Course Design & Structure Introducing Janet Watson: A teaching colleague and Senior Faculty Advisor with CTE Brings a unique perspective from teaching, consulting, research and curriculum development Skied from Aspen to Vail Swam the Alcatraz swim a few years back Things to think about: Mastery? What does it mean…? Applying to their world or biz world Things you’d never know about Todd… WIIFM Todd is an avid karate instructor Amateur improviser Taking skydiving lessons and Rides his motorcycle 100 miles per hour to get to Haas on time! Todd Fitch and Janet Watson CTE

SYLLABUS

Syllabus: The Plan Summarizes course narrative, course goals, student activities Syllabus is the roadmap for the students Your syllabus represents the contract between you and your students The syllabus provides the roadmap for students: it is reassuring at the outset of a course for students to know where they are going and what is expected of them. Explaining the organization of the syllabus communicates the narrative of the course - you are explaining why their scrapbook of course memories will be organized in this particular way What kinds of things do you like to see in a syllabus? Look at the course Design Template – there is a place to detail the flow of the course and then a list of important elements to include in a syllabus REFER TO THE TWO SYLLABI THAT ARE PROVIDED AS EXAMPLES © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016 3

The art of weaving… Organize topics and corresponding learning Spiral curriculum builds Blend in learning outcomes Manage time for questions Plan conclusions © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016

Design & Structure

Limit yourself to 4-7 topics Course topics: Focus Emphasize the essential. Focus on the BIG idea Material of high interest to students Material that is not covered elsewhere Limit yourself to 4-7 topics You don’t have the time and they will not remember it all. © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016 6

Order: a narrative structure From Tools for Teaching by Barbara Gross Davis, 2009 Order the topics… Chronologically In their real world relationships As they are used in business, social or career settings Grouped in themes or modules Developmental – prereqs, novice, expert © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016

Gender Equity Best Practices from the Gender Equity Initiative: Female Protagonists Students’ concerns Guest Speakers - Upfront acknowledgement of the lack of female protagonists in subject-matter case material and subsequent attention to incorporating more cases with female protagonists - Willingness to listen to and address students' ongoing concerns with race/gender equity concerns throughout the semester - 50/50 male-female representation in guest speakers © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016

The first day

Before the first class Welcome email Review and learn from FB Relevant, engaging syllabus Wardrobe distinguishes you Conscientious thought into wardrobe…matters on the class…think about…congruent and approachable…a higher level… upgrade… © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016

The Basics Jump right in with content – do a mini-lesson Set expectations-mutual goals Elevator speech of your course Highlight experience you draw from Advice-how to succeed in course © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016

From student’s perspective What is one question you want answered by the end of the course? © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016

PLACEHOLDER FOR PICTURE

Sticky Teaching The curse of expertise Follow SUCCES Simple - Credible Unexpected - Emotion Concrete - Stories Start out with the tapper exercise Choose two volunteers Have one volunteer tap out the rhythm to the song “The Start Spangled Banner” or Happy Birthday – no one else should know what they are going to “tap out” They can tap with their foot or on a table with their hand. The second person will try to guess what song it is. They will have trouble likely Why is it so clear to the tapper and not to the listener? More importantly how hard did the tapper think it would be for the listener to come up with the song? The curse of expertise is the reason why teaching can be difficult: When you already know something (a topic, a song etc) it is hard to imagine what it is like NOT TO KNOW IT The 6 principles address the Curse of Expertise, by applying them you can avoid falling into the Curse of Expertise © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016

Simple What is the core message of the class or what are the big issues to answer? Communicate as simply as possible Small units Use analogies or familiar concepts Relevance Point 1: This requires some tough decisions What is in and what is out? Point 2: Take baby steps – break concepts apart and/or use analogies to things that students already are familiar with Examples…. Try to memorize the following in 10-15 seconds J FKFB INAT OUP SNA SAI RS © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016

Unexpected Present a puzzle to solve…a mystery? Show what the students are missing in their understanding Give the Huh? Moment before the Aha! Examples of “mysteries” What should a small start-up do in the face of competition from Google?” or © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016

Concrete Appeals to the senses-sight, sound, taste, smell, touch-to explain material Demonstrations or examples Use their modality: VAKD Anything that appeals to the senses, makes material more accessible than just a thought or idea. Another example is of a high school teacher trying to teach the history of the Civil War – they talked about strategies, tactics, progress of the battlefront, political debates. The students were respectful, but not much more. Then he decided to try something different. He asked the student to imagine the sounds of war (the explosions, the rustle of uniforms, the occasional eerie quiet) and the smells of war (dust, gunpowder, blood, excrement) © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016

Credible How do we make something believable? Test it Experience it Statistics to substantiate WHAT WE WANT STUDENTS TO REMEMBER ARE THE RELATIONSHIPS, NOT THE STATISTICS necessarily © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016

Emotion Appeal to something other than heads What Emotion does for an idea—it makes people care. It makes people feel something. Hit them in the gut or in the heart! © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016

Stories Stories drive home relevance Mental stimulation of visualization Wealth of your timeline They are entertaining, relaxing, unthreatening but there are more reasons why they work as a device for teaching 1) Any story works – even a silly story just designed as a device for remembering accounting principles is more effective for learning than teaching those principles without the story. This is why CASE METHOD works well. 2) The mental stimulation of visualizing something acts like a low-tech simulation game © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016

Teaching that Sticks Supported by best practices Best Haas instructors Larger world of higher education *Easy to remember *Apply to each class section to stimulate learning and improve teaching Have participants try this out Think of one concept from you class – give them about 3 minutes Take 5-7 minutes to apply the as many of the sixe elements as you can - Simple, Unexpected, Credible, Concrete, Emotion, Story They may balk but ask that they just try to think about how to approach even on topic in their class using this checklist Once they’ve used these principles, have them share with a partner what they came up with © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016

Leading with questions Clarity Depth Breadth Logic RELEVANCE! Clarity-elaborate further Depth-does that answer complexities in question Breadth- another w ay to look at his? Logic-does it really make sense-does that follow from what you said how How does that bear on the issue © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016

TOP NINE PRACTICES (From Teck Ho) One idea per class Punchline Inductive learning (Examples -> Rules) Examples, examples, and examples Role-playing computer simulations In-class exercises Create a memorable class experience Enjoy your class Remind them of the key takeaways before teaching evaluation © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016 23

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Learning activities Learning Goals Knowledge HOT Design & Structure Topics Order Syllabus Assessment Instructional Strategies Discussion Lecture Learning Activities In-class Outside class Student Learning What should students do – inside or outside of class – to maximize their learning? © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016

Learning activities In-class Discussion or case Lecture Guest speaker Exams or quizzes Presentations Polling Debates Outside class Problem sets Reading text/articles Case prep Research Essays Reflections Videos Other online learning Think about arrange of activities There are a variety of assessments that are also in-class or outside class activities © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016

At The End of the Course Review all that has been learned, then: TIES Forms (course evaluations) We read them! Student to student comments I like to do them at the beginning of class Sources for more learning – other courses Keeping in touch – LinkedIn Letters of Recommendation © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016

Start with question…and keep expanding…the one word I have for you is …relevance! © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016

Orienting Reflex “response to novelty” Physiologist Sechenov - 1850’s called it “what is it?” reflex Change up during course Start with a dilemma, question, quote, reading, current event Intro with quiz, debate, poll Responses to events in our environment Heightens attention and perception   © Todd Fitch, Janet Watson, 2016