EXTREME MAKEOVER:
|
Throughout the week, we will cover some basic design principles you can implement that will help your students!
Course Design
Put on your Student Hat! Think back to courses you have taken (if you have taken hybrid or online reflect on them over in-person courses) and answer the following:
Put on your Student Hat! Think back to courses you have taken (if you have taken hybrid or online reflect on them over in-person courses) and answer the following:
- What are the characteristics of courses you 1) learned the most from and 2) enjoyed the most?
- What components were included in the course materials when you had a good experience?
- What was missing when the experience was not positive?
- What components would an ideal lesson contain?
- Formulate your answer individually, share your answer with your partner, listen carefully to your partner and then create a new answer through your discussion.
Learning Goals
- On your own, think about one course you currently teach. If you were to meet a potential student on an elevator, what would you tell that student they would learn in your class?
- Now find a partner you have not yet worked with. Discuss with your partner what you think the top 3-5 takeaways from your course that you want students to have.
RESOURCE BOOK REFLECTION QUESTION (on p.9 of your resource book):
“What are 3-5 takeaways that you want students to leave your course with?”
“What are 3-5 takeaways that you want students to leave your course with?”
These top 3-5 takeaways are the LEARNING GOALS that you have for your students!
- How do you think learning goals are different than learning objectives?
- How can you use learning goals to help you plan/storyboard your hybrid or online class?
MAPPING YOUR COURSE: Get on the Path
Map your course by identifying the learning units. You have probably heard the phrase that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Whether teaching online, face-to-face or hybrid the first step to any course design is building a map so you know where the course is going. This map should outline the major learning destinations (units/topics) of your course. The unit/topics will become your modules (course building blocks). These blocks may be a concept you wish to examine, a chapter, or some other “chunk”. We are chunking the material by unit/topic rather than time (e.g. weeks) or book chapter. Then if we need to adapt the course in the future to a shorter schedule (such as a summer class instead of a semester) or the textbook changes, we can absorb this change without a major revision to the course.
Start with the Course Competencies to identify these topics/units, review your district course competencies and look for major learning themes. Other sources of themes can be found by reviewing your textbook or other source material. Indicate which of the course competencies aligns (will be addressed) by that unit/topic. Note that a single unit/topic may address several course competencies and that competencies may also overlap units/topics.
Map your course by identifying the learning units. You have probably heard the phrase that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Whether teaching online, face-to-face or hybrid the first step to any course design is building a map so you know where the course is going. This map should outline the major learning destinations (units/topics) of your course. The unit/topics will become your modules (course building blocks). These blocks may be a concept you wish to examine, a chapter, or some other “chunk”. We are chunking the material by unit/topic rather than time (e.g. weeks) or book chapter. Then if we need to adapt the course in the future to a shorter schedule (such as a summer class instead of a semester) or the textbook changes, we can absorb this change without a major revision to the course.
Start with the Course Competencies to identify these topics/units, review your district course competencies and look for major learning themes. Other sources of themes can be found by reviewing your textbook or other source material. Indicate which of the course competencies aligns (will be addressed) by that unit/topic. Note that a single unit/topic may address several course competencies and that competencies may also overlap units/topics.
Tip: Avoid the temptation to create a unit for each competency, or even worse each chapter in your book! This will overwhelm you and the learner. Typically you should have no more than 5-7 major units. If you have more, they are probably too task oriented…if less, they are too wide in scope.
Resources:
Your workbook contains documentation for some wonderful digital alternatives for mapping out your course, like Popplet or Mindmeister. These brainstorming applications make it easy to quickly map out a course and even share your efforts with colleagues to get feedback and support.
Resources:
Your workbook contains documentation for some wonderful digital alternatives for mapping out your course, like Popplet or Mindmeister. These brainstorming applications make it easy to quickly map out a course and even share your efforts with colleagues to get feedback and support.