From David Silver's Flickr account
David Silver launched a series last week on how to write a syllabus (part 1, part 2) that promises to be very helpful. The third installment, on writing learning goals into a syllabus, underlines the importance of this oft-neglected step:
on the first day of classes, learning goals signal to students what they can and should expect to learn from your course. on the last day of classes, learning goals help students assess what they did or should have learned from your course.
What’s valuable about this formulation is that it reminds us what assignments should do: Not just generate the raw material for grades, but to demonstrate some specific skill or knowledge that students need.
Whether they’re called learning goals or learning outcomes, focusing on them, rather than on the material itself, can be helpful. (An example from literature: Say I want to teach a course on Dickens. One way to organize it would be to grab a bunch of Dickens novels that I like, cut the list down to fit a 15-week semester, and sprinkle some papers along the way. Another way would be to think about what I’d want students to learn about Dickens–and maybe even what I’d like students to learn about the Victorian period, since a Dickens course might well substitute for a 19thC course–and then identify texts and assignments that spoke to those points.)
In addition to David’s posts, also see this page on writing program-level learning outcomes. Last year, when I chaired our university assessment committee, we encouraged departments to write simple, declarative sentences that: take “Students” as their grammatical subject; hang on an action verb; describe what students should be able to do, rather than a property of the material; and describe only one such action per outcome. That’s sound advice for a class, too.
How do you approach learning goals or outcomes in your syllabuses?
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In fall 2007 the Writing Arts department at Rowan adopted its Core Values. This statement articulates what the department believes all Writing Arts majors should achieve by the time they graduate. Here it is in full:
Last year I was involved in the creation of a 1 credit course called Portfolio Seminar. In this course, students write an essay in which they address how they have successfully achieved each of the 9 Core Values. They must cite from 5 pieces of writing they have composed over their time in the major. This week I will take part in an afternoon in which we assess a sample of student statements to see how well we are helping students achieve success in these areas.
To more directly answer your question about learning goals and outcomes, I have adapted a portion of my preferred assessment system, The Learning Record, which I used to co-direct when I was at UT-Austin. I no longer use it because with three classes my time is too limited. However, I still advocate for its use because of its ethical and authentic method of assessment:
Its method of investigation and inquiry about learning follows sound practices that have grounded research across many disciplines, from biology to economics to anthropology:
* Observations of phenomena we wish to understand, over time and under diverse conditions.
* Gathering diverse kinds of data from phenomena over time.
* Interpretations based on these observations and data samples.
* Public reporting for confirmation or challenge by peers investigating similar phenomena.
Part of the Learning Record methodology is to create and articulate Course Strands. These are the main subject and skills areas students will be developing over the course of the semester. In my syllabi I list and define the Course Strands. For example, a section of my Spring 2009 Writing, Research, and Technology syllabus reads:
In this course all work will be dedicated to students developing their skills in the following Course Strands:
Video Composition
Students will develop their ability to look compose complex, multimodal video compositions that mash up video footage, still images, primary and secondary sources, and sound.
Research
Students will expand their research skills by engaging in primary and secondary research in and outside the library. Students will also learn oral history research methodologies.
Critical Thinking, Writing, and Reading
Students will develop their ability to analyze the texts they read and then filter that information in terms of the theories and other texts being read.
Technology
Students will learn how to use various online tools and technology-related skills which can help them develop their abilities in the other course objectives.
Collaboration
Students will develop the ability to work collaboratively in activities that range from online discussion postings to peer reviews to in-class discussion.
Every activity that we do in the class is connected to at least one of the Course Strands. Though not as robust as the complete Learning Record system, I have found that keeping the Course Strands helps me focus the course and helps students gain an understanding of what is expected of them as learners and participants in the class.
To follow up on Bill Wolf’s comments about the Learning Record, here’s the video from a workshop at UT-Austin explaining the Learning Record methodology.
And, of course, I meant “Bill Wolff.”
Hah! I wrote both John, but the first one never got the Wolff. Thanks for sharing Peg’s video. It seems she’s been all over the place lately with the LRO.
I posted this earlier today, but it disappeared . . . or I did something wrong. At any rate, I’ve been using a graphic image to depict student learning outcomes against assignments. On the advice of reviewers earlier this week, I am also going to include a table that shows the same thing. These charts/tables show students that the work I assign them is not arbitrary “because I want to” type of assignments. What I’ve assigned truly is meant to meet a learning objective. Now, if I can figure out a way to put assessment criteria on the same graphic/chart, I’d be set. :-/
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