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Paul T. Wietig, [email protected]
Assistant Vice PresidentInterprofessional Education
University at BuffaloAcademic Health Center
The Power of the SyllabusEnhance the Process of Learning and Teaching
“Teaching should not be like pitching a baseball toward a student in the batter’s box to see whether he/she hits or strikes out. Ideally, a teacher organizes a game of Frisbee, inviting students to catch an idea and pass it on…”Ed Neal UNC - TLC
The Power of the SyllabusEnhance the Process of Learning and Teaching
Thoughts on a Syllabus
• A set of ‘promises’ to your students
• Outcomes: What they will understand and
do.
• Methods: How you and they will go about
achieving goals.
• Evaluation: How you and they will
understand progress.
A Syllabus Is…
•A contract between the student, instructor and the university• Sets forth what is expected during the term of the
contract and to guide the behaviors of both parties
• Sets forth responsibilities of students and of the
instructor for tasks
• Sets forth procedures and policies
Parks & Harris – The Purpose of a Syllabus
Questions To Be Considered
• Which ideas or themes do you want to teach?
or
• What kind of questions will your students be
better prepared to answer as a result of your
course? and
• What kind of skills will your course help them
develop in order to answer those questions?
Additional Syllabus Development Points
• Aims
• The main themes or ideas I will emphasize
are…
• The big picture or story line for this course is…
• The main question(s) I am interested in having
students find / solve / understand include…
• The mental model I am promoting …
Additional Syllabus Development Points
• Outcomes
• I want my students to become more
skillful
in doing…
Additional Syllabus Development Points
•Style
• The diction / style / methodology I will
use to convey the aims and outcomes …
Learning Objective Components
Audience: the ‘Who’
Behavior: the ‘What’
Condition: the ‘When’
Degree: the ‘How well’
A Well-Written Learning Objective
• Student-centered
• Outcome-oriented vs. process-oriented
• Outcome-oriented vs. just stating the material
to be covered
• Describes one outcome only
• Specific vs. general
• Observable and measurable
Writing Objectivesto the Appropriate Level
• ’Bloomify’ the objective
1)Knowledge (Remember)
2)Comprehension (Understanding)
3)Application (Apply)
4)Analysis (Analyze)
5)Synthesis (Create)
6)Evaluation (Evaluate)
Mentoring Minds
Assessing Student Achievement
Multiple choice (quiz, test)
Pre and post testing for knowledge
End of semester project
Lab, field report
Final paper
Assessing Student Achievement
Oral presentation
Group project
Case study
Portfolio project
Journal
Performance
Problem sets
Pop quiz
One minute quiz
Sample Syllabus
