Examples of Teaching and Learning Syllabi
Following are syllabi for courses devoted to Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. In cases where contributors sent me websites, I have provided hyperlinks for you to reach them. I have arranged this list in alphabetical order, primarily by course name. I've listed course faculty, or those contributors responsible for sending me the syllabi, after the course title. If you would like to contribute to this site, please send me an attachment of your syllabi.
Warm Regards,
Kevin M. Johnston
Director, MSU TA Programs
02/11/03 (Under Revision 02/08)
ADE 591: Understanding, Assessing, and Improving College Teaching, Michael Theall, Ph.D., Youngstown State University.
Course Description: This course provides an overview of major issues in college teaching, with an emphasis on its design, assessment, and improvement. Your main task will be to conceptualize, design, develop, and describe a college course in a subject area of your choice. This is also a writing-intensive course in which you will prepare short papers and also write a major end-of-term paper which describes the rationale for your course and for the instructional and related decisions you made as you designed it.
The underlying rationale for this course is that it should meet the need to provide you with:
- working knowledge of a process for designing college-level instruction
- information and experiences which help you to develop a solid understanding of college teaching and learning and a personal philosophy which defines your roles, responsibilities, and behaviors as a teacher
- intellectual and practical experiences which form a foundation upon which you can build a repertoire of college teaching skills and a useful array of teaching materials.
A highly desirable outcome of this course is that at its end, you will have in hand the design for your own complete college course and that, given time to assemble teaching materials, implement technologies, and deal with practical/logistical details, you would be prepared to teach that course in a higher education setting.
CAHS 3100: Teaching and Learning in Communities, Alice Macpherson, Kwantlen University College. This is the approved outline for a course on teaching and learning for community development.
Course Description: Students will critically examine and apply a variety of teaching/learning theories, perspectives, and strategies that underlie meaningful interactions with individuals, families, and groups. They will explore the influence of personal meaning, beliefs, and values on teaching/learning processes. Students will participate in teaching/learning experiences with diverse communities using a community development model.
Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education, Chris Rust, Ph.D., Oxford Brookes University, UK.
Course aims:
- To widen the repertoire of teaching and assessment methods participants are competent to use.
- To support participants in the teaching problems they face.
- To increase participants' understanding of teaching and learning processes so that they can make appropriate and informed decisions about course design and the choice of teaching' learning and assessment methods.
- To foster the habit of reflective teaching and of professionalism in evaluating and improving teaching.
Please visit http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsd/3_courses/cthe.html for this course and a related site devoted to improving teaching in higher education the UK, http://www.lgu.ac.uk/deliberations/teachers/gibbs_index.html .
Chemistry 6971: The Teaching and Learning of Chemistry, Stacey Lowery Bretz, Ph.D., Youngstown State University.
Course Description: An introduction to the current literature and research problems in the teaching and learning of chemistry. Topics include theories of teaching, learning styles, assessment, problem solving, misconceptions, and the role of laboratories, recitations, and demonstrations in learning chemistry. Suitable for students in the natural sciences.
Community College Teaching Seminar I & II, Stephen Louisell, Kalamazoo Valley Community College.
Seminar I. Course Description: This seminar is intended to provide a foundation in the meta-profession of college teaching to community college faculty who were trained in diverse disciplines. Faculty members will be expected to achieve approximately half of the course objectives listed on pages 3 and 4 in this seminar; the remaining objectives will be completed in Seminar II. Seminar I will also involve the preparation of course materials for the first course to be included in the faculty member's Teaching Portfolio.
Seminar II. Course Description: This seminar is intended to build upon the foundation laid down in Community College Teaching Seminar I. Emphasis will be placed on more advanced instructional design and delivery topics, including the use of new learning technologies and the delivery of quality instruction to large sections. In addition, considerable time will be spent on topics such as academic freedom, managing difficult students, and professional ethics. Seminar II will also involve building a course using the Blackboard course management system. The completed class will serve as the second course to be included in the faculty member's Teaching Portfolio.
EDUC 257 College Teaching, Ed Neal, Ph.D., The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Course Goals: By the end of this course, you will be able to: 1. Design a college course based on principles of effective pedagogy. To demonstrate mastery of this goal, you will develop examples of tests and assessment tools, lesson plans, and a fully detailed course syllabus. 2. Express your beliefs about teaching and your teaching practice in meaningful and compelling ways. To demonstrate mastery of this goal, you will create a teaching portfolio.
GRAD 8101: Teaching In Higher Education, Connie Tzensis, Ph.D., University of Minnesota.
Course Description: We are glad you chose to take Grad 8101. This course is designed to help you become a stronger, more reflective college teacher. Together we will model a variety of active learning strategies (e.g. cooperative learning, collaborative learning, problem-posing, case study, interactive lecture, discussion, critical thinking, role-playing) and will facilitate discussions on educational theory and practice. By combining theory and practice, participants will explore and develop teaching skills that promote learning within a diverse student body in a variety of settings. Throughout our exploration of new knowledge and strategies, we will discuss the ways in which our choices as teachers influence student learning.
GRAD 8102: Practicum for Future Faculty, Deborah Wingert, Ph.D., University of Minnesota.
Course Description: Welcome. This course is designed to give participants opportunities to apply the theories and methods learned in GRAD 8101, Teaching in Higher Education (or in a PFF-approved departmental pedagogy course) and to further enhance understandings of the faculty role in higher education. To accomplish these goals, participants will work closely with faculty mentors, guest speakers, and the PFF staff. The predominant teaching method will be guest panels, small and large group discussions, and a variety of interactive learning strategies.
GRSC 7770: Level Three Seminar for Graduate Teaching Assistants, Katie Smith, Ph.D., University of Georgia. (Thanks to Richard Hake, Ph.D., for forwarding this to me.)
Course Description: GRSC 7770-level three is a teaching support seminar designed to give graduate teaching assistants an opportunity to become familiar with the support services available to them, to learn about teaching approaches that are effective at the college level and to practice and discuss aspects of their teaching assignments.
GRDSCH 610: Teaching Mentorship
GRDSCH 620: Teaching Mentorship Seminar
GRDSCH 630: Special Topics in College University Teaching: Teaching and Learning in Higher Education,
IDG 501. Seminar In College Teaching, Judith E. Miller, Ph.D., Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Course Description: 2 Credits. This seminar is designed to acquaint graduate students with some of the basic principles and theories of education and with instructional practices associated with effective college teaching. This information applies without regard to the particular nature of the subject matter being taught; the emphasis is on the educational process, not the disciplinary content. Course activities include readings, lectures, discussion, and individual and group projects. Topics covered include an introduction to learning theories, cognitive development and motivation for learning; effective teaching skills such as lecturing, class discussion, active and cooperative learning, and use of instructional technology; evaluating student performance; and life as a college professor. Students who have completed this course will be prepared for ISG 502 Practicum in College Teaching, which is offered as an independent study on demand.
IP&T 515R: Effective Teaching, Trav D. Johnson, Ph.D., Brigham Young University. This is a course for TAs on effective teaching. The course is generally based on the work of Stephen Brookfield Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995) and Andrew Gitlin (Gitlin & Goldstein. "A Dialogical Approach to Understanding Horizontal Evaluation." Educational Theory Vol. 37 (1).
Course Description: Welcome to the Effective Teaching Course. The purpose of this course is to help you better understand and improve your teaching. This is accomplished through collaboration, inquiry, dialogue, and reflection on teaching goals and practices. During the course, you will work in pairs or small groups to study your own teaching and the teaching of others. You will not evaluate one another's teaching (i.e. decide if one another's teaching is "good" or "bad"). Rather, your focus will be to better understand your teaching by gathering data on teaching practices and examining teaching from different perspectives.
MNA 1330: Instructor Effectiveness Training, Richard Lyons, Indian River Community College.
Course Description: A wide variety of instructional methods will be used to provide students with meaningful learning experiences, and to provide a model for students to adapt for their classrooms. These include role play, group problem-solving, self- analysis instruments and Socratic questioning, as well as more traditional methods.
The following syllabi were provided by Laurie Richlin, Ph.D., Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California.
PFF 531: Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (Spring 2002), Laurie Richlin, Ph.D., Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California.
Course Description: This course is an intensive graduate seminar that provides an overview of the issues, principles, and practices associated with effective college teaching. The course assumes, identifies, and uses a body of scholarly knowledge and research appropriate for study and application to the profession of college/university teaching. Topics examined include learning and diversity, teaching models and strategies, teacher and student behaviors and learning outcomes, and instructional improvement strategies. The interaction of theory and practice is an important theme (and challenge) of the course.
PFF 531 Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (Spring 2003), Laurie Richlin, Ph.D., Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California.
Course Description: This course is an intensive graduate seminar on issues, principles, and practices associated with effective college teaching. Topics and activities include course design; student cognitive development and learning styles; teaching styles, methods and strategies; designing assignments; and testing and grading. The course is intended for students from all disciplines who have an interest in exploring teaching in higher education at the community college, college, and university levels. The course is designed to help prepare future college professors for their roles as teachers and to help current college instructors to continue to increase their effectiveness as teachers.
PFF 541 Teaching at a Liberal Arts College (Spring 2003),
Course Description: This course will prepare advanced graduate students to teach in liberal arts colleges. Focus will be on the liberal arts college student. The course will emphasize the challenges faced by faculty members in their role of preparing their students for life in the 21st century. Students will have the opportunity to discuss with current faculty members the responsibilities of teaching at local liberal arts colleges and will prepare a course portfolios designed for an advanced course in their discipline. The course is intended for students from all disciplines who have an interest in exploring teaching in higher education at the undergraduate level.
PSY 510: Issues in Using the Internet in Instruction, Sally Kuhlenschmidt, Ph.D., University of Western Kentucky. http://edtech.tph.wku.edu/%7Einternet/psyii.htm
Course Objectives: Students will:
- Design and build a course for delivery primarily via Internet technologies or create or modify administrative policies
- Understand principles of college level instruction as they apply to Internet instruction
- Increase personal comfort with using technology for instruction
- Understand key technological factors that will affect the future of higher education
- Experience what it is like to participate in a class via the Internet.
VED 7205: Teaching in Higher Education, Arthur L. Crawley, Ph.D., Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge.
Course Description: Teaching in Higher Education (3) Methodology and techniques for effective college teaching; student motivation; planning for instruction, delivery, and evaluation.
VT ED 876: College Teaching, Linda Nilson, Ph.D., Clemson University. Here's a copy of Linda's College Teaching course syllabus, one she taught for the first time fall 2002 at Clemson. Student Learning Objectives (Outcomes) for This Course: What any course is all about is best expressed in terms of what you will be able to do after you complete it, assuming you do all the homework, attend all the classes, and fulfill all other course requirements. By the end of this course, you will know how to and be able to:
- Design and teach a course that: 1) is oriented to the cognitive level and learning styles of today's traditional students; 2) is coherently built around assessable student-learning objectives (outcomes) mediating and ultimate; and 3) has class-by-class assignments and activities that will directly enhance students' learning and attainment of your learning objectives.
- Motivate your students to do the work you assign.
- Maintain considerable discipline in your classroom.
- Select technology wisely to supplement a traditional classroom course.
- Design objective-focused assessment instruments.
- Interpret student evaluations appropriately.
- Enter the academic job market with good, basic documentation and some job-seeking savvy.
- Discuss intelligently some of the major issues facing the academic world today.