What Does a “High Impact” Course Look Like, Anyway?
-- WORKSHOP --
Washburn University
January 31, 2017
Dan Sarofian-Butin, PhD
[email protected]
www.danbutin.net/washburn
Executive Summary: This workshop offers an in-depth and hands-on workshop on the construction and implementation of a “high impact” course. Activities and discussion will support both conceptual
models for thinking through such a course as well as concrete strategies for its design. The workshop will be useful for both the revision of existing courses as well as building a course from the ground up.
Bring your syllabus, your ideas, and questions..
Agenda
1.
Introduction and Overview
2.
Syllabus & Course Design – overview
3.
4.
a.
Synthesis from educational research
b.
General principles and best practices
c.
Key principles and best practices for HICEP
Syllabus & Course Design – details
a.
Examples of practices
b.
Examples of courses
Building Your Syllabus – Next Steps
Some “Housekeeping” & Context…
High Impact Practices
Service-learning
Undergraduate
research
Learning
communities
Capstone
experiences
First-year
seminars
Experiential practice that can be embedded within a course
Community Engagement
Civic
Engagement
Public Work
Translational
Research
Servicelearning
No agreed-upon definition
Communitybased
Research
We Know How Learning Works
last 100 years of educational research
COGNITIVE
PSYCHOLOGY
Self-authorship
COGNITIVE
SCIENCE
Backwards
design
LEARNING
SCIENCES
Project-based
learning
DISCIPLINEBASED
EDUCATIONAL
RESEARCH
Inquiry learning
SCHOLARSHIP OF
TEACHING &
LEARNING
Deliberate
practice
Engaged Learning
e.g., Dewey’s (1938) Experience & Education
Learning- and Task-centered
Merriënboer & Kirschner (2012) Ten Steps to Complex Learning
Syllabus construction – general key principles
Articulate your
fundamental vision(s) for
the course
Differentiate Goals and
Objectives
Iterative
process
Determine how objectives
will be measured
Create course experiences
(e.g., readings, labs, fieldbased practices) that will
foster students’ learning of
such objectives
Syllabus construction – for HICEP courses
HICEP – Key principles for a course
HICEP – Goal definition
RELEVANCE
RECIPROCITY
REFLECTION
RESPECT
Academic integrity
Meaningful community voice, impact,
and participation
Experience is never transparent
Avoiding the “community as lab”
phenomenon
HICEP – when embedded in a course
As the
question
Depth of practice
As critical
inquiry
Pedagogical legitimacy
As
embedded Course integrity
As text
academic freedom
Syllabus Construction – Service-Learning
CSU-Monterey Bay | see also their comprehensive Faculty Guide to service-learning
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
The service learning “Meta-question” (i.e., what is the over-arching question
related to service – justice, diversity, social responsibility and compassion – that
the students are to examine?)
Specific service learning outcomes
List of possible community partners
a. Contact Name; Address; Service activities; Available service times;
Directions to site; Other details?
Clear expectations for students work in the community
a. Minimum hours required?; Parameters for completing the “project”
Integrative assignments
a. Specific journal questions; Short essay topics; Research papers; Portfolios
How service component will be assessed?
a. Portion of grade assigned to supervisor evaluation?; Integrative
Description of Service Learning Student Leader role
Tennessee State University
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
A clear connection between the academic content and the service component.
Stated course objectives – including objectives/outcomes directly related to
the service component.
A description of the service requirements - is service an option or is it
mandatory, how many hours a week are involved, what is the general nature
of the work, the anticipated timeline, etc.?
Specific information about placements - where, how, when?
Clear information about requirements for the reflective process - how often,
what format, oral or written, feedback process? 6. A concise description of the
evaluation structure - what will be evaluated and how will service-related
evaluation be weighted with the rest of the course?
American Association of Community Colleges
1.
2.
3.
Frame the experience
a. The syllabus needs to indicate service-learning early on and often.
b. Include a definition of service-learning.
c. Include a discussion of civic responsibility and why life-long learning is important.
d. Discuss which course objectives students will address through their service work in the
community.
e. State the number of service hours required of each student.
f. Carefully consider adjusting the workload of students. It is crucial that service work and
related assignments are not an add-on to existing course work, but rather, in place of
existing course work.
Critical Reflection Assignments
a. Students should not be given a grade for the service hours performed.
b. Reflection assignments should be structured.
c. As with any academic assignment, do not forget the logistics. Include a list of due dates,
formatting, and length requirements for each reflection assignment.
d. Determine the worth and weight of reflection assignments.
Community Partnerships
a. Set a due date as to when the community partnerships must be formed and students must
start working in the community.
b. Consider partnership agreement forms that the student and a staff member at the
community organization both sign and submit to you.
c. Involve your community partner(s) in the learning process. They are co-educators in a
service-learning context.
d. Educate students (and yourself) as to the realities of the non-profit world. Non-profit
personnel tend be overworked and underpaid.
e. If the instructor selects the community partner(s)
i. Discuss how the selected partners fit with course content.
ii. Whether there is one community partner organization or several, include contact,
scheduling or location information you discussed with the organization.
Syllabus Construction – Some examples from Campus Compact’s Syllabus Project