| GOALS
& OBJECTIVES
Overarching Course Goal
The overarching goal of L216 evolved from three motives that intersect
in the course: my observation of I.U. student resistance to critiques leveled
against American consumerist/capitalist culture, the program requirements
for the course, and my own intellectual interest in the material. I reproduce
here the main goal of the course as it was presented to students in spring
2001:
Over the course of the semester you can expect to reflect
for a sustained period (i.e. the entire semester) on various permutations
of the question "To what extent do the values and goals of the business
world form and constitute our values, assumptions, and perceptions?" You
can [also] expect to project, develop, and refine a provisional answer
to this question, especially vis-à-vis the capitalist, consumerist,
and materially-oriented society of contemporary America.
Although this content-oriented course goal gives a fair indication of what
area students focused on for the semester, it does not pinpoint precisely
enough for a course portfolio what students were expected to learn; nor
does it leave much room for assessing whether the goals were met. Indeed,
since I planned and taught this course before I had considered assembling
this course portfolio, my course goals were articulated without consideration
about how I might learn whether students had met these goals. Hence, one
major change in articulating course goals for spring 2002 will be their
assessability.
In spite of this shortcoming, anecdotal evidence as well as student
self-assessment suggest we accomplished the course goal very successfully.
For example, several students remarked during office hours that they were
beginning to see the extremely rationalized world of American business
pervading our social structures and that they were much more aware of the
disadvantages of such rationalization than they were before taking L216.
Others wrote me unsolicited emails in which they commented on the extent
of their learning, both about the main idea of the course and about writing.
One student, for example, wrote "I have been impressed with the amount
that I feel I have learned about business in America . . . In summary,
I would just like to thank you for helping open me up to different views,
opportunities, and knowledge about life and the business world." Another
wrote, "Thanks for all the time and effort you put into helping me with
my papers and our group presentation . . . . I enjoyed the class and learned
a lot."
For the next go round (spring 2002), I would like to rearticulate the
goals of L216 in such a way that content is not sacrificed, but that student
learning is stated in terms that lends itself to measurable assessment.
Provisionally, I arrive at the following:
Students will have the opportunity to investigate, engage,
reflect on, and be changed by the question, "To what extent do the
values, goals, and assumption of the capitalist-consumerist business world
constitute society's values, assumptions, and perceptions?"
I have bolded the phrase "be changed by" to indicate its importance for
assessment. Although the term sounds a bit fuzzy, I rather think it sums
up at least one way that the best learning, that is to say deep learning,
can be defined, that is, to be transformed by the material one engages
(note 1). I believe students did indeed change with
respect to their understanding of American Big Business over the course
of the spring 2001 term. But next time, I will attempt to track students'
attitudes by asking them very early in the semester to write a pre-essay
that will require delineation of their thoughts on the course question.
This essay will then be compared to their final reflective essay in which
they develop their thoughts more thoroughly and more precisely on the topic.
Based on the changes I observed during spring 2001, I believe this assessment
technique will reveal student growth on the course topic.
1. Deep learning (opposed to superficial
learning) can be counted among the highest goals of teachers. Such learning
has been characterized as "transformational" because it affects students'
entire being and changes them in profound ways beyond the intellect. For
more on deep or holistic learning, see J. P. Miller, "Making Connections
through Holistic Learning" Educational Leadership 56 (1999):46-8;
V. M. Bentz, "Deep Learning Groups: Combining Emotional and Intellectual
Learning" Clinical Sociology Review 10 (1992): 71-89; and Liz Grauerholz,
"Teaching Holistically to Achieve Deep Learning" College Teaching
49:2 (spring 2001): 44-50. |