CUA Syllabus Guidelines and Planning for Instruction:

Syllabus 101 CUA Syllabus Guidelines and Planning for Instruction: A Brief Guide to Writing Instructional Objectives The Benjamin T. Rome School of Music Michael V. Smith, Ph.D.

Because it is mandated! • Because it encourages us to think carefully about what students should know and be able to do and, in turn, can promote greater teaching creativity and satisfaction. • Because thoughtful instructional planning is more likely to attract and maintain student attention and to facilitate learning satisfaction. • Because it is common and best practice. Syllabus and Instructional Planning: Why? “Instructional planning is the process teachers use to decide how to best to select, organize, and deliver a learning experience to maximize both teacher and student achievement and satisfaction.” Cruickshank, Bainer,Metcalf (1999)

Society • Learners • Subject Syllabus and Instructional Planning: What? The following page contains a diagram that looks at these components of instruction and their constituent parts more closely. There are three strong factors that influence curriculum. Filtered through the instructional lens, these three factors shape and create the curriculum content of any course of study.

Society Standards, Protocols, Expectations: What should students know and be able to do? Professor Learner Curriculum Knowledge Skills Dispositions Goals Objectives Methods Outcomes/Assessment Subject Music: Sing, Play, Read, Create (Compose, Improvise), Listen/Analyze, Move

Goals • Objectives • Methods • Outcomes Curriculum There are four components, then, to planning curriculum. The focus here will be on the first – writing behavioral objectives.

The Four Aspects of Instructional Planning: Each Defined • Goal – a statement of general purpose and direction. The goal is the accomplishment toward which all curricular effort is directed. A goal is often broad, overarching, and ‘big picture.’ • Instructional Objective – a statement (strictly speaking, one sentence) that indicates what students should be represent, demonstrate, or produce as a result of what they learn. It describes an intended result of instruction, rather than the process of instruction itself. The objective is student-centered, specific and observable. • Methods – the process of instruction (e.g. lecture, rehearsal, project-based, etc.) • Outcome Assessment – the process of collecting information that will indicate whether instruction is having the desired impact upon learning.

An instructional objective should be: • Specific • Observable • Measurable • Attainable/achievable • Realistic • Time-bound

Avoid verbs difficult to measure objectively. • The following verbs could be difficult to assess: know; comprehend; understand; appreciate; familiarize; study; become aware of/acquainted with; cover; learn; realize; opine; be exposed to; etc. If you use them, be aware that you need to know how they can be demonstrated. Remember that the demonstration of the goal assists in determining if/to what extent the student has mastered the material of your course. The learning objective must arise out of a course goal/objective. It has to be observable and measurable; it must focus on student behavior. Each course goal should be specific to one aspect of the course. When writing goals for student learning (“At the conclusion of this course, the student will be able to…”)

Here are four steps to writing an Instructional Objective: • Audience • Behavior • Condition • Degree (Criteria) A + B + C + D = Instructional Objective

Four Easy Steps to Writing an Instructional (Behavioral) Objective • Audience – The who. “The student will be able to…” • Behavior – What a student is expected to be able to do or the product or result of the doing. The behavior or product must be observable. • Condition – The important conditions under which the performance is to occur. • Degree (Criteria) – The criterion of acceptable performance. A + B + C + D = Instructional Objective

Examples of Behavioral Objective Action Verbs: “The student will be able to” - • Sing • Chant • Solfege • Sight read • Sight sing • Play • Perform • Harmonize • Compose • Improvise • Analyze • Realize • Identify • Conduct • Move to • Dance • Describe • Evaluate • Synthesize • Read • Interpret • Recognize • Categorize • Catalog • Write • Others…

Here is an example of how to build an instructional objective: • A (Audience) – “The student will be able to…” • B (Behavior) – “perform a musical selection …” • C (Condition) – “from Grade IV piano literature on a solo jury recital…” • D (Degree/Criteria) – “with acceptable performance technique and musical style as determined by the provided rubric.

Here is another example: • A (Audience) – “The student will be able to…” • B (Behavior) – “analyze… • C (Condition) – “the musical form of Sing Joyfully Unto God, by William Byrd…” • D (Degree/Criteria) – “with acceptable musical understanding and writing style, as determined by the provided rubric.”

Question: Are the following three statements acceptable ‘instructional objectives?’ • The student will know the four families of orchestral instruments. • The student will appreciate the contributions of great composers in music history • The student will be shown the proper way to restring a french horn rotary valve. • Answer: No, none are acceptable instructional objectives because none contain an observable student behavior as a result of instruction. Soto, V.J., Writing Instructional Objectives. (http://www.efc.dcccd.edu/Core/SLO-MVS.pdf) Retrieved 12/5/11

Use concrete action verbs in writing behavioral objectives, since they are observable and measurable. There are hundreds of them. Here are yet more examples:TO KNOW: articulate, define, indicate, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, reproduce, list, tell, describe, identify, show, label, tabulate, quote, etc.TO UNDERSTAND AND INTERPRET: classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, interpret, contrast, associate, differentiate, extend, translate, review, etc.TO APPLY CONCEPTS: apply, compute, give examples, investigate, experiment, solve, choose, predict, translate, employ, operate, practice, schedule, etc.TO ANALYZE: analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, distinguish, examine, investigate, interpret, etc.TO SYNTHESIZE: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, etc.TO EVALUATE: appraise, assess, defend, judge, predict, rate, support, evaluate, recommend, convince, conclude, compare, summarize, etc.

A few final words of guidance: • For assistance in creating/writing assessment rubrics (the next step in the instructional design process) , see Conway, C. and Smith, M.V. (2010). Handbook for the Music Mentor. Chicago: GIA Publications. (An additional Powerpoint on this topic – assessment rubrics - to be created soon.) • A ‘classic’ and complete instructional objective contains four components: 1) audience, 2) behavior, 3) conditions, and 4) degree (criterion) in one single sentence. It may be helpful (and acceptable) to account for all of these components in the larger context of the entire syllabus. • For further assistance, email smithmv@cua.edu.

CUA Syllabus Guidelines and Planning for Instruction: