Teaching Skills I: Syllabus Design (or Developing My Dream Course)

Display Schedule

Subject guarantor

Name of lecturer(s)

Jindřiška BLÁHOVÁ, Richard Andrew NOWELL

Department

The subject provides Rectorate

Contents

Course is run in the Summer Semester.

Days (Thursday): 20.02; 06.03; 20.03; 03.04; 17.04 (make up day 24.04 or 15.05.)

Time: 17:30–20:00 (including breaks)

Location: Seminar Room 412, AMU, Dům U Bílého jelena, Tržiště 20, Praha 1 (entry via Hartig palác)

This course comprises six weekly workshops conducted in the English language. Each session will include a necessary but small amount of instructor-driven content, which will outline the topics in a manner geared to maximizing practical application and lifelong learning. Sessions will, however, mainly consist of student-oriented learning: discussions, self-evaluation, peer-to-peer evaluation, and practical exercises. Great effort will be made to synthesize the weekly topics with students’ career development in teaching. Accordingly, students will work toward producing a syllabus that reflects the cornerstones of the course, with the aim of using it for a University course they hope to deliver in the near-future.

By the end of this course, students are expected to demonstrate growing competencies in:

•Student-oriented syllabus design

•A viable and manageable course concept

•Viable and manageable targeted learning outcomes

•A clear, logical, and supportive course structure

•Engaging and manageable session design

•Engaging and manageable student preparation

•Engaging and manageable student assessments

SESSION BREAKDOWN

Please note that this structure is a guide. All topics will be covered, but individual sessions may bleed into one another if fruitful discussions and exercises end up “over-running”.

TOPIC 1 CONCEPT Wed 1 March

Modern course design starts with a concept: a topic, title, and description that promise to fulfill the needs of students and teachers alike. Accordingly, this week students will consider how best to conceptualize a course that facilitates student engagement and learning, and provides a roadmap for the design and delivery of a course (from enrollment to completion).

Preparation:

•Identify 3 courses you would like to teach, writing a brief description of each.

Targeted Learning Outcomes

•To appreciate why a relevant and appealing concept facilitates student engagement and learning, and course delivery.

•To develop course concepts independently.

TOPIC 2 OUTCOMES Wed 15 March

If the course concept lays a firm foundation for a successful course, then the nature and content of that course is largely determined by its learning outcomes. Students will therefore consider how to develop viable and manageable learning outcomes in a manner that promises to facilitate student engagement and learning, and course delivery.

Preparation

•Write 50–100 words on what you hope students learn from taking your course

Targeted Learning Outcomes

•To appreciate how the identification of clear, logical, and achievable learning outcomes can help student engagement and learning, and course delivery.

•To develop learning outcomes independently.

TOPIC 3 STRUCTURE Wed 29 March

The centralization of learning outcomes facilitates the production of a course structure intended to help students fulfil these aims. Accordingly, this week students will consider how to organize a course into individual sessions that complement one another, contribute to the course concept, and facilitate student engagement and learning.

Preparation

•Write a session breakdown, determining how many sessions your course will consist of, and what each session will focus on.

Targeted Learning Outcomes

•To appreciate why a course structure based around targeted learning outcomes can facilitate student engagement and learning, and course delivery.

•To develop such a course structure independently.

TOPIC 4 SESSIONS Wed 15 April

Having outlined a viable structure for a course, one can now design its individual sessions. Accordingly, this week students consider how to use their learning outcomes to design one of their course’s sessions in terms of its focus, its purpose, and constitutive elements like discussions, exercises, and lectures.

Preparation

•Write a brief overview of the focus, purpose, and learning outcomes of one of your course’s sessions.

Targeted Learning Outcomes

•To appreciate how building sessions around learning outcomes facilitates student engagement and learning, and course delivery.

•To design such sessions independently.

TOPIC 5 PREPARATION Wed 26 April

With a session mapped out, one now needs to consider how best to integrate student preparation into it. Accordingly, this week students will consider how to design student preparation that facilitates a session’s learning outcomes and ultimately helps to manage its delivery (even when students do not fulfill their obligations!)

Preparation

•Design student preparation for the session you outlined last time; this may include exercises and/or readings they must complete before the session.

Targeted Learning Outcomes

•To appreciate why viable and manageable student preparation facilitate student engagement and learning, and course delivery.

•To design such preparation independently.

TOPIC 6 ASSESSMENT Wed 10 May

With a viable and manageable course concept supported by clear learning outcomes, structure, sessions, and preparation, we must now identify a means of measuring student learning. Accordingly, this week students will consider how to design course assessment, in terms of their type, frequency, size, general qualities, and specific learning outcomes.

Preparation

•Design the assessment for your course, spotlighting general qualities, specific learning outcomes, and submission protocol

Targeted Learning Outcomes

•To appreciate why student assessments built around learning outcomes facilitate student engagement and learning, and course delivery.

•To design such assessments independently.

Learning outcomes

This series of workshops introduces Ph.D. students to modern syllabus design, drawing from student-centered learning approaches preeminent in Anglophone academia. A well-executed syllabus is widely accepted to provide the foundation upon which the successful design and delivery of a course is built. Accordingly, students will focus on the six key components of such syllabi: 1) Concept, 2) Outcomes, 3) Structure, 4) Sessions, 5) Preparation, and 6) Assessment. They will develop their competencies in these areas by designing a syllabus for their own “Dream Course”. In so doing, the workshops aim to furnish doctoral candidates with transferable skills needed to facilitate student engagement and learning, and the delivery of world-leading courses.

Prerequisites and other requirements

NA

Literature

None.

Evaluation methods and criteria

ASSESSMENT

1. Participation (50 percent)

Given the practical nature and student-oriented approaches promoted on this course, it is essential students are actively involved in all sessions. Accordingly, the breadth, depth, and relevance of their contributions will be taken in to account, as will be their willingness to engage in and receive constructive peer-to-peer evaluation.

Attendance: Students must attend at least four full sessions to pass this course.

1. Final Syllabus (50 percent)

At the end of the course, students will submit a partial syllabus for their “Dream Course” based on the components they developed across the semester. This is graded on the extent to which this reflects the qualities introduced on the course (see “Learning Outcomes” above).

Due Date: 24 May 2023

Submission: This manuscript is to be emailed in PDF or Word format to the instructor.

Extensions: Available from the instructor on medical, humanitarian, and other grounds.

Further information

This course is an elective for all AMU students

Schedule for academic year 2024/25:

The subject is a part of the following study plans

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