Is this course right for me?

Target Audience: This course will be of interest to anyone involved in designing online or face-to-face learning

COURSE FORMAT

This STEP course is a self-paced online class with a 30-minute pre-course zoom introduction session and a 1.5h post-session zoom consolidation session.

When you register for this class you will be registered for both the pre- and post- session.

Participants who register need to be enrolled on the following MyPlace class,

 https://classes.myplace.strath.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=26054

Course Content

When I look back now at the learning objectives I wrote while in my student-facing role, I feel like I want to tear them all up and start again! The objectives I wrote asked students to “Have knowledge of …”, to “Understand …” or to “Have an appreciation of …”.

On reflection, these objectives might tick a box on a course form, but they don’t really help students to be clear about what is expected of them or when they have met an objective. Using more specific verbs like “list …”, “Evaluate …” or “Create …” are much more descriptive and allow students to know what is expected of them and to be able to tell whether they have met an objective.

We use the concepts of ‘constructive alignment’ and ‘backwards design’ to provide the evidence-base for this course. We will then use Bloom’s Taxonomy to classify and articulate learning objectives and assessment criteria so that they can be explicitly understood by students and staff alike. The goal is that students can’t help but know what is expected of them.

This approach underpins a number of strategic policies and processes at Strathclyde, including the Course Approval Process used by Faculties for proposing and approving new classes or courses (CCAP) and the Strathclyde Assessment and Feedback Policy.

The concept of 'Constructive Alignment' and the 'Backwards Design' model are important building blocks of what we would describe as our 'student-centred', objective-driven, inclusive approach to curriculum design at Strathclyde.

Learning Objectives

 By the end of this course, you will be able to;

• Apply the concepts of constructive alignment and backwards design to your teaching (and the wider programme in which your teaching sits)
• Use Bloom's taxonomy to classify learning objectives and assessment criteria
• Apply the Bloom's wheel to articulate learning objectives and assessment criteria for your teaching portfolio

Participants who register need to be enrolled on the following MyPlace class,

 https://classes.myplace.strath.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=26054

Prerequisites