeachie’s Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research and Theory for College and
University Teachers, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006
•
D. Kennedy, Academic Duty, Havard University Press, 1999
• P. Palmer, The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Mind, John Wiley and Sons, 1997 (10
Year Anniversary Version with CD
•
R. Pausch and J. Zaslow, The Last Lecture, Hyperion Books, New York 2008, http://www.thelastlecture.com/index.htm
Web Sites
•
Writing Course Objectives and Program Objectives http://www.lco.edu/facstaff/curric/writing_course_objectives.htm
•
How to Write Clear Objectives - Penn State http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/research/Write_Objectives.shtml
•
Bloom et al.'s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/bloom.html
•
•
Teaching Goals Inventory http://fm.iowa.uiowa.edu/fmi/xsl/tgi/data_entry.xsl?-db=tgi_data&-lay=Layout01&-view
CASE/Summer 09