course design sept 07

8/3/2019 Course Design Sept 07

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Designing Your Course:Instructional Design, Course Planning,

and Developing the Syllabus

Danielle Mihram, Ph.D.Distinguished Faculty Fellow

USC Center for Excellence in [email protected]


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Effective Course Design

Effective course design includes the following key elements:

(a) Determining what you want your students to learn and how you will measurewhat they are learning; and

(b) Selecting a set of activities, assignments, and materials that will help you leadthese students in their learning.

At the end of this workshop, instructors should be prepared to produce asyllabus which:

Articulates specific aims and objectives for a course in their field

Identifies the relationship between course objectives, course content, and

sequencing of material Demonstrates how teaching effectiveness is related to student assessment

and course objectives

States clearly defined mutual expectations

Is clear, coherent, and comprehensive.


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AUseful and Effective Syllabus

Requires reflection and analysis before instruction begins

Provides a plan that conveys the logic and organization of thecourse;

Includes content, process, and product goals

Provides students with a way to assess the whole course itsrationale, activities, policies, and scheduling

Clarifies instructional priorities

Defines and discusses the mutual responsibilities for theinstructor and the students in successfully meeting course goals

Allows students to achieve high degrees of personal control overtheir learning

Is much more than a practical document, it has conceptual andphilosophical components

Serves as a contract for learning


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Overview

Instructional design & Course planning: A systemic approach

Planning

Course content

Course objectives

The Teaching Goals Inventory Group work

Learning objectives and outcomes

Instructional strategies for student engagement and lifelong learning

-- Issues of Assessment

Examples of assessment tools Identifying and assembling resources

Syllabus checklist

Useful resources


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Instructional Design & Course PlanningASystemic Approach

3. Conducting:

Selecting appropriate and effective teaching methods

Ongoing classroom assessment of your students learning

4. Assessing:

1. The course at mid-term2. The course at the end of term

5. Reflecting on your teaching

Course design includes the following Instructional Commonplaces

Learner Teacher

Subject matter

Social milieu (learning context)

Evaluation


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Analyzing

Conditions of your teaching situation:

What official need(s) is the course to fulfill? e.g.:

Meet the needs of the labor market?

Satisfy the requirements of a national accreditation

organism? Update old content and respond to important

developments in a modern field?

What is the courses scope within the general program of study?(How does your course begin? Why does it begin and end whereit does?

The requirements of subsequent courses


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Analyzing (Contd)

The characteristics of your students:

Diverse academic profiles? (the courses they have taken; the contentand pedagogical organization of the previous courses)

The degree of homogeneity of the enrolling students

Their professional (and personal) expectations of the course

Do the students know each other, and have they worked togetherpreviously?

The resources at your disposal:

Technological support [IT support] for web-based teaching, for multi-

media instruction, or for distance learning? Use of smart rooms?

Departmental (or university) support for field trips or out of classactivities?

Honoraria for guest speakers?


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Planning

Initial questions to ask when determining course content:

What are the core scholarly, or scientific, or field-specificfindings and assumptions?

What are the main points of arguments? What are the key bodiesof evidence?

What is the context of the course within the larger curriculumframework?


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Planning (Contd)

(Initial questions to ask when determining course content:)

Established course or new?

Level of course (1st year? Upper division? Graduate level?)

Is the course required or elective?

Based on textbook and/or course pack?

Requires activities outside of class?


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Overview


Planning

Course content

Course objectives The Teaching Goals Inventory

Learning objectives



Examples of assessment tools

Identifying and assembling resources

Syllabus checklist Useful resources


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Planning: Course Content

Be clear about what is most worth knowing (What do students needtoknow in order to derive maximumbenefit from this educationalexperience?)

Describe the content that students will be required to know

Discuss the content that you will make available to supportindividual student inquiry or projects

Provide content that might be of interest to a student who wantsto specialize in this area

Develop a conceptual framework (theory, theme, controversial

issue) to support major ideas and topics

Decide what topics are appropriate to what types of studentactivities and assignments


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Developing CourseObjectives

General objectives: A course objective is a simple statement of what youexpect your students to know.

Determining the objectives is the most important aspect of courseplanning (Ask yourself, What do students needto know in order toderive maximumbenefit from this educational experience? What

educational outcomes do I want a graduate of this course todisplay?).

Plan backwards from where you want students to end in terms oftheir new knowledge, attitudes, and skills.

List these as learning objectives (student learning outcomes) [by

the end of the course you will be able to]. Design the course in a logical and scaffolded sequence of learningactivities (reading assignments, lectures, quizzes, technology-mediated experiences, formative assessments)


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Developing Course Objectives (Contd)

Course Objectives are based on various learning modes [the AVK Modelof Learning]:

Hearing (Audio), as in lectures, seminars and discussion sections

Seeing (Visual), as in reading and observing Doing (Kinesthetic), as in performance, practical and laboratory

work (which may involve taste and smell as well).

(Students learn in highly individual and complex combinations ofAVK.)

Each discipline and subject has its own AVK requirements, butincorporating some A, V, and K learning into your course syllabusnot only makes for a more interesting class but, pedagogicallyspeaking, also helps to maximize the learning potential of eachstudent.


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Developing Course Objectives (Contd)

Verbs that can be used to help construct concrete objectives foryour class.

analyze appreciate classify collaborate

compare compute contrast define

demonstrate direct derive designate

discuss display evaluate explain

identify infer integrate interpret

justify list name organize outline

report respond solicit state

synthesize

(N.B. not an exhaustive list)


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Examples of Course Goals

Discern the differences between personal writing andwriting for academic and other audiences, and showawareness of and aptitude with voice and style

appropriate for these audiences Understand the relationship of the visual to the textual;

learn to "read" images

Integrate technology in a rich and meaningful way into

the research and writing process Encourage students to write for a "real world" audience

beyond the classroom, if possible for campus or localpublication.


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Actual Examples of Course Goal Statements(for you to evaluate)

"Fin de sicle [sic] 1800, 1900, 2000: Three Modern Turns in MythicNational Cultures

we will see how each era privileges certain classes of texts, defines theindividual, the citizen, and the human in particular ways, inscribes that

individual into the public sphere of the nation through education and otherinstitutions, and offers a vision of history that legitimizes or challenges thegroup's identity. We will learn as scholars how to situate central texts ofculture within precise, illuminating historical, sociological, andnarratological contexts, in awareness of how ideological premises becomenaturalized by disciplines, theories, and the institutions adapting them tothe service of the nation, as well as by a characteristic "order of texts"

(Chartier) -- a set of textual or artifactual "performances" that disseminatedthose ideologies.

http://www.utexas.edu/courses/arens/1800/1800index.html


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Principles of Psychology

The goal of this course is to provide abroad, general introduction topsychology, which is the scientificstudy of behavior and mentalprocesses. () You should emerge

from the course with an increasedawareness of the broad range ofphenomena investigated bypsychologists and with a greater abilityto understand and critiquepsychological research. Specialemphasis will be placed on applyingpsychological principles to everydaylife.

http://www.southwestern.edu/~giuliant/intro.html

Fundamentals of CognitiveNeuropsychology

In this course, we first will examine traditionally-defined topics in cognitive psychology (e.g.,visual perception, attention, executivefunction, memory, motor control, language,consciousness), and address: (a) how

available cognitive theories have shaped theinvestigation of cognitive disorders in braindamaged patients, and (b) how the resultingneurological data has shaped (or reshaped)cognitive theory. Although the focus of thiscourse will be on findings from studies ofcognitive disorders in patients with localizedbrain damage, we will also seek convergingevidence from complementary techniques

that allow examination mind-brainrelationships in normal individuals,including functional neuroimaging (e.g.,PET, fMRI) and neuromonitoring (e.g.,ERP).

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/psychology/courses/syllabi/3480.html


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Corporate Finance

This course provides anintroduction to the moderntheory and practice ofcorporate finance.

Marketing Management

The goals of this course are tointroduce you to thesubstantive and

procedural aspects ofmarketing management,and to sharpen yourcritical thinking skills.

Strategy and Organization

The primary objective of thiscourse is to help you learnto diagnose management

situations so that you willbe able to transfer this skillto your work experience.


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CourseObjectives: The Teaching Goals Inventory (TGI)

Includes considerations of six major components:

1. Higher order thinking skills

2. Basic academic success skills

3. Discipline-specific knowledge and skills

4. Liberal arts and academic values

5. Work and career preparation

6. Personal development


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Course objectives:The Teaching Goals Inventory (TGI)

Found in:

Angelo, Thomas A. & K. Patricia Cross

(1993).Classroom AssessmentTechniques - A Handbook for CollegeTeachers. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass(2nd ed.).


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CourseObjectives:The Teaching Goals Inventory (TGI)

Purposes of the TGI:

To help college teachers become more aware of what they want toaccomplish in individual courses

To help faculty locate classroom assessment techniques they can

adapt and use to assess how well they are achieving their teachingand learning goals among colleagues

To provide a starting point for discussion of teaching and learninggoals among colleagues

See pp. 393-397 in:

Angelo, Thomas A. & K. Patricia Cross (1993). Classroom Assessment

Techniques - A Handbook for College Teachers. San Francisco:Jossey-Bass (2nd ed.).

Online Access to list:http://www.siue.edu/~deder/assess/cats/tchgoals.html

http://fm.iowa.uiowa.edu/fmi/xsl/tgi/data_entry.xsl?-db=tgi_data&-lay=Layout01&-view


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CourseObjectives:The Teaching Goals Inventory (TGI)

Group work:

Teaching Goals Inventory and Self-scorable worksheet

(Handout)

A. Each participant:

1. Considers ONE course you are (or will) teach

2. Responds (by circling in pencil) to each item on the TGI inrelation to that particular course

B. Participants form small groups:

Explain your responses to team members

C. General discussion: what have we learned?


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PHYS345 Electricity and Electronics

Course Objectives:

As a result of this course, I hope that you can better

Realize the importance of electricity and electronics in everyday life and value its benefitto society.

Access the fundamental physics available for dealing with engineering problems in the

electrical domain. Apply selected physical concepts important in designing and using electrical and

electronic circuits.

Analyze and solve realistic problems, use mathematical techniques effectively in theirsolution, and reason accurately and objectively about the physical domain.

Translate verbal and graphical descriptions of physical systems into appropriatemathematical models.

Analyze and draw valid conclusions from experimentally obtained data. Apply spreadsheet or modeling software to organize data, perform calculations, and

display results graphically.

Communicate technical ideas effectively, both in writing and orally.

http://www.physics.udel.edu/~watson/phys345/frame/index_syllabus.html


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LearningOutcomes

What your students will learn within the content of a body ofknowledge

Each course objective should lead to an actionable learning

outcome: A short statement, formulated from the professorspoint of view, beginning with a verb and providing actionableoutcomes:

Introduce students to so that; help student discover and then ; develop the ability to so as to transfer to ;

give students a theoretical and practical overview to .

See The Teaching Goals Inventory (TGI)


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Student LearningOutcomes -SpecificObjectives

Specific objectives: from the students point of view (Learning goalsand outcomes)

What the student must be able to do or achieve during or at the end of a

learning situation or section (in order to attain the generalobjectives).

These objectives are linked to each of the courses themes and generalobjectives:

Permits you to link a given subject and student performanceEach objective must be linked to an action or outcome


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StudentLearning Outcomes - Specific ObjectivesAn Example

(Course:Using Technology inScience Education)

At the end of this course, you should be able to:

1. List and contrast current models of science teaching and learningusing technology.

2. Critique current models of teaching and learning using technology inrelation to your personal philosophy of science education.

3. Analyze curricular technology models for alignment with publishedstandards.

4. Identify effective assessment models for evaluating technology.

5. Discuss how pro-active strategies can establish safe classroom

environments where all students are encouraged to participate andexpress their views.

http://faculty.washington.edu/jrios/TEDUC%20513/General%20Course%20Information.html


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Actual Examples ofLearning Objectives(for you to evaluate)

Be able to compare andcontrast earnings and cashflows as measures ofperformance.

Identify and use three formattechniques to increase theeffectiveness of a writtenbusiness communication.

Understand the mechanics ofthe cash flow statement.

Conduct independent researchand write a publishable articlefor a newspaper orprofessional journal.

Understand theimplementation of SOX on USbusinesses and the resultingchanges.

Prepare and deliver apersuasive presentation usinglogical and emotionalarguments.


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Actual Examples ofLearning Objectives(for you to evaluate)

Art History - SurveyII

Learning Outcomes and Performance Objectives with their methods of measurement as used todetermine the students mastery of those outcomes.Learning Outcomes/PerformanceObjectives/Measurements:

A. The student will identify vocabulary, media, and general theories related to the history of art

from the 14th century through present day. Evaluation: written assignments, including researchpapers, and written exams.

B. The student will distinguish and classify works of art and architecture within the context ofthe individual, society, time, place and circumstance within the time frame covered in this course.Evaluation: written assignments, including research papers, museum/gallery visits and writtenexams.

C. The student will describe the material, cultural and conceptual conditions involved in making

and using works of art and architecture. Evaluation: written assignments, including researchpapers, museum/gallery visits and written exams.

D. The student will interpret works of art and architecture by synthesizing formal analysis withscholarly research. Evaluation: research papers, exhibit and/or resource critique.

http://www.accd.edu/sac/vat/arthistory/arts1304/syllabus.htm


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ForAccess to Syllabi in all Fields

Go to:

World Lecture Hall

http://web.austin.utexas.edu/wlh/browse.cfm


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Overview


Planning

Course content


Group work

Learning objectives

Instructional strategies for student engagement and lifelonglearning




Syllabus checklist

Useful resources


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Instructional Strategies

The core question: How to develop a challenging and supportive course climatethat builds on students interests, exemplifies the big topics in the field,teaches interpersonal and collaborative skills, and develops the capacity forlifelong learning (learning how to learn in the field).

Decide on a mix of strategies to shape basic skills and procedures,

present information, guide inquiry, monitor individual and groupactivities, and support and challenge critical reflection

The chosen strategies must fit with the outcomes you hope to achieve

Examples of general instructional strategies:

Training and coaching

Lecturing and explaining

Inquiry and discovery Field work and community-based work

Experiential opportunities (such as internships) and reflection(portfolios)


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EncouragingActive Student InvolvementandLifelong Learning

Are course topics related to content, or process, or both? Whatembedded activities will help students to learn the tools of thediscipline or field?

Activities and products that can involve students in sustainedintensive work, both independently and with one a other might

include: Group research projects

Reaction papers on one of several topics provided by the instructor orsuggested by the student(s)

Challenging the students to improve the syllabus by adding oromitting a reading assignment or two (with a rationale for doing so)

A learner-centered approach changes the students role byencouraging acceptance of personal responsibility for learning -intentional learning (this can be difficult for students who havebeen educated as passive learners).


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Considering Issues ofAssessment

(To be discussed at greater length in another session)

Demonstrations of learning should include multiple ways torepresent knowledge and skills

Consider the role and rationale for individual and group assessmentopportunities

Provide worked examples and grading rubrics where possible so thatall learners know what constitutes good (successful) work

Consider using both formative and summative modes of assessment


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Examples ofAssessment Tools

Products (essays, research reports, other projects)

Performance assessments (music, dance, dramatic performance[e.g., role play], science experiments, demonstrations, debates.)

Process-focused assessment (journals, learning logs, reflective

statements, oral presentations) Assessment of recall and application at the highest cognitive level

(Blooms et al. taxonomies)

Examine the CET website for more helpful information onassessment:

http://www.usc.edu/programs/cet/resources/assessment/


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Overview


Planning

Course content


Group work

Learning objectives





Syllabus checklist

Useful resources


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Identifying andAssembling Resources

Consider ways to include the full range of knowledge nodes (someof which may include alternative and conflicting perspectives).These would include:

Lectures, panel presentations, case studies, demonstrations,facilitation, discussion, online discussion boards

books and readings, films, multimedia, maps, libraries,museums, theaters, studios, labs, databases, Internet sites, .

Involve outside individuals, communities, or officials for guestlectures and service learning opportunities where appropriate (Forexample: USCs Joint Educational project [JEP].)

Assign projects that will tap into students personal interpretationsby challenging them to search for further information or new, evencontradictory, points of view.


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Overview


Planning

Course content


Group work

Learning objectives





Syllabus checklist

Useful resources


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Syllabus ChecklistExpanded from Grunert, J. (2007). The Course Syllabus

Course Identifiers

Instructor Contact Information

Purpose of Course

Course Goal and LearningObjectives

Course requirements,Prerequisites, Co-requisites

Required,RecommendedMaterials

Assignments and Exam DueDates

Evaluation specifics

Grading criteria

Policies, Expectations

Missed exams, quizzes

Attendance

Other, as required

Detailed Schedule

Reading list with reference


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Useful Resources on Course Design and Syllabus Creation

Grunert, Judith (2007) The CourseSyllabus: A Learning-CenteredApproach. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Prgent, Richard (2000). ChartingYour Course: How to Prepare toTeach More Effectively. Madison,Wisconsin: Atwood (English ed.).


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Angelo, Thomas A. and K. Patricia Cross(1993). Classroom AssessmentTechniques A Handbook for CollegeTeachers. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass (2nd ed.).

Richlin, Laurie (2006). Blueprint forLearning Constructing CollegeCourses to Facilitate, Assess, andDocument Learning. Sterling, VA:Stylus.


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Teaching and Learning Resources on the website of the USC Center forExcellence in Teaching:

http://www.usc.edu/programs/cet/resources/

Syllabus and Course Design

http://www.usc.edu/programs/cet/resources/creating_syllabi/

USC Office of Curriculum - Sample Syllabus Template

http://www.usc.edu/dept/ARR/curriculum/handbook.html


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Review


Planning

Course content


Group work

Learning objectives





Syllabus checklist

Useful resources

course design sept 07

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