If you want to involve students in the syllabus creation process, the best way to do that is deliberately with a concrete activity. Here are three articles that suggest specific ways students can be involved in developing aspects of the course that should appear on the syllabus.
Archive for June, 2010
The World of Pedagogical Knowledge
Posted Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010 by Maryellen WeimerA number of our professional associations (most often in the large disciplines) have separate organizations or subgroups within the association that are focused on teaching and learning. Does your field have such an organization? If so, I would encourage you to consider attending events hosted by the group. There is such energy generated when folks who care about teaching convene to explore issues and share ideas.
Classroom Climates
Posted Thursday, June 17th, 2010 by Maryellen WeimerI did a workshop this week on climates for learning. It’s a session I love doing. Nobody argues with the need to have one in the classroom and everywhere else around campus. But most of us haven’t gotten past the metaphor (we aren’t talking about the “weather” in our classroom even though we do regularly refer to the “atmosphere” in class and the “environment” on campus). When we refer to the climate for learning what are we talking about?
A Tired Teacher
Posted Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 by Maryellen WeimerLast week I met a tired teacher—23 years of teaching at a two-year institution. That’s a lot of teaching; many times it was year round. He didn’t say he was tired. He said he was thinking about a career change. “Teaching’s become work, a job, no different than slicing meat at the deli counter.”
The Role of the Text in Course Planning
Posted Monday, June 14th, 2010 by Maryellen WeimerAs you plan a new course or revise an existing one, when do you decide on a text? I worry that many of us make that decision early on and then use the text to anchor our course design decisions. What gets included in the course as well as how it’s presented are often strongly influenced by what’s in the text and how it’s presented there. As the authors below point out, that’s not the role the text should be assuming in course planning.
Articles Not to Miss
Posted Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 by Maryellen WeimerWe handed out the 2010 McGraw-Hill and Magna Publications Scholarly Work on Teaching and Learning Award at the recent Teaching Professor Conference. The review committee designated two finalist articles along with the winning piece, and all three of these articles are open with free access (for a limited period for two of the articles). I [...]
An Important Reminder about Feedback
Posted Thursday, June 3rd, 2010 by Maryellen WeimerI was interested in the conclusions of a study done in Great Britain that asked students about their perceptions of and experiences with feedback provided by teachers. The researchers wanted to learn more about how students defined feedback and what feedback they had found useful. Students in the study, most of whom were upper division, [...]
Group Work Recommendations
Posted Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 by Maryellen WeimerAt the recent Teaching Professor Conference, several participants talked with me about a couple of recent blog posts on group work and their concerns about how students function in groups when they work on major projects. The concerns that many faculty have about group dynamics can be solved by carefully designing the group activity. I thought it might be useful to revisit the findings of a really excellent study of students’ experiences in groups. The faculty researchers asked MBA students to answer a series of questions about their best and worst group experiences. Based on the results, the researchers offer these recommendations.
