What makes a course a super course? The quick answer is that key messages from learning and motivation theories are applied in a practically implementable course. Such a course does not rely on learning from a book, completing required assignments and receiving grades. Rather, a super course fosters intrinsic motivation to learn in a way that produces lasting, substantial and positive change in the way the students think, act and feel.
Professor and author Ken Bain distilled a number of characteristics, illustrated with examples of such courses. Bain indicates that to create a super course, you don't have to use all of these characteristics. However, each characteristic can be improved over time. The characteristics give you a handle on opportunities for improvement for your course and for having a conversation about this with colleagues or the board of education.
Tip 1: center your teaching around big questions that spark interest
Center the course around big, interesting, open-ended questions that spark interest rather than topics or facts. This way, you encourage the students' natural curiosity and authentic applications of the content. A biology teacher might, for example, begin Module one with the question: "Can we grow food in space or in other environments outside of Earth?" And then explore plant structures and cells to answer this question. The biology teacher could take this approach as opposed to the more traditional beginning: "This week we will talk about plant structures", and move on to define plant terms and concepts.
Other examples of big questions:
- "Inequality in Dutch society is constantly increasing. How can we solve this problem?"
- "At the top of the list of annoyances of Dutch citizens is litter. How can we solve this problem?"
- "The demographic of the Netherlands is ageing rapidly, causing a huge increase in the financial burden on younger generations. How can you solve this problem?"
- "Ever larger groups of people distrust science, how can we solve this?"
- "The supply of lithium is limited, what other methods can help meet the global demand for energy storage?"
Big interesting questions are for example the starting point of A Broader Mind at VU, Little Big History courses at UvA or the VU Dream Teams. Big Questions and Challenges is an example of Challenged Based learning.
Tip 2: make the questions and outcomes as relevant as possible
Questions that spark interest work even better when there is an actual group of people that needs solutions or new insights for it. This could be administrators or directors, grandparents, refugees, neighbourhood organizations, social institutions or human resource departments.
It's best when the newly developed knowledge is presented and discussed directly with this group. See this example from teacher Jos Akkermans of SBE. This makes students feel that their efforts produce immediate results and fulfil an actual need. This, of course, is also the case with Community Service Learning at VU, for example.
Interesting big questions for students also often include asking them to research how they might go about pursuing a job or further education (e.g., a Master's degree or PhD track) related to the course. Have them make a list of knowledge, skills or competencies needed for their future career path.
Finally, make everything even more interesting by having them create final products and authentic assessments that can be included in a portfolio.
Tip 3: give students a sense of meaningful control over their own learning
Motivation theory indicates that students are more motivated when they have a sense of control over a process. Therefore, explore how to give students freedom to choose and execute their own approach. For example: Give students a goal and multiple paths to explore a topic or problem, without explicitly prescribing a particular path to reach the goal. Do offer help and resources for the different paths. For example, welcome alternative sources or assessments if needed. Do be clear about the nature of the required result; after all, it should not become a quest. See also this tip on time-effective methods of teaching.
Challenge Based learning and Project Based learning are preferred teaching concepts within which students have a great deal of freedom and can determine their own learning path (provided they meet deadlines and know the criteria they must meet).
Consider including an explanation in your syllabus that your course is not intended to waste the time of your students. If your student feels that certain activities aren’t productive, invite them to stop by to find ways to modify or replace them.
Tip 4: student trial and experimentation is an integral part of your course
The course sees student trial and experimentation as part of the learning process. Even in teaching methods that involve direct instruction. After students have done a serious part of learning or have created an assignment, you must give them feedback on their progress and the opportunity to change direction or improve. A final judgment is not made until the last moment.
For example, create opportunities for students to submit drafts of essays, papers or projects solely for constructive feedback (then they are actually formative tests) and without giving grades. Consider an approach where students give each other feedback first, explained in a prior didactic tip about peer feedback. Another possibility is ending a lecture with a quiz or discussion, or give practice assignments that are discussed in small groups or plenary. But even the practice of solution procedures of real-world problems (e.g., solving physics or statistical problems) is a form of trial and error.
It is important, however, to ensure a safe learning environment because it can be scary to appear to fail at first. Discuss the human characteristic that every learning process involves research and adjustment of beliefs and knowledge and ingraining of procedures.
Tip 5: evaluate students' work fairly and transparently
Students find it important that their work receives attention and a judgment that can be followed up. This can be done, for example, by providing good sample papers, by discussing the learning objectives and quality criteria in the study guide, and by working with rubrics that clearly describe which quality criteria are used. The content and format of the testing and assessment should fit the determined learning objectives and other learning activities (constructive alignment).
If needed, apply methods in which you assess anonymously so that any student concerns about evaluation bias are avoided. If necessary, provide multiple (anonymous) assessors. In Canvas' Speedgrader or FeedbackFruits assignments, you can set this up.
If possible, make sure you build time into the course to provide clarification and feedback on assessments. Welcome conversation with students about how the work was created and how your judgment is established. Don't be afraid of students trying to talk up a point to their final grade. Stand by your judgment or adjust it when well argued.