PREPARING AND REVISING

LANE 462

By:By:By:By:

Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. ShadiaShadiaShadiaShadia YousefYousefYousefYousef BanjarBanjarBanjarBanjar

http://SBANJAR.kau.edu.sa/

http://wwwdrshadiabanjar.blogspot.com

PREPARING AND REVISING

A COURSE

7/25/2010 1Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar

To design a course, the teacher may follow

seven steps:

1) applying general strategies,

2) deciding what you want to accomplish,

3) defining and limiting course content,

4) structuring the course,

PREPARING AND REVISING A COURSE

4) structuring the course,

5) selecting text books and readings,

6) setting course policies, and

7) handling administrative tasks.

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•If the course is new to you but has been

introduced before, talk with faculty who

have taught it previously. Ask for the

syllabus, list of assignments and papers, and

old exams.

General Strategies

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old exams.

•If the course is new to you and has

never been introduced before, review

textbooks on the topic of the course.

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•If you have a previously taught the

course, assemble everything related to the

course (syllabus, textbooks, handouts,

exams, your notes for each class session,

and past evaluations by students). Then,

do the changes in the light of students’

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do the changes in the light of students’

interests as well as your interest.

•Identify the constraints in teaching the course:

1. ask yourself how many hours are available for instruction?

2. How many students will be enrolled?

3. Are the students primarily majors or nonmajors?

4. At what level?

5. What material can I safely assume that students will

know? etc.

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•Think about how your course relates to other

courses in your department’s curriculum:

a) Does your course serve as the introduction to

more advanced classes?

b) Is it a general educational course

c) is it an advanced course for majors?

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c)

•Establish goals: what do you expect your students to do or to produce as a result of taking the course?

•Identify both content and non-content goals: content goals (for example, “understand the key forces affecting the rise of Japan as an

economic power”; non-content goals (for example, become a good team

member and work collaboratively with other students” or “learn to tolerate

opposing points of view”

•To get started in writing course goals, think about “the big picture”:

Deciding What You Want to Accomplish

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•To get started in writing course goals, think about “the big picture”:

think of the students’ future after they graduate (What would you like them to

learn to be successful in their jobs)

•Scale down your goals to realistic list : adjust your ideal goals by taking into consideration the different abilities, interests, and the amount of time

available for class instruction.

•After you have put all your topics into a preliminary list, toss out the

excess unimportant topics and keep important ones

•Distinguish between essential and optional material. (Note that the exam will not cover the optional material)

•Emphasize the core concepts

•Stress the classic issues, or the most enduring values or truths.

•Cut to the chase by teaching the most critical skill or idea and drop the rest.

•Give students a conceptual framework on which to hang major ideas and

Defining and Limiting Course Content

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•Give students a conceptual framework on which to hang major ideas and factual information by understanding the relationship among concepts rather

than memorizing them.

•Prepare a detailed syllabus and share it with your students.

•Work out a logical arrangement for the course content by arranging the material in order by topic or category, from concrete to abstract, from

large complex to detailed, etc.

•List all class meetings in a schedule with tentative topics and dates for exams and holidays.

•Select appropriate instructional methods for each class meeting (by

deciding which topics lend themselves to which types of classroom

activities: lectures; small group discussions; independent work,

Structuring the Course

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activities: lectures; small group discussions; independent work,

debates, case studies, role playing, experimental learning activities,

etc.

•Design in-class and homework assignments (e.g. writing

assignment, group work & study team, participation, etc.)

1. Choose textbooks and reading assignments that reflect your goals.

Explain to your student how the readings relate to the course goals.

Some instructor select texts that repeat material covered in class.

2. Consider a range of criteria in selecting readings:

◦ Accuracy and currency of content

◦ Coherence and clarity of content

◦ Level of difficulty and interest for students

◦ Cost :

Selecting Textbook and Readings

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◦ Cost :

a. Choose the less expensive work if it is of comparable quality

b. Choose paperback rather than hardbacks

c. Limit the total cost of books for your course by placing some works on

reserve in the library

◦ Size (heavy large texts are hard to carry

◦ Format and layout (ease of reading

3. Assign a mix of texts and articles, including some current pieces of journal articles, essays, research reports especially in advanced courses.

4. Foster a habit of reading throughout college by encouraging students to explore beyond the reading material you assign

5. Follow the copyright laws and make not to violate copyrights if you are compiling a photocopied reader.

6. Take advantage of the new technologies in publishing in which some publishers let professors to order only selected chapters with less price of

the entire text. Other publishers make the content of scholarly print

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the entire text. Other publishers make the content of scholarly print

journals available electronically.

7. Be conscious of workload material a student can read. The number of pages you expect students to read depend of their abilities and the

nature of the reading material.

1. “Extra credit” assignments

2. Attendance

3. Makeup exams

4. Late work

Setting Course Politics

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•Order books early and double-check on the progress of your order

with a bookstore a month or so before the term begins. Once the

books have arrived, make sure how many copies are available. If

the order is delayed, assign readings which are already available.

•Try to place materials on reserve before the term begins if

possible. Let students know that no. of copies are on reserve for

Handling Administrative Tasks

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possible. Let students know that no. of copies are on reserve for

them.

•Make other logistical arrangements in advance (e.g. order

audiovisual equipment, videos, or films, etc) .

•PREPARING OR REVISING A COURSE

By Barbara Gross Davis, University of California, Berkeley. From Tools for Teaching,

copyright by Jossey-Bass, September 1, 1999.

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