Abstract: Students don’t always learn what it is that we intend to teach them. In several science departments, faculty are addressing this gap by collaboratively deciding on just what it is that they want students to take away from a particular course or lecture. These learning goals have been valuable as a communication tool among faculty and between faculty and students so that everybody knows what the outcomes of the course are meant to be. Once these goals are written, it’s also much easier to write exams and other assessments. But writing clear learning goals takes some practice. In this interactive workshop, you’ll get that practice – in defining goals and designing assessments that address those goals. You will work in groups with faculty from similar disciplines to generate and analyze goals and questions, and will discus how to put ongoing assessment of your students into practice. You are encouraged to work on a class you are currently teaching, so you can apply the techniques immediately.
More on learning goals on the Learning Goals page
Full Day Workshop
A one-day workshop on the creation and use of learning goals, with Carl Wieman.
Two-hour Faculty Development workshops
Short professional development workshops by Kathy Perkins and Stephanie Chasteen, based on the Wieman workshop, through the Faculty Teaching Excellence Program (FTEP).
- Slides and handouts (ZIP)
- Below is a (1-hour) video demonstrating this workshop in practice