Charting Your Course: Course Preparation, Syllabus Construction,

Classroom Dynamics, and Assessment

Kelvin White, Ph.D.RAMS Conference and SchoolUniversity of Zadar, May 2013

Presentation outline

1. My philosophy of education and its historical background;

2. Relationship between my chosen teaching philosophy and archival education;

3. Basic planning model of designing a course; and

4. Discussion of and how I foster self-reflexivity, critical thinking, and cognitive development

There is no such thing as a neutral educational process. Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate the integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity to it, or it becomes the “practice of freedom,” the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and [together] discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.”

--Richard Shaull 1972, drawing on Paulo Freire

"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

Paulo Freire

Critical Pedagogy

"Habits of thought, reading, writing, and speaking which go beneath surface meaning, first impressions, dominant myths, official pronouncements, traditional clichés, received wisdom, and mere opinions, to understand the deep meaning, root causes, social context, ideology, and personal consequences of any action, event, object, process, organization, experience, text, subject matter, policy, mass media, or discourse." (Empowering Education)

Paulo Freire

Major research goals:•To identify key educational needs for specific regions in the Pacific Rim, especially when communities in those regions might not have any existing archival infrastructure. •To identify what might be optimal delivery mechanisms for archival education in different communities and settings•To develop a set of major recommendations, even a manifesto for pluralism, that could be addressed by existing programs to ensure that they better address the diverse needs of a student and practitioner base that may be drawn from across the Pacific Rim, as well as local indigenous and ethnic communities?

There is no such thing as a neutral educational process. Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate the integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity to it, or it becomes the “practice of freedom,” the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and [together] discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.”

--Richard Shaull 1972, drawing on Paulo Freire

Course Planning and Design

Content-centered planning model

vs. Student-centered

planning model

Content-centered planning model

Operative planning questions:

•How much of this content can I cover?

•How much time do I have to cover it?

•Should I emphasize breadth or depth of coverage?

•What materials will I need to teach the course?

Student-centered planning model

Operative planning questions:•In what ways will students be better thinkers when they finish the course?

•What should students be able to do with the knowledge and skills gained in the course?

•What portions of the content are germane to these learning goals?

•What kinds of tasks should students perform in order to achieve these goals?

Basic Elements in Course Design

1. What is the place of this course in the curriculum?

2. What kinds of skills and levels of knowledge can you expect of students who register for the class?

3. Given their incoming skills and knowledge, how do you want students to “be different” by the end of the course? (Ex. Original research Objective tests? Papers? Open-ended tests?)

Basic Elements in Course Design

4. What themes, fundamental principles, or synthesizing ideas does the course involve? 5. What are the major instructional units into which the course naturally divides? 6. What kinds of learning experiences seem appropriate for students to master the course goals and objectives? 7. How will you evaluate student achievement of objectives?

William Perry's and Jean Piaget's Cognitive State Theory

Lev. S. Vygotsky's Constructivist Theory

A few assumptions about development: • Growth and development take place in stages. • Each stage of development is integrated into

the next. Development seems to be characterized by a gradual blending of one stage into the next, with small units of growth and change fusing to provide the supportive base for transformation to a higher level.

• Each individual develops in a direction that is unique.

Commitment to Relativism

Contextual thinking; instructor is helper rather than authority; students

look to authority for guidance, recognizes own analytical fortitude

Realizes there are multiple views, but still “do your own

thing” approach; one idea is just as good as another

Worldview is absolute, right-wrong, black-white; authority

as reservoir of knowledge

Relativism

Multiplicity

Dualism (lowest level)

Cognition shifts in this stage—no longer a structural change, but rather a qualitative; students move in developing and living with a series of commitments; locus of control is internal rather than external

Perry’s continuum of cognitive stage development

Environment A

Cognitive Stagnation

Person

Challenge

Support

Environment B

Cognitive Elitism

Person

ChallengeSupport

Environment C

Cognitive Maturity—learner is able to cope

Person Challenge

Support

Cognitive Maturity—learner is able to cope

Student Challenge

Support

Events:e.g. curriculum,

views of the instructor and

students

Tasks: e.g.class discussions

and written activities

Structure:Clearly stated instructions, syllabus and

sound learning experiences

Personal:e.g. conferences with instructor,

announced office hours

Final Product: The Syllabus

Summary

1. We discussed my philosophy of education and its historical background;

2. We discussed the relationship between my chosen teaching philosophy and archival education (PacRim Study);

3. I presented a basic planning model of designing a course; and

4. Discussed how I foster self-reflexivity, critical thinking, and cognitive development in a graduate level course

Questions?

kwhite@ou.edu

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