Resources

Journal issue. Full text is available online.

Creating ways to make a discipline come alive for those who are not experts - even for students who may not take more than one or two courses in the disciplines they study - requires rigorous thought about what really matters in a field and how to engage students in its practice. Faculty from Alverno College representing a range of liberal arts disciplines - chemistry, economics, history, literature, mathematics and philosophy - here reflect on what it has meant for them to approach their disciplines as frameworks for student learning. The authors all demonstrate how the ways of thinking they have identified as significant for their students in their respective disciplines have affected the way they design learning experiences. They show how they have shaped their teaching around the ways of thinking they want their students to develop within and across their disciplines; and what that means in terms of designing assessments that require students to demonstrate their thinking and understanding through application and use. (From the Publisher)

Here is a practical, how to book written for new online web instructors. It will also be helpful to course designers, trainers, administrators, or anyone interested in the potential of online learning and training by providing an excellent introduction to the online education arena. The format provided will easily fit into any course design while utilizing a variety of current resources and tools. (From the Publisher)

What is understanding and how does it differ from knowledge? How can we determine the big ideas worth understanding? Why is understanding an important teaching goal, and how do we know when students have attained it? How can we create a rigorous and engaging curriculum that focuses on understanding and leads to improved student performance in today's high-stakes, standards-based environment? Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum. Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, Understanding by Design, Expanded 2nd Edition, offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike. (From the Publisher)

This volume of New Directions for Teaching and Learning is a practical compendium of advice and information on the development, administration, and assessment of interdisciplinary studies programs and schools. A bibliographic orientation to hands-on access, including electronic retrieval of information, precedes chapters reviewing the design of interdisciplinary courses, and how the role of administrators in interdisciplinary programs can further institutitonal goals. The final chapter looks beyond the local campus to national and international support networks. The contributors, who share their extensive experience in the teaching and administration of interdisciplinary studies, provide many examples of good (and bad) praxis. This is the 58th issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Teaching and Learning. (From the Publisher)