Developing a Syllabus and Writing Learning Outcomes

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Developing a Syllabus and Writing Learning
Outcomes

• Nancy Allen
• College of Education
• Qatar University

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Instructional Objectives for this Session

• Provide an understanding of the nature and
  purposes of syllabi
• Enable participants to prepare better syllabi
  with clear course objectives and learning outcomes

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Learning Outcomes for this Session

• Compare and contrast different kinds of syllabi.
• Evaluate syllabi on the basis of how they support
  learning.
• Describe the characteristics of quality
  instructional objectives and learning objectives.
• Compare and contrast instructional objectives and
  learning outcomes.
• Write quality instructional objectives and
  learning objectives.
• Explain how well-written objectives support
  student learning.

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What is a syllabus?

• A syllabus is a legally-binding contract between
  the instructor and the student.

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What is a syllabus?
Two fundamental criteria 1. It should include
all the information that students need to have at
the beginning of the course. 2. It should
include all the information that students need to
have in writing.
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BASIC PURPOSES ? Describe the
course, its goals, and its objectives.?
Describe the structure of the course and its
significance within the general program of study
? Discuss what mutual obligations students and
instructors share. ? Provide critical
logistical and procedural information --what will
happen, when, and where.
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Brainstorm What elements should a syllabus
contain?
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Required Elements of a Course Syllabus

• Course Information
• Faculty Information
• Course Description
• Course Objectives
• Student Learning Outcomes
• Content Distribution
  
• Delivery Methods
• Learning Resources and Media

• Assessment Policy and Tools
• Learning Activities and Tasks
• Regulations
• References and Additional Resources
• Appendices
• - Course Matrix
• - Evaluation Criteria (Rubrics)

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Kinds of Syllabi

• What the instructor will teach
• How the instructor will teach
• What the student will learn

• Content-based
• Process-based
• Outcomes-base

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Course Information
Example Process (PBL)

• Day and Time Class Meets
• Will longer meeting times be needed?
• Time to accommodate out-of-class research?
• Custom schedule vs. standard meeting times?
• Place Class Meets
• Fixed seating vs. moveable seats
• PBL or case study room option

Watson, G. (2001
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Instructor Information

• Phone Numbers, E-mail
• Class and/or group phone numbers
• Newsgroup, class mailing lists, chat rooms
• Educational Philosophy
• What you value and why

Watson, G. (2001
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Text, Readings, Materials

• Textbook(s)
• Is one needed? Daily use? Reference? Choices?
• User-friendly for independent study?
• Does text address all learning issues?
• Supplementary Readings
• Electronic reserve
• Web sites
• Off-campus student accessibility to these

Watson, G. (2001
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Course Calendar/Schedule

• Dates for Exams, Quizzes
• Group components?
• Time constraints in-class, out-of-class, or
  take-home?
• (Out-of-class exams slots require advance
  planning for room scheduling, i.e., listing exams
  in course registration booklet)

Watson, G. (2001
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Course Policies

• Attendance, Lateness
• Effect on group progress and dynamics
• Participation
• Clear expectations for individual, group
• Grading
• Balance in individual vs. group accountability
• Process skills how much are they valued?

Watson, G. (2001)
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Available Support Services

• Library
• Research skills, available data bases
• Library tours
• Computers and Electronic Resources
• Using e-mail, Internet and access to same
• Using specialized software spreadsheets,
  statistics
• Program/platform compatibility for sharing work

Watson, G. (2001)
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WHAT IS AN OBJECTIVE-BASED SYLLABUS?
?A reflective exercise that addresses
the question What do students need to know in
order to derive maximum benefit from this
educational experience? ? A change in focus
that affects the students role, requiring them
to be responsible for their own learning
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Discussion Question

• Why is it important to distinguish among these
  three types of syllabi?

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BASIC GOALS OF AN OBJECTIVE BASED SYLLABUS
Answers the questions

• ?What do students need to learn (goals and
  objectives)?
• ? What assignments, classroom activities, and
  pedagogical approaches will help students reach
  these goals?
• ? How will you determine that students have
  accomplished what you set out to teach them?

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Course Descriptions

• Explaining, briefly, what your course is all
  about
• The big picture

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Interrogatory Course Description

• Interrogatory
• Political Sciences 340
• Individual Responsibility in Organizations
• This course examines research on responsibility
  and relates it to how we run our business,
  government, educational and other institutions.
  What do we do that sabotages responsibility? How
  can you design organizations so that people feel
  responsible? Is there a relationship between
  responsibility and efficiency? If so, why is it a
  secret?
• Method collaborative inquiry.

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Declarative Course Description

• History 212
• Renaissance Europe
• This course will examine the cultural and
  intellectual movement known as the Renaissance,
  from its origins in fourteenth-century Italy to
  its diffusion into the rest of Europe in the
  sixteenth century. We will trace the great
  changes in the world of learning and letters, the
  visual arts, and music, along with those taking
  place in politics, economics, and social
  organization. We will be reading primary sources
  as well as modern works. Discussions on issues
  and group presentations will be the main focus of
  our work.

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Course Description Tips

• You may want to use statements such as
• The students will explore
• List the topics covered in brief descriptive
  phrases will be examined in relation to..
• There will be emphasis on .
• If the first line of a description does no more
  than repeat the course title, omit it and go on
  to the next line.
• If a term such as "laboratory", "seminar" or
  "workshop" is used in the title, you dont need
  to repeat it in the description.

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Course Description Tips

• If the course number or title adequately
  indicates the relative sophistication of the
  course, it is unnecessary to use "introduction
  to" or "advanced study of" in the course
  description.
• In general, the course description should cover
  the course aims, structure (methodology) and
  assessment.
• Use action words, active voice, convey a
  user-friendly tone, and use tasteful humor if you
  deem appropriate.

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Course Description Tips

• Limit the description to about 35 words
• Proof read!!

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• Review your own course description.

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References

• http//universitysenate.syr.edu/curricula/writing.
  html
• http//www.keele.ac.uk/depts/en/wtts/description.h
  tm
• http//precollege.case.edu/syl/CreativeWritingEqui
  nox07.pdf
• http//www.ctl.sas.upenn.edu/tips/index.html
• http//www.usm.maine.edu/olli/national/pdf/USM-PR_
  Tips.pdf

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Instructional Objectives

• Broad statements reflecting what students should
  learn as a result of taking the course.
• Express the general focus of the course and help
  students understand the direction the course will
  take.

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Examples

• Students will develop a basic speaking knowledge
  of the French language that will enable them to
  carry on a simple conversation with a native
  French speaker.
• Students will be able to apply basic economic
  concepts to current economic situations.

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Instructional Objectives

• Use general terms such as students will
  acquire, know, understand, appreciate, grasp the
  significance of, believe, internalize,
  experience, recognize, identify etc.
• Ask In what ways will students be different
  when they finish the course?

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Instructional Objectives

• Objectives are
• stated in abstract terms. It is non observable
  /non measurable. It describes what we think
  students should know and know how to do, and what
  attitudes they should have by the end of the
  course. ? knowledge, skills, attitude.

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Instructional Objectives

• Objectives are
• concerned with students, not faculty, and will
  guide students in their studies.
• provide a basis for setting curriculum priorities
  to focus on the most meaningful content
  throughout the course.

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• Examples of Objectives
• Students will be able to differentiate between
  hard woods and soft woods.
• Students will comprehend principles of ethics in
  the work place.
• Students should demonstrate a critical
  understanding of the historical and contemporary
  methods of experimental psychology.
• Students should be able to apply basic principles
  of human metabolism.

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• Examples of Objectives
• Students will develop an understanding of
  important concepts and methods in the field of
  literary criticism.
• Students will learn how to use basic chemical
  concepts in a
• laboratory experiment.
• Upon completion of this course, students will
  recognize how cardiac abnormalities manifest
  clinically as disease processes .

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• Program Goals
• General Instructional Objectives
• Course Learning Outcomes

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Developing Objectives

• Brainstorming what ideal students at the end of
  your course and based on your instruction should
  know, learn, be able to do, etc.
• 2. Keep in mind how your course fits with other
  courses in the program.
• 3. Discuss your responses.

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Learning Outcomes

• Written statements of what students are expected
  to learn and perform in a course
• State what we want students to know and be able
  to do as a result of their learning experiences
  in a course
• Clarify to students our expectations

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Purposes

• Increase students awareness of and reflection on
  their own learning
• Help students understand where they are supposed
  to be headed or what they are aiming for as
  learners
• Help establish a common language among faculty,
  students and other stakeholders for describing
  and assessing course content

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Purposes

• Provide advisors with a useful tool for helping
  advisees make decisions about course
  registration
• Help faculty self-assess/reflect on practice
• Define potential evidence bases for course
  revision and design and
• May satisfy important accreditation requirements
  by external evaluators.

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Writing Learning Outcomes

• Bloom (1956) defined three different domains of
  knowledge
• Cognitive domain (thinking, knowledge) student
  cognitive behavior is categorized into six levels
  ranging from simple (knowledge) to more complex
  behaviors (evaluation)
• Affective domain (feeling, attitudes) this
  domain ranges from receiving going up to
  internalizing.
• Psychomotor domain (doing, skills) this
  taxonomy ranges from the simple act of perception
  to the highest level of behavior, organization.

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• Examine the following statements Which in your
  judgment are acceptable Learning Outcomes? Why?
• By the end of the course, I will be able to
  demonstrate to students how to set up lab
  equipment.
• By the end of the course, students will be able
  to set up laboratory equipment based on specified
  tasks and purposes
• Student focused versus Teacher focused

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• By the end of the semester, the course will
  instill an understanding of the scientific
  method.
• By the end of the semester, students will be able
  to analyze what constitutes valid and invalid
  conclusions
• Focused on the process versus focused on the
  Outcome.

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• Students will write a lesson plan at the end of
  each chapter.
• Students will design different lesson plans in
  relation to a variety of instructional models
  such as inquiry model, cooperative learning,
  lecturing etc.
• Activity based versus outcomes based

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• How many learning outcomes in a course should we
  develop?
• You may want to develop as many outcomes as
  needed in order to clearly indicate to the
  students what they will gain from the course.
• Each major topic in the course should have one
  to three learning outcomes.
• Each 45-hour or three-credit course should
  have between five and 12 learning outcomes.

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Learning Outcomes -- More Tips

• Check whether your students intended performance
  is observable.
• Check whether you can assess/measure your
  students observable performance.
• Align course learning outcomes with the mission
  and goals of your program.
• Indicate the type and level of knowledge,
  attitude and skills which are expected of
  students upon completion of the course.

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Learning Outcomes -- More Tips

• Make sure each statement has one action verb. Do
  not include more than one expectation in one
  statement because the required assessment methods
  may differ.
• Focus on the learning result (i.e. product or
  performance) that the student will exhibit and
  not the learning process or your instruction.
• Write learning outcomes which can be measured by
  more than one assessment method.

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Developing Learning Outcomes

• Effective learning outcomes must
• Have an action word that describes what the
  student will do differently as a result of your
  course
• Describe meaningful learning

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Developing Learning Outcomes

• Effective learning outcomes must
• Be measured/verified i.e., you
  can measure students ability
  to
  achieve them
• Represent high levels of thinking,
  rather than trivial tasks
• Be written in plain language students can
  understand

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Examples

• 1.Bio 100/101
• General Instructional Objective/Goal
• Students will be able to understand how the
  biological sciences explain the natural world.
• Specific Learning Outcome
• Students will
• Design an experiment, based on a reasonable
  scientific hypothesis,
• to demonstrate how an environmental factor
  affects a living organism
• 2. Choose 2 biological concepts from the
  following list and explain how they are related
  ecology, cell function, evolution, genetics.

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Examples

• 2. English 110
• General Instructional Objective/Goal
• Students will understand how major works of
  literature explore the human condition and
  examine human values.
• Specific Learning Outcome
• Students will be able to
• Identify the characteristics inherent in
  literature, such as emotional, intellectual and
  aesthetic design, on problems of the human
  condition.
• Relate the characteristics of literature to
  larger cultural and human values.

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Examples

• 2. Course Learning Outcomes (Educ. 245)
• You should be able to
• describe the cognitive, social, physical,
  emotional and language development of students in
  the elementary school
• demonstrate (in writing and actual teaching) how
  to implement effectively major instructional
  methods, approaches and techniques in teaching
  the language arts in the elementary school
• plan lessons based on the language arts
  components under student-centered classes in the
  elementary school
• Reflect on your teaching practices
• assess your peers micro teaching practices
• develop your philosophy of teaching the language
  arts in the elementary school, supported with
  evidence.

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Writing Learning Outcomes

• Write learning outcomes for the following
  objective
• Understands modern drama

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Summary

• A syllabus is a contract. Write it carefully.
• Begin with the big picture (course description)
• add the idealized final product
  (instructional objectives)
• provide specific, observable, measurable
  learning outcomes

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Summary

• Then, and only then, are you ready to plan your
  content and activities.