Designing Effective Science Courses “Once you have a sound course design, your syllabus almost writes itself.” -Teaching at its Best L. Nilson, 1998

What Will I Cover? What Will They Learn?

 Consider your audience  Define instructional objectives & skills  Evaluate content options and appropriate readings  Determine class format  Develop assessments and FINALLY the Syllabus! The General Design

 What preparation will most students bring? Do prerequisites guarantee this?  Attitudes? Required course? Elective?  What are the student expectations? Are these appropriate? Can they be incorporated into your teaching plan?  Student long-range goals? Can flexibility be built in to accommodate this ? Consider your audience! ?

 First define your “ultimate” end-of-course objectives  Then work backwards…what will students have to be able to do before they can accomplish each “ultimate” objective?  Continue working backwards to the most basic performances they must master to achieve the above Define instructional objectives

Instructional Objectives (for a specific group of students) Skills (what these students will be able to do to demonstrate attainment of learning goal) Content Class Format Assessment Format Syllabus Does your syllabus share with your students the thinking process that you followed to design this course?

Designing Courses “Backwards” ObjectivesContentSkills

Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Bloom’s Taxonomy Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (1956) Evaluation Define instructional objectives

Fink’s Taxonomy To Improve the Academy (2001) Learning how to learn Integration Application Foundational Knowledge Human Dimension Motivation Define instructional objectives

“Students will learn to appreciate their natural surroundings and will know that underlying geologic structures control the landforms we see ” Define Instructional Objectives

Many FewerInterpretations To knowTo write To understandTo recite To really understandTo identify To appreciateTo sort To fully appreciateTo solve To grasp significance ofTo construct To enjoyTo build To believeTo compare To have faith inTo contrast from Mager (1975) in Diamond (1998) Define Instructional Objectives

“After working with slide images and through field experiences, students will be able to locate and identify faults, fractures and folds present in an unfamiliar landscape.” Translate fuzzy language to skills!

Instructional Objectives (for a specific group of students) Skills (what these students will be able to do to demonstrate attainment of learning goal) Content Class Format Assessment Format Syllabus Does your syllabus share with your students the thinking process that you followed to design this course?

 Rank the topics (rank highly your “essentials” AND those that meet student needs or expectations)  Slash, burn & distill (this always hurts, but designing courses backwards will help establish priorities)  Compare to your “full array” of content options is something missing that you value? Are you missing a major learning goal? Evaluate content options

 Consider the level (and financial resources!) of your students What is the purpose of the reading? How will it support the course? How often will students use this resource?  Read a variety of texts...unless you wrote the text, you won’t find exactly what you need… BUT...  Is a course reader better?...can better suit to your needs...but takes a huge effort to integrate well... Evaluate readings

 Lecture based?  Discussion based?  Need labs or experiential components?  How and when will student inquiry take place? Determine the class format

 When will students get feedback about their learning?  What have your students learned? Have they acquired the skills you value?  Let the course objectives shine through your assessment… end-of-course objectives should map out your projects, homework, exams, etc. Develop an assessment plan For Them

 Options for getting feedback… (CATs) Classroom Assessment Techniques  Mid-term formative evaluations  Professional feedback… classroom consultations, videos, etc. Develop an assessment plan For You