Printable Syllabus (PDF)

SYLLABUS

“Designing Courses for Significant Learning”

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is a professional development course authored by Dee Fink and delivered by Optimize Learning. The “Big Purpose” of the course is to enable participants to understand and begin to apply key principles to the courses they design in such a way that students achieve a high level of Significant Learning. Significant Learning is defined as, “Learning that actually changes how students live their lives, i.e., how they think, how they feel, how they act, etc.”

DESIRE LEARNING OUTCOMES
Well-designed courses are built around a set of “desired learning outcomes,” i.e., statements of multiple specific kinds of learning that the course designers intend all learners/course participants will be able to achieve by the time they finish the course. The desired learning outcomes for this course are based on, and organized by, the six categories of Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning—Foundational Knowledge, Application, Integration, Human Dimension, Caring and Learning How to Learn.

By the time you conclude this course you should be able to

Foundational Knowledge

1. Describe the meaning of certain important terms and concepts related to Integrated Course Design (ICD). These terms include significant learning, active learning, educative assessment, rubrics, backward design, forwarding looking assessment, integration and teaching strategy.
2. Describe each of the five key steps involved in Integrated Course Design (ICD).
3. Describe the six kinds of learning in the Taxonomy of Significant Learning.

Application

4. Apply the concepts of ICD to the design of your own course(s).

Integration

5. Identify (a) how the ideas of ICD affirm what you are already doing in your teaching and (b) new ideas introduced that can enhance your teaching.

Human Dimension

6. See yourself as a person who can and wants to continuously learn more about teaching.
7. Demonstrate confidence that you can design high quality courses for higher education.

Caring

8. Identify how ICD can improve student learning.
9. Describe why good course design is such an important part of teaching for significant learning.

Learning How to Learn

10. Identify at least four resources you can use for learning more about course design in the future.

In addition to these outcomes we expect that you will network with your colleagues throughout the course.

PREREQUISITES
There are no prerequisites for taking this course.

REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS
No textbook or materials outside of this course are required. All reading assignments are available within the course and all activities can be completed within the course. There are a few 3- to 8-minute videos within the course. The videos are closed-captioned.

REQUIRED SOFTWARE
This course is delivered in the Canvas Course Management System.   You do not need to download any software to access your lessons and materials.   However, you will need:

Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word or Microsoft Office or another program that enables documents to be opened and saved in Word or other Microsoft file formats, e.g., “.doc,” “.docx,” “ppt,” “pptx,” etc.   If you do not have Microsoft Office, you can download a free program ( Open Office (Links to an external site.) ) ( https://www.openoffice.org/download/ (Links to an external site.) ) that will allow you to open, edit and save files in the required formats.

Adobe Software
Adobe Reader (Links to an external site.) (free) (latest version)
Adobe Flash Player (Links to an external site.) (free) (latest version)

Virus Protection Software
It is the responsibility of computer owners to protect their computers against contracting or spreading computer viruses. Most computer viruses are spread unintentionally. Users usually have no knowledge that their computer files have been infected. Please be responsible and ensure that your computer is protected. You can use any free (e.g.,ClamXav (Links to an external site.) , AVG (Links to an external site.) , etc.) or for-purchase program (see Top 10 AntiVirusSoftware.com (Links to an external site.) ) of your choice.

REQUIRED EQUIPMENT
This workshop is delivered totally online. Therefore, it’s important that you have daily access to a computer and consistent, reliable broadband/high speed Internet access. The following are recommended:

Browsers for Operating on the Internet

For WINDOWS systems:
Firefox – current version
Internet Explorer – current version

For MAC systems:

Firefox – current version

Safari – current version

Operating Systems on Your Computer

WINDOWS

MAC

Settings for Components on Your Computer

Video:   Set your resolution to 1024 X 768 or greater

Cookies:   Enabled

Pop-Up Blockers:   Disabled

REQUIRED TECHNICAL SKILLS
You should be comfortable

• Sending and receiving email
• Using word processing software
• Navigating the Internet
• Downloading and attaching documents
• Locating downloaded documents on your computer
• Installing common free software for viewing and reading documents such as PDF documents if necessary

ORGANIZATION OF THE COURSE
This course is organized into six (6) Units. READ, COMPLETE, and POST assignments are identified in the Suggested Schedule of Activities document and in the “Course Resources” area of the course. Some lessons include activities to complete and at the end of the lesson, instructions for posting those activities to a Discussion Forum.

TIME COMMITMENT
It is expected that the course will take approximately 8-10 hours per week to complete (i.e., 16-20 hours for the full course). This is divided up into approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes (95-100 minutes) of work in the course each of 10 workdays (Monday – Friday). You may of course use weekend time, but when a course assignment or course document refers to “days” it is referring to

Enrollment Day – The day you enroll in the course

Day 1 – Wednesday (the day the course begins)

Day 2 – Thursday

Day 3 – Friday

Day 4 – Monday

Day 5 – Tuesday

Day 6 – Wednesday (begins the second week of the course)

Day 7 – Thursday

Day 8 – Friday

Day 9 – Monday

Day 10 – Tuesday

Final Day – Wednesday (the third Wed; the day the course closes)

All work must be completed, posted and/or submitted by 11:59pm Central Time on the Final Day of the course in order for you to successfully complete the course. We are unable to accept work or posts after that time.

EXPECTATIONS
What You Can Expect from Your Course Coach(es)
Your Course Coach(es) will log into the course and will look at work submitted by participants at least once daily. You can expect a response to your work within 48 hours from the time you submitted it. Your Course Coach, or if you have two “Co-Coaches” in your course, at least one Coach, will provide feedback to you and will also post an announcement daily to the “Course Announcements” Forum. This forum is located within the “Start Here” section of the course website. Your Course Coach(es) will also respond to questions or comments posted in the “Questions & Comments” (Q&C) Forum and those sent to them by email.   See the COMMUNICATIONS section of this Syllabus for more detailed information. Remember: your Course Coach(es) is(are) here to help you!

What We Expect from Participants
We hope you will enjoy the course. To this end, we have created several kinds of learning opportunities for you: reading, videos, some applied design work, and feedback on your work from your Coach(es) AND from your colleagues (other participants) in the course. By the end of the course, you will likely have the beginning of a new (or reignited) vision for the kind of learning that might happen for participants in your courses and will have acquired a set of tools and skills for implementing that vision successfully! Of course, just as we all have expectations of students in our own online courses, we also have expectations of participants in this course. As a participant, please

• Check the course ANNOUNCEMENTS every time you log into the course. At least one new announcement will be posted daily Monday through Friday each week and often additional announcements will be posted that may clarify something, provide additional helpful tips or answer questions that may have arisen.
• Ask if you don’t understand something or would like to discuss a course element further (post to the Q&C Forum or email your Coach).
• Organize your time in such a way that you can thoughtfully and thoroughly complete all course activities.
• Keep up with the pace of the course.
• Fully participate in online discussion forums, posting thoughtful and substantive initial posts and replies to both Course Coaches and colleagues.
• Understand that technical problems with Internet access, computer equipment and software may occur. If they do, you may need to use alternative equipment, software or access to continue your work in the course, e.g., public library, internet café, coffee shop, at work or at a friend’s or relative’s home, etc.

ASSESSMENT AND FEEDBACK
“Grades”
There are no “grades” awarded in this course, but you are required to READ lessons and other materials, COMPLETE Application Activities, and POST to Discussion Forums. You will receive

• 2 points if you have completed the assignment (applied work, initial post for the applied work, and posting to at least one of your colleagues)

• 1 point if you have all of the portions completed but may need to REVISE your applied work; and

• 0 points if you have not completed discussion OR posted the assignment and it is past due.

The course is not designed for you to “pass” or “fail” but to enrich your learning. That said, it’s always helpful to know if you have met expectations for work you have done, thus the minimal points to help you keep track of your progress. You have an opportunity to revise any work based on the feedback your Coach(es) and colleagues have provided to you. It is expected that to receive a “Certificate of Completion” at the conclusion of the course you will have successfully completed 90% or more of your Activities and/or Posts throughout the course and will have completed all activities in Unit VI. This will be considered “satisfactory completion” of the course.

Criteria
You should plan to:

• READ lessons and other materials carefully and thoroughly.
• COMPLETE Application Activities to the best of your ability. You will be applying the course material to a course of your own, so you will want to complete the work in the activities in such a way that it benefits you and provides enough information for others (including your Course Coaches) to provide meaningful comments, suggestions and assistance if needed.
• POST your Application Activities to the discussion forums and provide a substantial response (someone once described this as a “meaty” response to the questions in the forum) and any background or additional information that might be helpful to others in responding to you and your post.

Feedback
The course is designed to provide maximum opportunity for you to receive feedback from your primary Course Coach (and sometimes from two Coaches) and from your colleagues– primarily through the discussion forums. Your Coach(es) will provide feedback within approximately 48 hours of your posting in the forum. If it appears that your colleagues are not keeping pace with your posts, your Coach(es) may provide feedback to you by email instead to ensure that you do receive timely feedback. In instances where the Activity requires you to submit an assignment to a drop box in the course, your Coach will provide feedback within 48 hours on those assignments as well.

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION
At the conclusion of the course you will receive an email from your Coach(es) indicating that you have successfully completed (or not completed) the course. Everyone who satisfactorily completes ALL of the work will be able to print a “Certificate of Completion” from Dee Fink.

SUBMITTING APPLICATION ACTIVITIES
Most activities utilize predesigned “Design Forms.”  These are accessible within the units.

There are a limited number of activities that must be submitted to the drop box, but for those you are instructed to submit to the drop box, please do so there—Do NOT email them to a Course Coach.

For most activities however, you will be instructed to attach your Design Form to your post in the appropriate forum.

COMMUNICATION
Communicating With Your Course Coach(es)
For questions or comments that might be of concern or interest to others, please post them in the “Questions & Comments” (Q&C) Forum (located under “Announcements” on the course home page.)  For questions or comments that are individual and of concern only to you, please email your Course Coach (or one of your Course Coaches if there are two).

Your Course Coach(es) Communicating With You
Most communication from Course Coaches will be posted in the course “Announcements” forum. Please check course announcements every time you log in and at least daily. At last one announcement and often more than one will be posted in this forum each day.

On occasion, your Coach(es) may email you regarding individual issues, just as you might email them with individual questions or concerns.

Netiquette
Please

• Be mutually respectful of varied opinions, beliefs and perspectives and encourage one another in the free exchange of ideas that is essential to our ability to learn from one another
• Refrain from the use of inappropriate language
• Review your work and posts for omitted words. (No one expects perfect grammar; we just all want to be able to understand each other well without guessing what the other meant.)

SUPPORT
We recognize that while we are in the process of meeting the same level of Accessibility Standards that apply to academic online courses such as those you may be developing, initial offerings of this course do not all yet fully meet those standards. We are continuing to work on this. If in the meantime you require special accommodations, please contact your primary Course Coach.

For questions regarding course content, please contact your Course Coach.

For technical help, please contact your Course Coach (who will likely not be able to personally help you, but who can contact Technical Support for you).

LATE WORK
We’re sorry, but we’re unable to accept work submitted or posted after the last day of the course– the date it ends. This date is provided in the Announcements and repeated periodically throughout the two-week period. We strongly recommend that you pace yourself carefully throughout and do NOT wait until the last minute to complete your readings, application activities and postings or wait until the last two days of the course to try to complete all of the work.

Although coursework will not be accepted beyond the end date, the course will remain open for 4 days beyond the last day to enable you to go back into it and review lessons, activities and the posts of other participants that you may have missed while the session was in progress.

CANCELLATION OR WITHDRAWAL
Cancellation by Optimize Learning:   Optimize Learning reserves the right to cancel a course or event due to low enrollment or other circumstances which would make the course or event non-viable. Should circumstances arise that result in the postponement of an event or course, you will have the option to either receive a full refund or transfer registration to the same or a different course of the same type at a future date.

Cancellation by Participant:   Cancellations received prior to the “Close of Registration” date (the Friday before the date a course is scheduled to begin) are eligible for a full refund. Cancellations received after the “Close of Registration” date but before the first day of the course are eligible for a 50% refund. Cancellations received after the course commences (start date of the course or event) are not eligible for a refund.

Withdrawals from the Course: If you believe that you will not be able to complete the course and must withdraw from it after it begins (which includes the first day of the course) please be aware that refunds are NOT applied except in the case of extreme emergency. If you must withdraw from the course, you are welcome to enroll in another session at another time, but you will be required to pay the full course fee again. We recognize that everyone is juggling multiple family and professional responsibilities, so please consider carefully prior to enrolling and the first day if you have the necessary 16-20 hours available over the two-week period to complete the course.

If you find that you must cancel your registration or withdraw from the course, please contact Linda Jacoby (lindaj@optimizelearning.org) immediately. The registered attendee, institution representative or credit card holder must make the refund request. Refund requests must include the name of the attendee, course, start date, contact information and institution (if applicable). Cancellations are accepted by postal service (Optimize Learning, P.O. Box 240985, St Paul MN 55124 USA) or e-mail (lindaj@optimizelearning.org) only.  Refunds will be credited back to the original method of payment.