Learning Outcome Assignments as Central Activities
in a General Education Course
There is strong evidence to show that “applied learning” activities promote student engagement, and that student engagement tends to promote student success. (See CCSSE, “Key Findings”). However, students need to recognize the value of these activities and to see the course itself as supporting these activities if they are to take them seriously.
LO Assignments provide an excellent opportunity to add such an applied learning component to our courses. Accordingly, a reasonable approach to promoting student engagement is to make our LO assignment an integral part of the course as well as a central activity or focal point providing a kind of “payoff” for taking the course. A good applied learning project should thus have the following attributes:
Such a central activity can serve as an important tool to keep the students engaged and excited about seeing the course through to its logical conclusion and to mastering the skills it teaches.
Some types of central activities include (but are not limited to):
For example, theories of ethics in an introduction to ethics course can be taught in preparation to helping students produce “Ethics Alerts” published on a popular website as in the case of the Project Censored Project currently assigned in some of our philosophy courses. Here, the instructor uses this project to focus the learning process, giving students an opportunity to discuss interesting news stories throughout the semester in preparation for producing a publishable, newsworthy article. “Marketing” such an assignment can include practical upshots of such a project such as the value of having a publication on one’s portfolio for purposes increasing job opportunities or admission to a graduate school.
In a formal logic course, the idea that recognizing a formally valid or invalid argument can save a one from the abyss of bad decision-making, even losing one’s financial shirt, can provide a marketing tool leading up to an assignment that tests the logical prowess of the student to succeed in a world in which bad logic can be one’s downfall. In this way, the logical concepts and tools taught throughout the course, on route, can take on new pragmatic meaning and significance for everyday living and can inspire the student to try even harder at learning the course materials.
In history courses, an applied assignment that allows the student to see the link between the past and the present, thereby using the powers of analogical induction to see the urgency of making changes in the present based on the past. For example, will the use of drone warfare stop Isis or other terrorist groups from building an infrastructure that threatens US interests at home or abroad? What has history taught us about air attacks and their success in the past? Here, a student is not just confronted with history as a set of dead issues recording the decisions of dead people, but rather as of profound importance, even urgency, for the decisions being made by world leaders today. Moreover, such a topic might be grist for launching a publication/media project where the student engages in such analogical reasoning for purposes of informing others through a blog post, letter to the editor, or other form of publication.
LO Assignments provide an excellent opportunity to add such an applied learning component to our courses. Accordingly, a reasonable approach to promoting student engagement is to make our LO assignment an integral part of the course as well as a central activity or focal point providing a kind of “payoff” for taking the course. A good applied learning project should thus have the following attributes:
- Persistent theme throughout the course, not just another assignment;
- Students see clearly how the other parts of the course connect with and support this activity;
- Students can relate to it;
- Connects to the practical, life experiences of students;
- Conveys a sense of importance, even urgency, for practical living.
Such a central activity can serve as an important tool to keep the students engaged and excited about seeing the course through to its logical conclusion and to mastering the skills it teaches.
Some types of central activities include (but are not limited to):
- Capstone and Service Learning projects
- Civic Engagement projects
- Publication/Media projects
- Demonstration of a useful skill (e.g., a logical skill)
- Application of course material to a practical problem
For example, theories of ethics in an introduction to ethics course can be taught in preparation to helping students produce “Ethics Alerts” published on a popular website as in the case of the Project Censored Project currently assigned in some of our philosophy courses. Here, the instructor uses this project to focus the learning process, giving students an opportunity to discuss interesting news stories throughout the semester in preparation for producing a publishable, newsworthy article. “Marketing” such an assignment can include practical upshots of such a project such as the value of having a publication on one’s portfolio for purposes increasing job opportunities or admission to a graduate school.
In a formal logic course, the idea that recognizing a formally valid or invalid argument can save a one from the abyss of bad decision-making, even losing one’s financial shirt, can provide a marketing tool leading up to an assignment that tests the logical prowess of the student to succeed in a world in which bad logic can be one’s downfall. In this way, the logical concepts and tools taught throughout the course, on route, can take on new pragmatic meaning and significance for everyday living and can inspire the student to try even harder at learning the course materials.
In history courses, an applied assignment that allows the student to see the link between the past and the present, thereby using the powers of analogical induction to see the urgency of making changes in the present based on the past. For example, will the use of drone warfare stop Isis or other terrorist groups from building an infrastructure that threatens US interests at home or abroad? What has history taught us about air attacks and their success in the past? Here, a student is not just confronted with history as a set of dead issues recording the decisions of dead people, but rather as of profound importance, even urgency, for the decisions being made by world leaders today. Moreover, such a topic might be grist for launching a publication/media project where the student engages in such analogical reasoning for purposes of informing others through a blog post, letter to the editor, or other form of publication.
You may also be interested in:
Applied Learning Applied Learning Project Examples Using Mariner to track experiential learning projects |
For more information contact:
Dr. Elliot Cohen Department Chair and Professor of Philosophy 772-462-7680 |