Course Planning (Part 1)

Course Planning (Part 1)

Planning for next round of teaching - What big picture ideas do you want your students to gain?

Before you immerse yourself in the day to day thinking of your courses, make a list of the big picture concepts that you want your students to gain in this course. In ten years when they have forgotten all of the details and most of the content, what do you want them to remember about this discipline? In addition, do you want them to acquire better thinking skills, be able to see connections, have a new set of skills, obtain new values, etc.?

 Once you have thought about these broader picture issues for some time, then you can revise your courses to be more consistent with these ideas.

*Planning Process

When you get to planning for your next round of teaching use this planning process:

First consider the situational factors - who are your students, how does this course fit into the large education program?

 Then consider your learning goals for the course. What do you want your students to achieve at the end of the course?

 Next plan how you will assess your students and give them feedback. Assessment should be consistent with the goals of the course.

 Finally plan your teaching and learning activities to help the students reach these objectives.

It may sound backwards, but it is more consistent and leads to a better course.

*Key Questions to Consider When Designing Courses

Consider answering these four key questions when you are designing your courses:

What situational factors plan an important role in this course? Situational factors include the general context of the learning situation (e.g., the university, the profession, etc), the nature of the subject, the characteristics of the learners, and the characteristics of the teachers.

What should the full set of learning goals be for the course to meet the expectations of the courses that come afterward, the profession, higher education in general, etc?

What kind of feedback and assessment should the teacher provide?

What kinds of teaching and learning activities will foster the achievement of the complete set of learning goals that have been set?

These should be unifying themes in your planning.

This tip comes from Dr. L. Dee Fink, an internationally known designer from the University of Oklahoma. He has developed a model for integrated course design leading to significant learning experiences.

Are you thinking of revising your courses by next year?

Are you on the cusp of deciding if you want to revise your course or what to revise in your teaching? If so, consult with the important stakeholders (people to whom the course matters) before you make revisions. Important stakeholders for any course include students, faculty who teach courses for which your course is a prerequisite, or co-requisite, the faculty who teach the prerequisite courses to yours, and your chair.

If you want to get ideas form previous students, you might consider a post-course survey or focus group. Keep the stakeholder faculty informed if you will be changing the content or delivery of your courses so they will know what to expect.

Since the first time you offer a revised course or make innovations, it may not be perfect. Let your chair know of your plans in advance. All of these stakeholders will be wonderful resources for ideas for improvement.

Curriculum Development Process

A standard curriculum development process involves the following steps:

 A statement of need - why is this course needed, by whom, for what

 Development of the goals of the course

 Design the instruction, teaching and learning activities and the student assessment tolls to match these goals

 Deliver the course - implementation

 Use feedback to evaluate how well it went, where it can be improved

 Revise the course as needed, based on feedback and experience.

Don't forget to incorporate the feedback loop into your thoughts and revisions. Feedback can come from many sources including your students directly, student evaluations, your own experience with the course, faculty who teach your students afterwards the changing demands of the field or profession, peer evaluation, etc.

*Depth vs. Breadth

As you plan your courses, think of the curriculum to be learned as a rectangle, with the horizontal sides = breadth and the vertical sides = depth. In this image the area of the rectangle basically remains constant regardless of how you construct the rectangle. Which do you need for your course, greater breadth or greater depth? You cannot have it both ways. Mathematically inclined folks will remind us that the maximum area of a rectangle with the smallest parameter is a square. Perhaps you also need to make your curriculum more of a square than a very narrow, but long rectangle. (Adapted from John Biggs- Teaching for Quality Learning at University, What the student does), SHRE and Open Press, 1999

*Preparing course syllabi

The more explicit you make the course syllabus, the more you are communicating with your students about their course. This improves the chances that the students will succeed in the course. Here is a checklist of topics (not comprehensive, I'm sure) to include in an expanded course syllabus or course manual:

·         Why would a student want or need to take this course?

·         What are the course objectives? Where do they lead the student intellectually and practically?

·         What are the prerequisites for the course? This includes not just previously taken courses but major concepts that the students are assumed to know and be able to use in the course. How will students acquire necessary, but missing skills or concepts?

·         Why do the parts of the course come in the order they do?

·         What instructional formats (lectures, labs, discussions, student presentations, group work, etc.) will be used, when?

·         What does the faculty member expect from the students in day to day classes, in assignments, on tests, etc.?

·         What is the purpose of assignments and exams?

·         What will be exams and assignments evaluate - memory, understanding, ability to synthesize, application, presenting evidence logically, writing skills, problem solving, etc.?

·         Why have the books been chosen? What is their relative importance in the course and in the discipline?

·         What other resources should the students obtain/access. e.g., calculator, lab materials, professional attire, access to the Web, etc.

·         Include a detailed schedule of events, classes, assignments, exams, date due and your expectations regarding them.

·         Include your policies on lateness (both personal and for assignments), make-ups, absence, class participation, etc.

·         How will the final grade be determined - Will you curve the grades, allow students who are getting an A to be excused from the final, etc.? What weight does each assignment, exam, class participation, presentation, etc. have?

·         Who the instructors will be if more than one is used, and how the students can contact them.

Take time to plan and develop detailed course syllabi, it will save you time later.

Source :

http://www.usciences.edu/teaching/tips/planning.shtml © 2011 University of the Sciences in Philadelphia • 60

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