paul t. wietig, edd ptwietig@buffalo.edu assistant vice president interprofessional education...

Paul T. Wietig, EdDptwietig@buffalo.edu

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