What kind of vehicle have you built for God?
Your course is a place He wants to be.
By Dr. Sarah K. Clark
sarah_clark@byu.edu
My assignment today is to share ideas related to the organization and alignment of your syllabus and your course purpose, learning outcomes, and assessments.
And could you also share student feedback and insight on this work?
01
Course Purpose
Consider your course purpose through the lens of God as a passenger in your car.
02
Learning Outcomes
With God at the center of your course, how would you articulate what your students will learn? Be sure to consider this question through the lens of your discipline AND the gospel. God doesn’t intend for either to be left behind. I can still remember the day I realized that God is a scientist, a dancer, and chemist, etc. Are you pushing the boundaries of your imagination and creativity about your course?
03
Assessments
So what does learning look like in your classroom? A classroom where God and your discipline are both present?
Create your course through inspiration and experimenting:
Dr. Coyne, Family Life
Dr. Stice, Business
Dr. Robison, Dance
FDC and CTL
I have seen God in these classrooms and workshops and they have helped me
to do the same in mine.
Center for Teaching and Learning
Faculty Center
Workshops
Let’s take a look at my syllabus to see and example how these are all connected…
Course Purpose
Learning Outcomes
Assessments (formative and summative)
“Warm” language for me is any time you speak in ways God would - spoken or written.
Using My Syllabus as a Map
An Example of How I Do This in My Syllabus…
Course Purpose
A purpose of this course is to provide you with the information and skills you need as an elementary school teacher to make informed decisions about literacy instruction and evaluation.
Learning Outcome
Typical Assessments
1. Use foundational knowledge to design and implement literacy instruction.
I write each possible assessment of and opportunity to develop student learning and understanding on an index card and organize them based on how closely they tie to the practice I want my students to continue after my class.
Consider new ways of thinking about your assignments and assessments…Creativity is going to be critical to this endeavor. What has “worked” before may not be sufficient for what God intends.
— Elder Uchtdorf, Nov 2008
“Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty. …
“The more you trust and rely upon the Spirit, the greater your capacity to create. That is your opportunity in this life and your destiny in the life to come.”
Art Institute of Chicago
“I wish we had kept that textbook.”
A word of HOPE and encouragement:
If you are not feeling enlightened, healed, and a sense of belonging in your classroom, God is not fully present. What can you do to ensure that happens?