Goals for Learning
By
Prof. Jonathan Acuña Solano
Sunday,
September 21, 2014
Twitter:
@jonacuso
Post
148
Pre-Reflective Activity
Take
a look at the following case in a sociology class. Reflecting upon the
situation, what would you have done differently? I did post my own way of
seeing the problem. Would you come up with a different reflection?
Maria is teaching a course in first-year
sociology. It is the first time she has taught the course, having stepped in
for a colleague who became ill very near the start of the term. Her colleague
was able to send her a copy of his syllabus, which provided the chapter
readings for each class, and some lecture notes. Since she had less than a
week before the start of the term, and several other classes to prepare for,
she decided to use her colleague’s syllabus without modifying it. He is a
well-respected faculty member in the department, and she could not imagine
that there would be anything she would need to do differently.
The syllabus called for a quiz at the end
of the first three weeks of class. As she was preparing the quiz, she thought
back to some of the discussions she had had in class, and some of the
questions students had asked. She often felt like they were missing the point
of the class—they seemed too focused on terms and facts, and did not appear
to appreciate the contribution that sociology could make to understanding everyday
human behavior. She decided to include some questions about this on the quiz,
since she thought it was a very important part of a first-year sociology
course.
The results of the first quiz were not
good—not only did students do poorly on the questions about the nature of
sociology and its role in understanding human behavior, but they also did not
score well on the factual questions. Some students even complained that she
hadn’t covered what was on the quiz and that they had no idea how to study for
it.
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Taken from Laureate Education Inc. (2014)
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How
should an instructor approach a course whose syllabus has already been planned
by a colleague that cannot teach that class anymore? This is the situation of the
sociology teacher presented in the case provided before. Though his/her
colleague can be a well-known professor with ample experience in their field,
it does not mean that both of them approach teaching in the very same way. In
other words, one cannot take for granted that two individuals (faculty members,
in this case) will plan and structure student learning alike.
Though
a course syllabus had been prepared, would one plan instructional goals and
instruments likewise if compared to a colleague teaching the same course? A not
very elaborate answer can be stated over here since no single instructor would
plan the very same identically. Assuming that one can use a colleague’s
syllabus does not guarantee success in teaching and in students learning. Had
the sociology professor considered this simple issue at the beginning, the
instructor would have made necessary modifications to suit his/her teaching and
planning style to benefit deep learning among the class members. Bearing in
mind that the teaching process is indeed a complex one and that no instructor
will probably plan instructional goals similarly can guarantee that we can have
all learners work on the same learning objectives and learn the same concepts
to be applied in meaningful contexts.
Another
important issue to consider in this case sample, which is also applicable to
one’s teaching, is the use of schema
in teaching. All students come into one’s classrooms with lots of prior
knowledge and former experiences, and all of this information background that
humans have can be detrimental in learning. Had our sociology professor
activated learners’ prior knowledge, the teacher would have been able to create
new connections in the students’ experiences and would have assisted them in
building more knowledge. Some sort of previewing
technique at the beginning of the sessions could have yielded some more
positive results when summative assessments were applied and checked. From my
teaching experience in and out of college education, this link between
individuals’ prior knowledge and what they need to learn is vital to produce
deep learning.
Clear
goals, learning outcomes, and teacher and students’ expectations need to be set
at the very start of a course. A course outline is not just a set of goals that
need to be met by the end of a term, it is a contract that we faculty members
must comply with to produce deep and long-lasting learning among learners. A
course outline is not written on stone and can be modified to suit one’s
teaching style and pupils’ learning preferences. Modifying outline content and
expectations by means of a learning outcomes taxonomy such as Bloom’s or Fink’s
Taxonomy is a must since we want students to replicate certain behaviors and
use knowledge in other different contexts to produce a certain effect to prompt
learners to think critically and –why not- out of the box.
Laureate
Education Inc. (n.d.). Certificate in Higher Education: Module 1. [Online
Certificate].
TeachThought.Com.
(2013). Bloom’s Taxonomy. [Infographic]. Retrieved on 2014, Sept. 21 from http://www.teachthought.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/BloomsTaxonomySized.jpg
Pronunciation
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Sunday, September 21, 2014
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