Special Programs

Designing Your Courses for Significant Learning Outcomes

The Teaching and Academic Support Center is sponsoring two events focused on designing courses for significant learning experiences.

Registration for the events may be made by sending an e-mail to ed.dev@uky.edu with your name, department and reservation information.

Questions about the events may be addressed to Kathryn Cunningham at 257-8272 ext 241 or kdcunn2@email.uky.edu.

1) Half-Day Workshop on a Model for Course Design

This past October TASC, in conjunction with several colleges, co-sponsored, a visit by Dr. Dee Fink, author of Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses. Dee offered several sections of a three-hour workshop in which he presented his course design model.

We are bringing Dee back to campus on Thursday, May 24 when we will conduct a half-day workshop that provides an overview of Dee’s model of course design (similar to the October workshops) conducted by Kathryn Cunningham and facilitated by Dr. Fink. The event will be held from 8:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Registration is required in order to reserve space and a packet of materials.

Participants in this workshop may also reserve a space and lunch at a session that follows from 12:30 – 2:00 p.m. This is the final session of a six-week workshop series on course design (see below) in which participants from the series will get feedback from Dee regarding their course redesign projects. The half-day workshop participants can listen in and get ideas from their colleague’s efforts and Dee’s comments. Let us know if you want to add this event to your reservation for the half-day workshop.

2) A Faculty Learning Community on Designing for Significant Learning Outcomes

We are offering a six-week Faculty Learning Community on “Designing for Significant Learning Outcomes” conducted by TASC’s Kathryn Cunningham. This series is primarily designed for those who took one of the October workshops by Dr. Dee Fink, but is open to anyone who wants to apply Dee’s model of course design with or without having an overview of the model. The last session is an opportunity to have lunch with Dee and receive feedback on design products.

The purpose of this faculty learning community is to endow faculty members with the ability to generate significant learning outcomes by providing them the time and support needed to redesign their Fall 2007 or Spring 2008 courses. By the last session each faculty member will have redesigned one course and also completed the basic prep work for that course.

We will meet for six sessions from 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. starting on Thursday, April 5 and ending on Thursday, May 24. During each meeting, faculty will receive a brief instructional presentation for that session’s objective. The instructional presentation will be followed by a work session in which faculty apply the presentation material to their specific course. Faculty may need to finish their work in between sessions as well as read small parts of the text in preparation for the upcoming session. Each faculty member will receive a copy of Dee Fink’s book Creating Significant Learning Experiences as well as other support materials. The last meeting would be an opportunity for the faculty to discuss their course redesign products with Dee Fink. Lunches will be provided for all sessions.

Tentative Calendar and Schedule of Events

April 5: Overview of the process. Identify learning goals that faculty see as significant.

April 12: No meeting. Opportunity to refine learning goals.

April 19: Formulate appropriate feedback and assessments based on identified goals.

April 26: Select effective teaching activities specific to identified goals. Evaluate goals, teaching activities and assessment to determine alignment.

May 3: No meeting. Finals week.

May 10: Develop thematic structure of course (scope and sequence) and combine teaching techniques to generate unit strategies.

May 17: Develop grading system according to prioritization of goals and present tentative course syllabus.

May 24: Conversation with and feedback from Dee Fink.