Goals
for Learning
A Pre-Reflective Activity
By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano
School of English
Faculty
of Social Sciences
Universidad
Latina de Costa Rica
Monday, March 7, 2016
Post 331
Let’s take a look at the following case happening in a
sociology class. And after reflecting upon the situation in which this teacher
is involved, what would you –as a teaching professional- have done differently?
I did post my own way of seeing the problem right here, but 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 above. 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 real benefits for student 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 meaningful for the contexts she was dealing with
in the course. 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 classification 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.
Monday, March 07, 2016
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