Setting Goals For The Tutorial

1. For content goals of the course and theoretical issues/abstract concepts that are central to the course, see course description.

2. Critical skills students will need in order to facilitate their learning of the course content:
   • "reading" skills ("reading" applies to all media)
     • comprehension
       1. ability to recognize the context in which author is located (including the intended audience)
       2. ability to identify and appreciate the theory, perspective, or diversity of perspectives in the materials(s), taking care to "listen" for issues of tone and to suspend/reserve judgement where necessary
       3. ability to identify assumptions and value systems in the material(s) as well as their implications (See the "Who Benefits?" Questions)
       4. ability to identify theory when it is present in fiction and other materials that are not non-fiction texts
       5. ability to trace the development of the concept/theory/argument
       6. ability to paraphrase/summarize clearly the ideas in the material(s)
     • analysis
       1. ability to appreciate interdisciplinary materials and to integrate an interdisciplinary approach into your own methods of analyses
       2. ability to connect theoretical issues with required sources and concrete situations from the world around you
       3. ability to develop questioning strategies and to generate ideas for consideration/discussion
       4. ability to synthesize perspectives/theories and ideas that you have developed about the materials into an intellectual position that you can assert and support
     • appropriate use of the materials as evidence
       1. ability to assess the value of an idea, procedure, theory.
       2. ability to recognize the contextual element of the evidence/idea being used and to treat it appropriately
     • writing skills
       1. ability to put above tools to work in own writing
       2. ability to master formal writing skills
     • listening skills
       1. ability to adapt above critical skills (see also Developing Critical Discussion Skills) and to “attend closely” with patience, respect, and an expectation to receive knowledge. (Ricou 347-8)
     • speaking skills
       1. ability to adapt above critical skills (see also Developing Critical Discussion Skills)
     • reflexive skills
       1. ability to develop an awareness of your own location(s)/perspective(s) with respect to the materials/discussion (see also "Who Benefits?" Questions)
       2. ability to recognize issues of cognitive dissonance(s) and to consider potential praxis(es)

3. Attitudes students are being encouraged to develop in the course:
   • respect
   • open-mindedness
   • responsibility and accountability for your own beliefs and statements
   • responsibility for your role in and activities in the collaborative project as well as in all other work with students in the class
   • awareness of class dynamics and of your role in them
   • recognition of your own perspective and willingness to reframe a problem in the context of a different perspective
   • ability to delay judgement/reaction
   • intellectual curiosity and appreciation of academic discourse
   • appreciation of the subject/discipline
   • enthusiasm for the course & seminar sessions

4. Goals I have set myself for this course:
   • make more efficient use of my time
   • refine positive constructive feedback systems for students' work
   • find new ways to challenge students to be more self-directed and to make the classroom more student-directed
   • continue in development of anti-discriminatory pedagogy
   • continue to develop teaching strategies that cover the 4 learning styles
   • to learn with/from the class

5. To be Completed by Students:
   • what do you hope to learn in this course?
   • what skills do you wish to develop?
   • what do you perceive to be your role and responsibility in the classroom as a student?
   • what do you expect from the seminar sessions? from other students?
   • what are your fears about the course? the sessions? Me?
   • are there any other issues/concerns you want addressed?

With thanks to Jan Rehner and John Spencer and their "Course Design" handout from the Twelfth Annual Conference on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Toronto: York University, June 20-23, 1992.

Ricou, Laurie. “Out of the Field Guide: Teaching Habitat Studies.” The Bioregional Imagination: Literature, Ecology, and Place. Eds. Tom Lynch, Cheryll Glotfelty, and Karla Armbruster. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2012. 347-364.

Top of Page

Rowley's Course Mainpage

York Main Page