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Generating Learning Outcomes with Generative AI
However essential we know learning outcomes to be for orienting students, articulating them can be an arduous process. Where does one even begin? Thankfully, this is one area where Generative AI’s capabilities really deliver. Using a text-producing AI tool such as SMARTIE’s Course Structure Assistant, insert as many details about your course and the desired output as possible. Here is a sample prompt that you might submit to AI to produce course-level learning outcomes: Please create 6 learning outcomes that consider the following parameters. This is a university course at the [ordinal] year level of a [discipline] program. The course title is: “[Course title]”. The description is: “[Custom course description]”.…
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All aligned – Instruction
In higher education, we have our students do all the hardest learning by themselves. As academics, our greatest strength is expertise, but we routinely select passive instructional strategies that have our students mostly listening to lectures in our classes and doing their learning later. Choosing passive listening robs us of the opportunity to provide the nuance and clarification that learners need while they learn. This post focuses on selecting the right type of instructional approaches to have our students actively learning the most important and challenging things they will need. Relationship to our Learning Charter:There are two learning charter educator commitments related our instructional approaches to learning tasks: Be aware…
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All Aligned – Outcomes
This post is one of a 3 part series on the concept of alignment of what you want students to learn, how you plan to teach them, and what you will assess them on. Sometimes called constructive alignment, it has three parts: Your learning outcomes Your instructional approach or learning strategies Your assessments This post focuses on the need for clear learning outcomes for your students, and the next two posts in October and November focus on instruction and assessment respectively. Why outcomes Outcomes are statements that describe what our teaching is designed to help students know, do, or be. They start with a verb, then connect that to the…
- Assessment and Evaluation, Curriculum Development, Instructional / Course Design, Instructional Strategies
Is Your Instruction Designed to Produce Student Learning?
Lecture is an efficient way to transmit information, especially in large classes. We inevitably feel there is a lot of content to cover, since the gap between what novice students know and expert professors know is large. However, large, uninterrupted blocks of lecture are very inefficient ways to learn, because they are passive. Learners get cognitive overload and stop processing, have trouble paying attention, and remember some ideas that they struggle to apply or connect conceptually. All of these occur, even with strong learners, and even with instructors who provide exceptionally focused, clear delivery of information. The mind just learns more if it is actively engaged in thinking. As a…