Week 3：“Course Objectives, Student Learning Outcomes, and Assessment"
Week three addressed two topics which often get confused with one another: “Course Objectives” and “Student Learning Outcomes”. Navigating the differences can allow Teaching Assistants to direct their courses effectively so that both students and teachers have a measurable goal to strive for. The last topic of “Assessment” then allows student achievement as well as teaching directives to be evaluated, ensuring development on both ends.
Course Objectives
Course Objectives are the foundation of every class, and need to be measurable, written from the learner’s perspective. By using Bloom’s Taxonomy, the teacher can explain different levels of learning, and how when understood, can go to build from lower-order to higher-order skills.
Student Learning Outcomes
Student Learning Outcomes are statements which students should be able to not only acquire, but demonstrate by the end of the assignment, chapter, or course. They focus on the context of knowledge skills, and help students connect learning, and can guide evaluation and assessment.
Assessment
In education, Assessment is the process of gathering, interpreting, recording and using information about student responses to an educational task, and should be used to measure both student learning ability as well as the teacher instructional direction.
Each week we will share a brief review of our class, highlighting important aspects that we feel demonstrate the teaching and learning activities which benefit both teachers and students as we work along a path towards sustainable English-language instruction across a variety of disciplines.
