Learning Centered Syllabus

Would you like to increase student motivation? How about engagement? Would you like students to discover the value of your course recognize the knowledge and skills they will learn, and understand how an expert approaches your discipline? What if this could be conveyed before students even meet you? Sign up for our mini-Faculty Learning Community on the Learning-Centered Syllabus: A Course Redesign. 

Learning-centered instruction “emphasizes a variety of different method types that shift the role of instructors from givers of information to facilitators of student learning or creators of an environment for learning. In learning-centered teaching, the instructor focuses on what students are learning, how they are learning, and how they can use the learning.”[1] 

 A small group of interdisciplinary faculty will meet six-eight times throughout the semester to redesign a specific course so that deeper student learning and engagement will result. We will discuss topics such as understanding student motivation, making assessment easier and fun, principles of active learning, feedback & grading, and topics of interest by FLC participants.  Fun, experimentation, critical readings, and support will be key ingredients to this program.

The four primary objectives of this program include:

1. to build faculty expertise on effective course design
2.  to apply course design principles in an actual syllabus
3. to produce a fully revised syllabus that could score higher using the syllabus rubric tool
4. to nurture and build a community of faculty dedicated to the life-long learning process of teaching

 [1] Blumberg, Phyllis. 2009. Developing Learner-Centered Teaching: A Practical Guide for Faculty. John Wiley & Sons, Inc: Page 3 from Weimer, Maryellen. 2002. Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice. Jossey-Bass: Page XVi. 

Current and Past Participants