Making your Course Curriculum Effective

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Making your Course Curriculum Effective

• Linda S. Behar-Horenstein, Ph.D.
• Distinguished Teaching Scholar and
• Professor
• Lsbhoren_at_ufl.edu
• New Faculty Orientation at the University of
  Florida
• August 17, 2007
• ? 2007 Linda S. Behar-Horenstein

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Introduction
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Objectives for this Session

• 1. Think about the learning environment that you
  want to create.
• 2. Develop a mental framework that will promote
  active learning and contribute to the development
  of student competency.

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Objectives for this Session

• 3. Use evaluation techniques that correspond to
  the objectives, content, and learning experiences
  within your curriculum.
• 4. Recognize the role of pre-planning in
  effective teaching.

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Setting the Table
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Framework for Developing Curriculum

• 1. What competencies should students attain?
• 2. What type of learning experiences will help
  students attain competencies?

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Framework for Developing Curriculum

• 3. What modifications will be necessary to
  accommodate students individual learning needs?
• 4. What evidence will confirm that students have
  attained the desired competencies?

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Initial Steps

• Identify the central questions that delimit what
  is most fundamental to the course that you will
  teach.

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Initial Steps

• Ask yourself What do I want students to be able
  to do as a result of the teacher-student
  interactions that will occur in the classroom,
  the clinic, or the lab?

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Delimit the Course Content

• Design a course in consideration of what students
  need to know rather than what would be nice to
  know.

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Consider the Students

• Levels of Learning
• Unconscious incompetent- I dont know what I
  dont know.
• Conscious incompetent- I know what Im supposed
  to do but it does not feel natural and takes
  effort.
• Conscious competent- I know what Im supposed to
  do and it feels natural.
• Unconscious competent- Thought and action are
  fluid and consistent.

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Consider the Progression of Learning

• Novice - explicit directions and steps.
• Beginner - some synthesis, apply learning across
  contexts.
• Competent - independence, choice, self-control,
  modicum of judgment and repertoire of procedures.
• Proficient - professional norms across contexts.
• Expert - internalized, discipline-centered focus.
• Chambers, DW, JDE, Vol. 61, No. 8, August 1997

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Syllabus Components

• Goals
• Objectives/Competencies
• Content
• Learning Experiences
• Evaluation Approaches

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Goals

• Goals are broad statements of purpose that are
  written to indicate a long term outcome that
  addresses the characteristics of learners who
  attain goals.
• For example The educational goals of this course
  have been designed to prepare you to competently
  conduct a thorough history and appropriate
  clinical examination of an adult horse, make
  diagnostic decisions based on your data,
  formulate a problem list, and properly sequence
  and organize treatment modalities.

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Objectives

• Statements that indicate in specific and
  measurable terms the particular outcomes that are
  sought.
• For example The student will be able to
  describe treatment plans for an adult cat who has
  developed diabetes.
• Note that, whether or not students can describe
  treatment plans can be measured.

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Objectives

• Clearly stated objectives improve the student's
  expectancy for success and minimize the need to
  re-teach.

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Hands-on Activity

• A hand-out is being distributed to you now.
  Please read the directions and make the items as
  appropriate.
• We will review the first 10 or so after you have
  had time to mark your responses.

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Review of Statements from Understanding Objectives
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Competency

• The execution of student behaviors, skills and
  attitudes practiced independently and completed
  satisfactorily to set criteria.
• Competencies are stated end point measures that
  are conceptually similar to objectives.
• There should be alignment in goals, objectives
  and/or competencies.

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Content

• The material used for teaching.
• Tell students This is material that you will
  read, observe, discuss, or analyze.
• Provide information in a logical manner according
  to principles, concepts or facts.

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Content

• Select and sequence presentation logically.
• Provide challenging problems that increase
  students curiosity.
• Use varied presentations formats that capture
  their interest.

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Content

• Always relate what you are teaching to something
  that has relevance outside the classroom, or can
  be observed in practice.
• Demonstrate the relevance of the content and
  probe students by asking them to tell you what
  they saw, heard, or understand.

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May I, please, have five volunteers come up to
these seats?
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Learning Activities

• The opportunities provided for learning.
• Tell students Here are the kinds
  content-based, psychomotor-based activities you
  are going to engage in during my course.

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Learning Activities

• Explicitly tell the students what they will need
  to do and what they are expected to learn.
• Explain what role, you as the instructor, will
  play.
• For example, tell them whether the course will
  consist primarily of instructor-led
  presentations, roundtable discussions, analyzing
  case-based patient scenarios, interviewing a
  patient, presenting a treatment plan. Give them
  a breakdown of how much time will be spent in
  specific activities.

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Learning Activities

• Select or develop activities that are likely to
  result in desired outcomes.

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Learning Activities

• Optimal instruction occurs when students have
  learning experiences that promote learning how to
  think, not when they are told what to think.

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Teaching Strategies

• Give students opportunities to explain aloud,
  tell how they how, or justify what they know, so
  that they develop ownership for their learning.

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Teaching Strategies

• Students must have opportunities to demonstrate
  their ability to think critically about their
  actions or plans, and to explain aloud the
  reasons for their decisions and/or strategies.

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Teaching Strategies

• Seek to make students thinking processes
  explicitly known to them and to you.
• Model your thinking skills aloud as well.

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Teaching Strategies

• Take the time to assess student thinking
  processes.
• Have students write a one-minute paper to reflect
  upon what they learned and/or what they dont
  understand.

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Example

• Rather than provide students with the correct
  answer right away, question them to determine
  their thought processes and application of
  knowledge, or provide them with additional
  prompts.

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Teaching Strategies

• Encourage students to try, or to think about
  using different strategies or approaches.

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Evaluation

• Mechanisms used to assess student comprehension
  or to make final judgments about what students
  have learned.
• Evaluation also can provide formative and
  summative feedback to the professor about
  teaching behavior, the curriculum, and the
  materials used.

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Evaluation

• Tell students how you will evaluate their
  learning.
• Offer timely and relevant feedback.

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Evaluation

• Offer feedback that is instructive and formative.
  Tell students here is what you are doing well,
  here are some ideas where you need to provide
  justification, or further explanation.
• Say You reasoning is erroneous. Do you know
  why?
• Feedback should be constructive, not punitive or
  judgmental. One objective of evaluation is to
  teach students how to reason, not tell them how
  much you know..

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Evaluation

• Provide students with a variety of evaluation
  approaches that consider their varied learning
  styles.

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Evaluation

• Focus on building students capacity for critical
  thinking and for demonstrating how and what they
  think.
• A variety of assessment mechanisms can be used
  quizzes, written or oral examinations, written
  reports, online or in class discussions, class
  presentations, role-play, case-based scenarios,
  and open-ended questions that require critical
  thinking skills.
• Avoid the use of multiple choice tests because
  their focus tends to be on rote memorization,
  attainment of declarative knowledge, and low
  level cognitive skills, rather than evaluation
  and synthesis.

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Types of Evaluation

• Formative - Interim assessments that provide
  feedback about How well am I doing?
• Occurs at specified times.
• Summative - Final assessments that do not permit
  change.

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• TEACH TO DEVELOP STUDENTS THREE Cs.

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Competence (Psychomotor domains, technical skills)

• Confidence
• (affective domain, self-esteem)

Capability (critical thinking, application of
knowledge and skills)
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Teach to Develop Students Three Cs

• Some much of teaching time is spent on building
  students competence. Becoming competent is not
  enough.
• Model and teach in ways that enhance students
  confidence and capability.
• Provide learning activities that permit students
  to understand not only what and how, but why and
  what if.

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Analyzing the Curriculum
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Analyzing the Curriculum

• Correspondence/Logic
• Student Learning Needs/Responsiveness
• Evaluation

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Assess Correspondence and Logic

• Look at the similarities anddifferences between
  the taught and written curriculum.
• Ask yourself Did I teach what I wrote on the
  syllabus? Is the content presented in a logical
  order?

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Assess Correspondence and Logic

• Are the objectives, content, experiences, and
  evaluation approaches aligned?
• Ask yourself Am I teaching content that permits
  students to achieve the intended learning
  objectives? Am I offering the type of learning
  experiences that will allow them to achieve the
  learning objectives?
• Is the approach to evaluation assessing what
  students were taught or supposed to learn, and is
  it aligned with the learning experiences?

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Students Learning Needs/ Responsiveness

• Is there adequate diversity in the learning
  activities to encourage learners to stretch and
  grow?
• Did students have learning experiences that
  promoted critical thinking skills and
  problem-solving?

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Evaluation

• Does this test mirror what I have taught
  students, or the learning experiences that they
  have had?

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Methods of Evaluation
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Evaluating Student Outcomes

• Multiple choice
• Advantages
• Easy to write and score.
• Disadvantages
• Tend to measure retention of material and low
  level learning.
• How to improve use
• Write questions that predict outcomes rather than
  label phenomena.

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Psychomotor skills

• Advantages
• Active learning
• Hones practice and fine motor skills
• How to improve
• Use a rubric for grading
• Present unacceptable and acceptable models
• Give students the rubric ahead of time

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Short Answer Essays

• Advantages
• Not difficult to judge whether expected
  information is there.
• Doesnt ask for details only small amount of
  space provided.
• Disadvantages
• Typically tests only factual recall.

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Short Answer Essays

• How to improve
• Present case or problem, then ask students what
  questions they would ask.
• Ask students to solve problem and to propose a
  treatment plan, or a hypothesis that is relevant
  to information they have learned.

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Evaluating Student Outcomes

• ESSAY QUESTIONS
• Give at least one essay question
• Pass out several questions one week ahead of time
  and tell students that these are the sorts of
  questions that you will use.
• Select varied question types that target course
  objectives.

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Grading Essays

• Read a random sample, identify different levels
  of excellence and determine distinguishing
  features.
• Develop codes for writing comments to minimize
  your feedback.
• NFD - needs further development
• WDSA- Well-developed and supported argument

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Learn from Reading Essays

• Diagnose students weaknesses and identify where
  teaching has not achieved its purpose.
• Review item analysis discrimination scores and
  re-teach unclear areas.
• Let students review their exams scores and meet
  with faculty to discuss their questions.

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Working with Disgruntled Students

• How to handle
• students
• complaints about grading.

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Dealing with Complainers

• Ask students who have complaints about test
  grades to write and submit a written paragraph
  describing why they think their answer is correct
  and why their grade should be changed.
• Ensure students of a response. Indicate that you
  will respond to all complaints submitted in
  writing within a week to ten days.
• If necessary write these statements into your
  syllabus as course policies.

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Concluding Remarks

• Good instructors plan for teaching ahead of time,
  reflect about instructional approaches, and how
  to refine them.
• Teaching is a learned science and art, that
  requires practice.
• Consider students attitudes, abilities, and
  learning needs as well as your own preferences
  while designing the curriculum.

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Concluding Remarks

• Use strategies that promote critical thinking.
• Good teaching occurs when deliberative and
  thorough planning takes place before instruction.

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Concluding Remarks

• Remember that the onus for providing quality
  instruction and appropriate learning experiences
  to support successful outcomes is the
  instructors job.
• However, remind yourselves that the onus for
  learning rests with the student, not the
  instructor.