{"id":10221,"date":"2023-07-06T17:17:11","date_gmt":"2023-07-06T21:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/?page_id=10221"},"modified":"2023-07-06T17:18:29","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T21:18:29","slug":"planning-a-compressed-course","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/ofe-teaching-principles\/clear-course-design\/planning-a-compressed-course\/","title":{"rendered":"Planning a Compressed Course"},"content":{"rendered":"

Compressed or accelerated courses require instructors to pay special attention to course design to ensure a robust and manageable course.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In planning an accelerated or compressed course, whether a summer or part-term course, draw on the principles of <\/span>backward design<\/span><\/a>. These allow you to focus on the learning outcomes essential for students and to build the course content and activities with those in mind. Ask yourself what learning objectives can be reasonably met in the time you have.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether you are planning your accelerated course from scratch or converting an existing full-term course, use your learning objectives to help determine what students \u201cmust-know\u201d (prerequisite ideas), what they \u201cneed to know\u201d (what they must know later later), and what would be \u201cnice [for students] to know\u201d (extra information that can be skipped) (Kops, 2014). The Iowa State Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning offers the following example for an Astronomy course:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Must know<\/b><\/td>\nShould know<\/b><\/td>\nNice to know<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Prerequisite ideas<\/span><\/td>\nLess critical, but must know later<\/span><\/td>\nCan be put off without jeopardizing baseline knowledge<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Types of galaxies<\/span><\/td>\nKepler mathematical rules for orbits<\/span><\/td>\nExplanations for dark matter<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Quick Guide to Planning Condensed Courses<\/b><\/h1>\n

This table guides you through important elements of course design:<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
My course has less time or more condensed time for students to . . .<\/b><\/td>\nWhich I can address if I . . .<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Read content<\/b><\/td>\n\n
    \n
  • Select most pertinent readings<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Give individual students or small groups a choice of readings and have them share the key findings (e.g., jigsaw, discussion forum)<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Turn in a reflection of guided reading questions<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Process new information<\/b><\/td>\n\n
    \n
  • Reduce new information<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Simplify the presentation of new information<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Provide advanced organizers, diagrams<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Provide skeleton notes before class session<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Provide study guide after class session<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Reflect on their experience<\/b><\/td>\n\n
    \n
  • Provide reflection questions<\/span><\/li>\n
  • In the middle of class, pause, and ask students to reflect on learning to date\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Study for exams<\/b><\/td>\n\n
    \n
  • Place more emphasis on application and synthesis in exams; less on remembering<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Replace exams with other types of assessments (pre-assessment quizzes, weekly quizzes instead of 2 exams a semester)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Redo or resubmit work<\/b><\/td>\n\n
    \n
  • Clarify assignment expectations<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Provide a detailed rubric<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Show an excellent and unsatisfactory a poor example<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Allow students to drop a lowest score<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ask for help on course-related components<\/b><\/td>\n\n
    \n
  • Be very clear in communicating expectations (e.g., length, format, grading criteria)<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Prepare student questions and address them<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Provide examples of what projects look like in real-world practice\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Seek support (e.g., tutoring, academic coach, wellness, etc.)<\/b><\/td>\n\n
Review foundational knowledge (pre-requisites)<\/b><\/td>\n\n
    \n
  • Provide these resources at the outset<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Ask students to review the most relevant resources and explain what they discovered<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Obtain new resources<\/b><\/td>\n\n
    \n
  • Provide more resources upfront (e.g., curated set of useful articles or websites)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Complete long projects<\/b><\/td>\n\n
Group projects<\/b><\/td>\n\n
    \n
  • Provide time-saving aids (e.g., templates)<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Initiate groups\u2019 use of useful collaboration tools (e.g., Google suite)<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Have them complete plans for how\/when they will accomplish work (e.g., expectations, group contracts, peer assessments)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Receive feedback before the next assignment<\/b><\/td>\n\n
    \n
  • Consider the workload and what is feasible both for your students to do and for you to grade<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Use rubrics<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Give initial feedback to the whole class while preparing individual feedback<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Use completion grading for some work (e.g., low-stakes assignments)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Communicate with instructors<\/b><\/td>\n\n