Foundation for Developing A Student

Centered Learning Syllabus for Your Course

CASE/Summer 09

Acknowledgement

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

CASE/Summer 09

Outline

• Designing your course and developing your course syllabus

• Developing course outcomes and objectives

• Important considerations in your course syllabus

CASE/Summer 09

Resource List

• Books

• Web Sites• Teaching and

Learning Centers• Other Programs

CASE/Summer 09

Key: Effective Syllabus

Work Done Prior to Putting

Syllabus On Paper

Anticipate Student

Questions and Concerns

It is Your Blue Print for

Success!

CASE/Summer 09

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”CASE/Summer 09

CASE/Summer 09

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?

Where Does Your Course Fit?

• Course Ability-based Outcomes

• Department Educational Outcomes

• Mission Statement of the College Accreditation Standards Guidelines

• Mission of the College

CASE/Summer 09

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

CASE/Summer 09

What are Ability Based Outcomes (ABO)?

Skills

Knowledge

Attitudes/ Values

ABOCASE/Summer 09

Integration of knowledge,skills,and attitudes/valuesobjectives

ABO is NOT anObjective/ Competency

ABO Objective/ Competency

Integration of knowledge, Relatively specific, atomistic

skills, values and discrete.and attitudes.

Often one and/ or two component/s of an

ABO

CASE/Summer 09

CASE/Summer 09

BLOOM’S LEVEL SAMPLE VERBS

KNOWLEDGE Write, List, Label, Name, State, Define

COMPREHENSION Explain, Summarize, Paraphrase,Describe, Illustrate

APPLICATION Use, Compute, Solve, Demonstrate Apply, Construct

ANALYSIS Analyze, Categorize, Compare, Contrast, Separate

SYNTHESIS Create, Design, Hypothesis, Invent, Develop

EVALUATION Judge, Recommend, Critique, Justify

Starting Point ABOWriting 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?CASE/Summer 09

What about Class Activities?

• 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

CASE/Summer 09

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.

CASE/Summer 09

General Guidelines - Syllabus

Focused on “Student Learning”“You” versus “The Student”

Being involved or an active participant in the course

ClearEasy to read and followOrganized with appropriate

headings

CASE/Summer 09

Goal: Enhance Student Learning Provide the foundation for the course

Pre-Requisites and other knowledge or skills you assume students know prior to this class

Facilitate Student LearningWhat is needed for successful completion?

Logistics of the courseHow long will assignments take in your

estimationReduce test anxiety and exam taking skills

Sample ExaminationSample examination with components of

the syllabusAssignments, Activities, Concerts, ProgramsRelevant Handouts or Readings

CASE/Summer 09

Syllabus is Not a Static Document

CASE/Summer 09

Can change over the semester

How change should be outlined early

Cautious Too much changeBetter to wait until

next year

More is Better?Personal Decision

Departmental ExpectationsHow much you incorporate in the

syllabus?Clearer the syllabus

Avoid Student ConfusionAvoid Issues with GradingAvoid Issues with Assignments or

other activitiesToo much – does it limit your flexibility

during the semester?

CASE/Summer 09

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!

CASE/Summer 09

In Class – Day 1 and Beyond

Day 1 is CriticalSpend time - explain the format and

designGo over pertinent points

Beyond and into the semesterMake it a living, useful document

Are you heading towards the course outcomes?

Refer to syllabus as needed for assignments and grading

Modify components as neededCASE/Summer 09

Remember You are NOT ALONE

CASE/Summer 09

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!

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

CASE/Summer 09

ResourcesBooks• 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