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!

Content Activities Assessment Goals

Natural Course Flow

Course Design Flow

Goals Assessment ActivitiesContent

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 withSuperficial knowledge

Big IdeasCore 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 ThinkingAnalytical

skills

Civic Responsibility

LCT Strategies

Service Learning

Place-Based Learning

Lab-Based Learning

Work-Based Learning

Case Study

Problem-Based LearningProject-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 Active Inquiry Contextual

Driven by An Engaging Teacher

A Problem to Solve Real-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

100-200 level Survey Courses

300-400 level

Discipline Specific Courses

300-400 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

What do students say about learner-centered teaching

approaches?

Student Learning Experiences by Approach (N = 357)

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

InterpersonalRelationships

Adapts toClass Needs

Provides forIndividual and

Soc. LrngNeeds

EncouragesChallenge &

Responsibility

Facilitates theLearningProcess

Active

Inquiry

Service

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 designedas a learner-centered experience. I feel that it was the first

time I was treated as a competent and intelligent person whocould 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!

ActivitiesAssessment

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

Approach Large Course

Introduction 300-400 Discipline-

Specific

Capstone Freshman Orientation

Active 75% 65% 45% 15% 25%

Inquiry 20% 25% 40% 20% 25%

Contextual 5% 10% 15% 65% 50%

More Possible Course Structures

Approach Peer Teaching for

Content Delivery

Peer Teaching

with Service Project

Freshman Orientation

Clinical Preparation

Active 90% 50% 25% 10%

Inquiry 10% 20% 25% 80%

Contextual 0% 30% 50% 10%

How to get started on the course redesign?

Choose the course1

Based upon:

-Your own preferences or students’ recommendations

- Department’s need

- Requirements from a Grant …

Apply Backward Design and LCT to define syllabus2

Write Lesson Plans3

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 PsychologySpalding University

“Education is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire.”

-William Butler

Thank You!