Study program development

Study program development Dr. Kristiina Tõnnisson Baku, 30.03.2016

What is going to happen? • Hello to each other and to the topic • Curricula development • Learning outcomes • Assessment criteria • Practicing, practicing, practicing....

Your short story • How many years have you teaching experience? • Name one course you are teaching now or the last course you were teaching.

Positive learning experience • Remember one great course in your life. • Why did you like the course? • What are possible lessons learned for yourself?

My philosophy • Studying means for me .... • Teaching means for me ....

Learning versus Teaching

Key Criteria for Successful LearningEducational argument • Teacher’s role is changing • Each learner is different – the need of feedback • Limited time – need to optimize (from method to content) • The law of alignment (generic skills and future competencies) • Together we can do more – simple tasks alone, difficult together

Possible steps to start... • Study materials, guidebooks • Concrete cases • Stories from the colleagues • Study visits, trainings • Reflecting your own experience

Learning outcomes • Where to start? • How to proceed? • Possible challenges

What are learning outcomes? The skills and knowledge that students should be able to demonstrate by the time the assessment processes forthe course have been completed.

Big picture Encapsulate the intentions of the course or program: • aims, • objectives, • outcomes.

Summarizing tips and hints by • University of Tartu • Queen Mary University of London learning institute • University of Nottingham • Maastricht University

Why learning outcomes? To give students better idea of what is expected of them during the course they are undertaking.

Four different circumstances • for programs as a whole, • for individual levels of a program, • for modules on a course, • for individual sessions in a module.

What they are not: • Not a wish list • Not a statement of the program content • Not an aggregation of the module learning outcomes

Two alternatives Either • outline what the threshold for passinga course is (outcome as a minimum standard that student should achieve), • or describe what it is expected that the typical student should be able to do.

Concerns and problems Outcome-based description may: • fail to consider valuable side effects, • stifle creativity, • lead to spoon-feeding.

Keep in mind • Write in the future tense – ‘by the end of this module, students will be able to...’ . • Keep the number of outcomes to between 4 and 6 (8). • Make sure that your outcomes are achievable and assessable. • Use language that students will understand.

Keep in mind • Show what process you expect students to undertake. • Write at the appropriate level for the course. • Have a balance of different types of outcome.

Keep in mind • Relate to the program aims, • Refer to relevant external reference points, • Be clear to staff, students and external examiners.

Bad/good examples • Bad: ‘by the end of this module, students will understand Newton’s Laws of Motion’ • Good: ‘by the end of this module, students will be able to describe how Newton’s Laws of Motion can be used to investigate the movement of bodies’

Bad/good examples • Bad: “be able to write a research dissertation” • Good: “be able to plan and implement a research project”

Three types of outcomes • Knowledge-based: what the student will be expected to have acquired by the end of the course. • Application-based: describe the kinds of application or transformation that students will be expected to make of that information. • Skills-based: cover skills development.

Knowledge examples By the end of this module students will be able to... • list the management principlesof various organizational theories, • identify key features of an learning organization, • identify and describe different forms of organizational structures.

Comprehension examples By the end of this module students will be able to... • Explain how the planned economy operates, • Review a range of social science research methods.

Application examples By the end of this module students will be able to... • use MS Word and SPSS independently, • use a HANSA program to calculate taxes and revenues, • apply appropriate statistical tests to a dataset.

Checklist • Does each outcome start with an action verb? • Does it describe an outcome, not a process? • Used one action verb per learning outcome? • Have you overused the same verb?

Checklist • Are the learning outcomes vague? Have you used verbs such as know and understand? • Do they reflect the level of learning required? - Check that the verbs used are appropriate. • Are the learning outcomes observable and measurable? Can you collect accurate and reliable data for each outcome?

Checklist • Are they written in terms of what the learner does, not what the instructor does? • Are there the appropriate number of outcomes? • Do the learning outcomes fit within programs’ learning outcomes?

Learning outcomes: next! • Take your course and rewrite your learning outcomes!

Assessment Methods • Essay assignments/ final essay • Oral group examination • Group written paper, presentation and peer review of it • Test with multiple-choice answers, open-book examination • Quiz, mini tests • Simulation, role plays • Facebook discussions • Portfolio, project, practicum

Reflections • Good creative tasks! • Personal connections • Too much writing • How to write an essay • How to structure a good review • How to do (joint) oral presentation • People could be tested more frequently • Numbers, points and %-s

Venn’s diagram

T-table

Reason - Outcome

Graphic support • http://graphicorganizers.com • http://www.edhelper.com/teachers/graphic_organizers.htm • http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/ • http://my.hrw.com/nsmedia/intgos/html/igo.htm • http://www.worksheetworks.com/miscellanea/graphic-organizers.html

Tell me and I will forget Show me and I will remember Involve me and I will understand Step back and I will act (Chinese proverb)

Study program development