Derived from a model developed by

Barbara J. TewksburyDepartment of Geosciences

Hamilton Collegebtewksbu@hamilton.edu

http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/coursedesign/tutorial/index.html

Designing Effective and Innovative Courses

A Practical Strategy Applied to the QST 110 Pilot Courses

Aim of this workshop

Introduce a practical strategy for QST 110 courses that gets students to think for themselves in the

context of first-year writing stresses inquiry and de-emphasizes traditional

direct instruction emphasizes relevance, transferability of writing

skills and writing to learn, and future use builds in authentic assessment

How are coursescommonly designed?

Make list of content items important to coverage of the field

Develop syllabus by organizing items into topical outline

Flesh out topical items in lectures, recitations, discussions, labs

Test knowledge learned in course

Paul’s Victorian Literature Course

Include Tennyson, E. Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, Dickens, one of the Brontes, random poetry, and Oscar Wilde

Organize syllabus by authorMidterm, Research Paper, and Final

Exam

Tewksbury: What’s missing:

Consideration of what your students need or could use, particularly after the course is over

Articulation of goals beyond content/coverage goals

Focus on student learning and problem solving rather than on coverage of material by the instructor

An alternativegoals-based approach

Emphasis on designing a course in which:Students learn significant and

appropriate content and skillsStudents have practice in thinking for

themselves and solving problems in the discipline

Students leave the course prepared to use their knowledge and skills in the future

An alternativegoals-based approach

Brings same kind of introspection, intellectual rigor, systematic documentation, and evaluation to teaching that each of us brings to our research

Really shakes the tree and designs the course from the bottom up

Assessment falls out naturally

Does it work?

An effective design template9 years of course design workshops;

now part of NSF-funded On the Cutting Edge program (http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops)

Available as an online tutorialhttp://serc.carleton.edu/

NAGTWorkshops/coursedesign/tutorial/index.html

Overview

Articulating context and audienceSetting goals

Setting overarching content goals Achieving goals through creating

assignments

Developing a course plan with activities and assignments to achieve the goals

Overview

Just a reminder of the dual role of our present development for the pilot program: Prepare for our fall courses “Test-drive” the faculty development

process for next year, seeing what does and doesn’t work.

For our purposes at this point, we will focus on your CONTENT goals.

Step 1: context & constraints

What are the primary challenges posed by the context and constraints of QST 110?

What opportunities are presented by the context and constraints that you could take advantage of in course design?

Step 2: Setting student-focused, overarching goals

We will set goals that:

A) Are student focused

B) Require higher order thinking skills

C) Have measurable outcomes

D) Are concrete rather than vague and abstract.

Step 2A: Setting student-focused, overarching goals

Teaching is commonly viewed as being teacher-centered.

Reinforced by the teaching evaluation process

Commonly reinforced by how we phrase course goals: “I want to expose my students to….” or “I want to teach my students about…” or “I want to show students that…”

We can’t do a student’s learning for him/her

Exposure does not guarantee learning

Students learn when they are actively engaged in practice, application, and problem-solving (NRC How People Learn).

Step 2A: Setting student-focused overarching goals

2A: Setting student-focused, overarching goals

Shouldn’t we be asking what we want the students to be able to do as a result of having completed the course, rather than what the instructor will expose them to?

Need to set course goals for the students, not the teacher

2A: Setting student-focused, overarching goals

Example from an art history course Survey of art from a particular period

Vs. Enabling students to go to an art

museum and evaluate technique of an unfamiliar work or evaluate an unfamiliar work in its historical context or evaluate a work in the context of a particular artistic genre/school/style

2A: Setting student-focused, overarching goals

Example from a bio course Survey of topics in general biology

Vs. Enabling students to evaluate claims

in the popular press or seek out and evaluate information or make informed decisions about issues involving genetically-engineered crops, stem cells, DNA testing, HIV AIDS, etc.

2A: Setting overarching goals for your course

Ask the question: “What do I want my students to be able to do?” I want my students to have a strong

background in ____

OR I want my students to use their strong

background in order to do ____

2B: Higher- vs. Lower-order Thinking Skills

Lower order thinking skills generally involve knowledge, comprehension, application:

explain

describe

paraphrase

list

identify

recognize

calculate

mix

prepare

2B: Examples of goals involving lower order thinking skills

At the end of this course, I want students to be able to: List the major contributing factors in the spread of

disease Identify common rocks and minerals Recognize examples of erosional and depositional

glacial landforms on a topographic map Cite examples of poor land use practice. Discuss the major ways that AIDS is transmitted. Calculate standard deviation for a set of data

2B: Goals involving higherorder thinking skills

Higher-order skills often involve analysis, synthesis, evaluation, some types of application:

predict

interpret

evaluate

derive

design

formulate

analyze

synthesize

create

2B: Examples of goals involving higher order thinking skills

At the end of this course, I want students to be able to: Make an informed decision about a

controversial topic, other than those covered in class, involving hydrogeologic issues.

Collect and analyze data in order to ___ Design models of ___ Solve unfamiliar problems in ____ Find and evaluate information/data on ____ Predict the outcome of ____

2B: Examples of goals involving higher-order thinking skills:

What makes these goals different from the previous set is that they are analytical, rather than reiterative.

Focus is on new and different situations.

Emphasis is on transitive nature of skills, abilities, knowledge, and understanding

Overarching goals involving lower order thinking skills are embedded in ones involving higher order thinking skills

Therefore, we’ll set goals with higher order thinking skills.

This has the added benefit of causing course designs where repeated practice becomes a natural part of achieving higher goals.

2C: Setting concrete goals withmeasurable outcomes:

Clearer path to designing a course when overarching goals are stated as specific, observable actions that students should be able to perform if they have mastered the content and skills of a course. I want students to be able to interpret unfamiliar

tectonic settings based on information on physiography, volcanic activity, and seismicity.

Vs. I want students to understand plate tectonics.

2D: Setting concrete rather than abstract goals

Abstract goals are laudable but difficult to assess directly and difficult to translate into practical course design I want students to appreciate the

complexity of Earth systems. I want students to think like scientists.

Trial run: evaluating goals

Goals should:

a) be student focused

b) require higher order thinking skills

c) have measurable outcomes

d) be concrete rather than vague

Do these goals meet our criteria?

I want to expose my students to the history of economic thought.

I want my students to understand that poverty is a complex issue.

I want my students to be able to identify rocks and minerals.

Students will be able to apply their knowledge of statistics to analyze reports and claims in the popular press.

For goals that don’t measure up, how would you improve them?

Paul’s Victorian Literature Course (New)

Goals:

Task #1: write overarching goals focusing on your course content

The overarching goals are the underpinning of your course and serve as the basis for developing activities to meet those goals.

3-4 overarching goals is ideal.There is no one right set of

overarching goals for a particular course topic.

Heed our four criteria for good goals

On Poster Paper:

Your nameCourse topicFirst draft of content goals

Step 3: Achieving goals through creating writing assignments

What writing assignments could you design to determine whether or not students meet the content goals (and our other common outcomes)?

(Remember: goals need to have measurable outcomes!)

General Concepts

Revisit topics/skills with increasing complexity in each course chunk

Enable students to have repeated practice toward goals with increasing independence

Embed lower order tasks in higher order tasks Broader content topics allow embedding of

concepts/content that would have been covered in a standard survey course

Topic coverage doesn’t have to be linear

Case Study: Paul’s “The Social Functions of Art” GST 101

GOALS: Analyze art in order to understand

your own responses to a particular piece

apply abstract concepts about art to particular works

analyze the role art plays in contemporary life

GOALS: interpret your own responses to art; apply

abstract concepts about art to particular works;analyze the role art plays in contemporary life

Old Paper Assignments:Analyze representational piece, pre-

1850

Analyze abstract piece, post-1850

Research paper: What should art do?

GOALS: interpret your own responses to art; apply

abstract concepts about art to particular works;analyze the role art plays in contemporary life

New Paper Assignments: How would/can you use this piece of

art?

What’s the best justification for abstract art?

Research paper: What should art do?

Paul’s Victorian Literature Course (Old)

Include Tennyson, E. Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, Dickens, one of the Brontes, random poetry, and Oscar Wilde

Organize syllabus by author

Midterm, Research Paper, and Final Exam

Paul’s Victorian Literature Course (New)

Structure:

Task #2: choose content topics to achieve overarching goals

Consider your overarching goal(s).

Take a first-stab at series of units on your second sheet of poster paper.

Remember our General Concepts:

Revisit topics/skills with increasing complexity in each course chunk

Enable students to have repeated practice toward goals with increasing independence

Embed lower order tasks in higher order tasks Broader content topics allow embedding of

concepts/content that would have been covered in a standard survey course

Topic coverage doesn’t have to be linear

Now Let’s Shake Things Up Even More!

Where and when do teaching and learning typically occur for your course? In the classroom? Outside of class?

When do students most need your help in processing course content? During their first exposure to new content? When they’re learning to apply new

content?Are you making the best use of the time

available for teaching and learning? --Walvoord 1998

An Assignment-Based Model

Asks students to be responsible for their first-exposure learning outside of class

Moves processing part—analyzing and synthesizing material, using it to solve problems, etc.—to classroom where teacher can help with and monitor student learning

Changes both teacher’s and students’ use of time from traditional model

Use of Time in Lecture-Based vs. Interactive Teaching

Lecture-based

Class time

First exposure to new material—facts, ideas, processes

Student study time

Process new material

Interactive Class time

Process—applies, analyzes, argues, solves problems using first-exposure material

Student study time

First exposure to new material

What Else Is Changed by Interactive Teaching?

Focus and nature of classroom work Active learning strategies in which students

are thinking, verbalizing, rehearsing, taking risks, receiving feedback! (More later.)

Higher-level expectations of students Major assignments as the backbone of

the course

Transition into Tasks 3 and 4

Developing a course plan: Merge goals and content to plan assignments and

activities that Move students toward mastery of content and skills Provide them with relevant practice in goals-related

tasks Need assignments that will

Encourage student learning Provide opportunities for formative feedback Provide grades and assessment

Step 3: Turning Units into Assignments

Remember: “What professors do in their classes matters far less than what they ask students to do.” --Halpern & Haskel 2003

Think of assignments as assessments that also integrate student learning

What will you have students DO in order to Learn the course content & Practice the goals?

Step 3: Turning Units into Assignments

1) To help you create appropriate assessments/assignments, ask yourself: “When the course is over, in what kind of situation do I expect

students to need, or be able to use, this knowledge?”“What assignments will elicit the kinds of learning I want to

measure?”

2) Use your answers to create a question or problem that replicates a real-life context: You’re on a hospital board and there’s a debate about . . . A friend comes to you asking for advice about a

relationship . . . Your mother is considering joining a religious group and

what’s to know if you think it’s a cult . . .

Step 3: Turning Units into Assignments

3) Ask questions that are relatively open-ended and not necessarily right/wrong;

4) Consider providing some assumptions or constraints:

The market is/is not efficient in strong-form, random-walk terms.

Create a dialogue between Vygotsky and Piaget, discussing your development as a writer. Explain which one you think is right, and why.

Read Borsch’s “5 rationales for abstract art,” choose the one you most agree with, and defend it.

Step 3: Turning Units into Assignments

And remember our other criteria: Low-vs. higher-order thinking? Student focused? Measurable outcomes? Concrete?

World Geography Draft 1: Students answer questions about differences in population and resources of countries in that region.

World Geography Draft 2: Students imagine they work for a company that is expanding into that region—students need to give advice on which country has necessary political stability, purchasing power, etc.

--Fink 2005

Task #3: create writing assignments

Use Poster Paper to briefly describe 3-4 major assignments (in order!).

Remember: Create a question or problem that replicates a real-life

context; Ask questions that are relatively open-ended and not

necessarily right/wrong; Consider providing some assumptions or constraints.

Stuck? Re-visit old assignments from this or related courses, and think about ways to reframe.

Need Some Help?

See Walvoord’s “Types of Assignments and Tests”

See Bean—ch. 5 (pp. 74-95) Thesis-support papers Alternatives to thesis-support papers Formal writing-to-learn assignments Microthemes Exploratory essays Reflection papers Others

Step 4: Figuring out the Day-to-Day

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” 2000-year-old proverb

Active learning: “Involving students in doing things and thinking about the things they’re doing.” Bonwell and Eison 1991

“One must learn by doing the thing, for though you think you know it—you have no certainty, until you try”Sophocles

Step 4: Figuring out the Day-to-Day

Importance of having a teaching toolbox:

If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Same goes for teaching. If the only tool in your teaching toolbox is lecturing, then….

Importance of having a teaching toolbox

As you enter a classroom, ask yourself this question: “If there were no students in the classroom, could I do what I am planning to do?” If the answer to the question is yes, don’t do it.

General Ruben Cubero, Dean of theFaculty, United States Air Force Academy

(Novak et al., 1999, Just-in-Time Teaching)

Importance of having a teaching toolbox

Learn about successful student-active assignment/activity strategies think-pair-share, jigsaw, discussion,

simulations, role-playing, concept mapping, concept sketches, debates, long-term projects, research-like experiences….

assignments involving writing, poster, oral presentation, service learning….

Make deliberate choices of the best strategy for the task.

Writing Tools We Already Know About (and use):

Peer RespondingWorkshopsDaily Jottings/Reading ResponsesOthers?

Tools Bean Mentions (chpt. 6):

In-class writing (to start, to refocus, to clarify, to summarize)

Journals (open-ended; semi-structured; guided; double-entry; contemporary issues; exam-preparation)

Dialogues Bio-poems Metaphors/Analogies E-mail/Blackboard discussions Specific Exploration tasks for assignments Thesis Writing Frame Paragraphs

Tools Bean Mentions (chpt. 10):

Lecture/discussion summaries Feedback lectures (think-pair-share) Narratives of our own thinking/writing

processes Student-generated discussion questions Discuss discussions Debates Role-playing Case studies and simulations

Lowering the risk of active-learning strategies

Choose a strategy that’s not very different from what you’re accustomed to doing

Devote only short amounts of time to strategies

Use more highly structured activities Over time, you will develop confidence and a

larger repertoire of strategies --Bonwell & Eison 1991

Low-risk and High-risk Strategies

Low-risk Structured small-

group discussion Self-assessment

activities In-class writing Quizzes Lectures with

pauses Surveys/

questionnaires

Higher-risk Role playing Small-group

presentations Individual

presentations Unstructured

small-group discussion

Task #4: Plan some of the strategies you’ll use for each

unit:

1) Use some of the tools in our toolbox to plan active-learning activities for your course.

2) Suggest other active-learning strategies for your colleagues’ courses.

Aligning assessmentsand goals (a gentle reminder)

What students receive grades on must be tasks that allow you to evaluate whether students have met the course goals If students are graded largely on their

abilities to recall, define, recognize, and follow cook-book steps, you have not evaluated their progress toward goals involving higher order thinking skills.

Don’t assess what is easily measured – assess what you value

Aligning assessmentsand goals (cont.)

Example: Students will be able to evaluate and predict the influence of climate, hydrology, biology, and geology on the severity of a natural disaster. Give students an unfamiliar example Can they do it??

Course Design Tutorial

http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/coursedesign/tutorial/index.html

References

Bonwell, C.C. & Eison, J.A. (1991). Active learning: Creating excitement in the classroom. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 1. Washington, D.C.: The George Washington University, School of Education and Human Development.

Fink, L.D. (2005). Integrated course design. IDEA Paper No. 42. Kansas State University, Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development.

Halpern, D.F. & Hakel, M.D. Applying the science of learning to the university and beyond. Change July/August 2003. In The teaching professor 17:8 (Oct. 2003).

National Research Council. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school: Expanded edition. Washington, D.C.: National Academic Press. Available online <http://www.nap.edu/books/0309070368/html/>

Walvoord, B.E. & Anderson, V.J. (1998). Effective grading: A tool for learning and assessment. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.