Designing Courses that Help Students Learn

L. Dee Fink, Director, Instructional Development Program, University of Oklahoma, and author of Creating Significant Learning Experiences (Jossey-Bass, 2003), has agreed to present two workshops at U.Va. on Friday, November 19. The morning session will focus on creating particularly effective assignments; the afternoon session will provide a broader overview of ways to design courses that really help students learn.

Participants in similar workshops around the US have offered comments such as these:

• The session and the handouts were awesome.
• Dr. Fink brought active learning to life. I had parts of it in my courses, but now I am excited about it.
• This workshop really added to my understanding of course design.
• Excellent overall! Well-organized.
• The diagrams in the handout were simple, yet powerful. I will be able to use most of this approach in my classes.

Dee Fink has provided a handout which he recommends reading prior to the workshops.

Planning Effective Feedback and Assessment

Crucial to gauging how effectively your courses promote learning are the assignments that evaluate or assess how well or poorly students are doing. But can these assignments do more than just tell us whether the students "got it" or not?
Dee Fink argues they can accomplish much more when they are part of an integrated course design. In this workshop, he explains the concept of "educative" assessment-that is, ways to provide feedback and design tests, exams or projects that are situated in real-life contexts, that are connected to course goals, and that encourage students to assess their own work. Participants will have the chance to consider these ideas in the context of their own courses.

Creating Courses for More Powerful Student Learning

Most professors want their students to acquire powerful and significant kinds of learning. We would like them, for example, to be able to think critically and solve complex problems, to connect one kind of knowledge to another, to understand the personal and social implications of their knowledge, to learn how to keep on learning, and so on. How can we best help our students learn in significant ways?
Dee Fink's work with college professors for over 25 years has convinced him that we can design such learning into our courses. In this workshop, he lays out the basic principles and procedures of effective course design. Participants will have the opportunity to consider what constitutes key knowledge and important learning experiences in their disciplines, as well as what types of classroom activities and assessment tools will best accomplish their goals.