Course Design Template Essential Questions Make the content

Course Design Template

Essential Questions • Make the content “answers” to questions • Have no simple “right” answer • Are designed to provoke and sustain student inquiry, while focusing learning & final performance • Often address the conceptual or philosophical foundations of a discipline • Raise other important questions • Naturally and appropriately recur • Stimulate vital, ongoing rethinking of big ideas, assumptions, and prior lessons

Six Facets of Understanding Explanation • What is the key concept in___? Interpretation • What does___ reveal about___? Application • How and when can we use___? Perspective • What are the strengths and weaknesses of___? Empathy • How might we reach an understanding about___? Self-Knowledge • How are my views about___ shaped by___?

Essential Questions • Identify a few potential “big ideas” or “enduring understandings” for your course • Write a few (e. g. , 4 -7) essential questions to guide learning in your course ~15 minutes individual ~10 mins sharing in small groups

Syllabus - Essential Questions

Syllabus – Enduring Understanding

Why Not Give Them A Map? How will they get there… …if they don’t know where they are going ?

Course Design Template

Goals for Student Learning What theme(s) pervade(s) my teaching? How do I decide what to teach and what to leave out? What are my goals for student learning? • Content • Discipline specific and general skills • Ethics, values, dispositions, life-styles Teaching Goals Inventory ~5 minutes individual ~15 minutes group discussion

Defining Goals • Identify a few potential “big ideas” or “enduring understandings” for your course • Write a few essential questions to guide learning in your course • Write several “important to know and do” learning targets for your course. Worth being familiar with Important to know and do ~15 minutes individual Big Ideas & Enduring Understanding

Developing An Action Plan A bit of time for starting your action plan: • What changes do you plan to make to the targets for student learning in your course? • What needs to be done to accomplish these targets? • Identify dates for several critical benchmarks in the process. ~10 minutes individual