MODULE 7 Putting All Together and Designing the Course

Learning Objectives How modules’ ideas connect? How to get started on your course redesign?

The sequence of steps for course design is DIFERENT from the course natural flow! ContentActivitiesAssessmentGoals Natural Course Flow Course Design Flow GoalsAssessmentActivitiesContent Do NOT design your course in the same sequence you will teach it!

Why course design should follow a different sequence of steps? To make sure course activities and assessments will develop the desired outcomes! By having the Course Objectives in mind since the beginning of the course design, professors will be able to create aligned assessments and activities

Course Design Overview 1. Start with the end in mind! Define Learning Objectives Create Learning Activities Create Assessments The Backward Design 2. Think from Student’s Perspective!

1. Start with the end in mind! What are the main ideas you want students to learn? BIG IDEA Boil them down until getting observable behaviors Learning Objectives What students should be able to do by the end of the course? Action Verb + Direct Object They are the course FOCUS!

But how about other educational standards? Important to know and do Worth to be familiar with Superficial knowledge Big Ideas Core Concepts Work only on the lower levels of Bloom Taxonomy! (Knowledge, Comprehension and Application) PRIORITIZE! If the rest of the content are not considered BIG IDEAS, they will be classified as “worth to know” What to do with them?

2. Think from Students’ Perspective! Assessments and Learning Activities should be interesting to STUDENTS! Meaningful Authentic Tasks / LCT Strategies Provide continuous feedback Engaging Assessment should target Learning Objectives! Students should demonstrate they are able to perform the objectives Assessment criteria should be clear to students! Use Rubrics

Strategies!Use Learning activities should be centered on students! Current knowledge and skills Desired knowledge and skills Lesson Plan The purpose of a lesson is to develop students to a higher level of understanding! In order to succeed, professors need to engage students in the learning process!

The LCT Model Provides a more purposeful framework for teachers, curriculum specialists, and administrators to strategically design courses and use learner-centered teaching approaches to develop students’ higher-order thinking, career skills, and personal awareness and empowerment

Focus on Learning Approaches Focus on student thinking or sense making Thinking is highly contextualized –Specific subject…diversity of understandings students’ develop when learning domain-specific concepts –Specific setting…how individuals interpret various context variables (norms of discourse) Approaches are based on learning tasks (content) and learning environment (context):

Why LCT? LCT provides different teaching strategies to accommodate for different student needs! People Learn in different ways! Students may get bored! Different strategies develop different skills Why professors need to use a mix of different strategies? Communication Critical Thinking Analytical skills Civic Responsibility

LCT Strategies Service Learning Place- Based Learning Lab-Based Learning Work-Based Learning Case Study Problem-Based Learning Project-Based Learning Simulations Real-time feedback: in- class writing, review games, clickers, debriefing…. Verbal : Story-telling, humor, teach in chunks... Kinesthetic: perform a task, role-playing, build models … Social : In-class discussion, debate, small project, concept mapping … Visual: videos, objects….

Approach ActiveInquiryContextual Driven by An Engaging Teacher A Problem to SolveReal-world Settings (outside of classroom) Purpose Higher-Level Thinking Career Development Personal Development & Empowerment Level of Student Engagement Best Used for Course Content Delivery (beginning) Content Application (middle) Contextual Application (end) Curriculum Design level Survey Courses level Discipline Specific Courses level Capstone Courses Considerations of LCT Approaches

Research A collective case study was conducted –Students’ motivation and learning experiences regarding three learner-centered teaching approaches in life, environmental, and agricultural sciences Active Learning (N = 3) Inquiry Learning (N = 4) Service Learning (N = 4) Collectively, college students (N = 357) in 11 undergraduate courses completed the Assessment of Learner-Centered Practices (ALCP) questionnaire

Results Results showed teaching approaches informed students’ motivation and cognitive engagement differently across the three approaches New instructional design model was supported by the student data

What do students say about learner-centered teaching approaches?

Student Learning Experiences by Approach (N = 357)

Student Motivation by Approach (N = 357)

Cognitive Engagement by Approach (N = 357)

Student’s Testimonials “I learn best when I can find personal significance in the material I am studying. In other words, I need to view information not just as a bunch of facts, but also as whole concepts. This class, for the most part, highly stimulated my learning style. For me, class discussions were helpful because it helped me synthesize information and gave relevance to the topics.” “I have truly enjoyed this class, and the way it was designed as a learner-centered experience. I feel that it was the first time I was treated as a competent and intelligent person who could be trusted with her learning experience.” Student Perceptions of Learner-Centered Teaching, DeDe Wohlfarth

How to choose among LCT strategies? It will depend on the desired outcomes! Activities Assessment Learning Goals Nature of the Content Learning Experiences BIG IDEA LESSON PLANS Objectives Content Plan From Big Ideas to Lesson Plans!

What specific activity professor could create that will provide students the right learning experience? What resources should be used? Nature of the Content Learning experiences LESSON PLAN Objectives & Learning Goals How would you summarize this concept in one sentence? What students should do to learn this concept or skill? It may require Active Learning, Inquiry Learning or Contextual Learning activities! What students should know and be able to do at the end of the class? How to choose among LCT strategies?

Possible Course Structures ApproachLarge Course Introduction Discipline- Specific CapstoneFreshman Orientation Active75%65%45%15%25% Inquiry20%25%40%20%25% Contextual5%10%15%65%50%

More Possible Course Structures ApproachPeer Teaching for Content Delivery Peer Teaching with Service Project Freshman Orientation Clinical Preparation Active90%50%25%10% Inquiry10%20%25%80% Contextual0%30%50%10%

How to get started on the course redesign? Choose the course 1 Based upon: -Your own preferences or students’ recommendations - Department’s need - Requirements from a Grant … Apply Backward Design and LCT to define syllabus 2 Write Lesson Plans 3

Learning Objectives How modules’ ideas connect? How to get started on your course redesign?

References Backward Design and LCT: Same references as previous modules Student Testimonials: Student Perceptions of Learner-Centered Teaching, DeDe Wohlfarth, PsyD, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology Spalding University

“Education is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire.” -William Butler Thank You!