Faculty Syllabus Review for Learning Styles Syllabus Paper

Alexandra commented on Syllabus Evaluations for Group 1: Emotions and Motives in Learning, and Group 3: Physical Learning

Syllabus Evaluation

“Boys and Girls Scouts of America:

Wilderness Survival and Camping Skills,

Scout Leader Training”

Alexandra Barrett, and David Jones

Ball State University

Strategies for Teaching Adults (EDAC635)

November 6, 2015

Evaluation Overview

Syllabus Evaluation One: Ms. Kelli Kreider

Background.  The first evaluation of our syllabus design was conducted with Ms. Kelli Kreider, Program Chair, for the Department of Agriculture, at Ivy Tech Community College.  Ms. Kreider is a very experienced professional with many years of teaching experience.  A graduate of Purdue University, Kelli holds degrees at both bachelors and masters levels in youth development and agriculture education.  Ms. Kreider is a licensed 7-12 teacher/educator for the state of Indiana – with several years of experience as such – and additionally has functioned as a youth mentor for over ten years.

Positives, or most liked features.  Professor Kreider felt that our syllabus was highly effective at setting the stage for the training related to our syllabus design.  She stated that we had provided strong detail to support the need for this training through the description of the premise and/or imaginary scenario.  As well, Ms. Kreider believed that we had presented the need to use multiple learning styles within the delivery options for the content related to the training.

Negatives, or least liked features.  Ms. Kreider commented that she had some difficulty following the paper’s overall formatting.  As well, discrepancies with respect to word choice, and/or grammar were pointed to as being weak aspects of the paper.  Additionally, Professor Kreider stated that she would have liked to have seen more direct references and/or citations made within the body of the paper, which would better support the need for the particular training and/or concepts that were being used to drive the type of learning being promoted within the syllabus.

Syllabus Evaluation Two: Dr. Darrel Kesler

Background.  Dr. Darrel Kesler, is the Dean of the School of Technology at Ivy Tech Community College. Former Extension Specialist, and Reproductive Physiology Faculty at University of Illinois.

Positives, or most liked features. Dr. Kesler commented that the overall flow and structure of the assignment was conducive to effective learning and instruction.

Negatives, or least liked features.  Dr. Kesler felt that we had missed a few critical focal points for learning within our training workshops.  Particularly important, Dr. Kesler stated that he thought we should incorporate education related to safe drinking water.  Training in how to purify water, and/or towards finding safe drinking water seemed to be key aspects of wilderness survival training that we had not incorporated.  Additionally, Dr. Kesler felt that we should add a segment of learning pertaining to first aid diagnostic testing as part of our training for emergencies module.

Student Commentary

Student Response

David.  I appreciate the feedback provided by our professor reviewers on this syllabus paper. Each of the reviewers brought a new perspective to the syllabus, which yielded great fruit in the form of minor content revision, and provided tips in regards to areas that could be stronger. Before the reviews went out, I feel that we had a very compelling syllabus; the feedback from the reviewers solidified this belief, and provided avenues for further improvement of our syllabus, which will serve to create a truly effective syllabus design that will effectively guide instructors in teaching scout leaders necessary skills for wilderness survival.

Alexandra.  I found the feedback to our syllabus design project very helpful.  I particularly appreciated the amount of time each evaluator took with analyzing our work.  I think the first evaluator, Ms. Kreider made some valid points about needing more citations or references throughout the rationale to demonstrate the need for this type of training.  However, given that the premise or need for the training was dictated by a concrete request for such a training; I don’t think there should have been any question as to whether or not we had a buyer for the program.  That being said, if the client had expressed such a desire for training of this kind, it would be prudent to conduct a needs assessment for both the client organization and the prospective individual training participants.  As such, two levels of needs assessments should be incorporated into the final syllabus design.

The points raised by the second evaluator, Dean Kesler, were very specific and indeed valid.  We had not included any learning or attention towards safe drinking water and the finding of such during ordinary and/or emergency situations.  Similarly, Dean Kesler’s suggestion to add a feature addressing first aid diagnostic testing was also a feature we had not considered within the first round of syllabus design processes.  It is believed that both of the above-mentioned suggestions made by Dean Kesler should be added to the ultimate syllabus design.

Assignment Highlights

David. Our syllabus is quite unique, in the fact that it reflects our own personalities in its construction, and in the delivery of content. I am however, a bit of a narcissist, and I exhibit a high degree of bias for this particular project. I feel one of the most significant features of our syllabus are our learning objectives, and how they are addressed by the instructional plan and required learning materials throughout the paper.

Alexandra.  I feel like our overall premise of using an imaginary client organization and correlating fictitious learner participants was a unique approach that lead to greater engagement with the assignment.  I think the use of such imaginary details made the project seem more concrete and real.  Without the foundational premise I think the urgency, and dedication required to create such a lengthy and specific syllabus would not have otherwise manifested.

Assignment Process

David. This assignment was completed in loose collaboration between Alexia, and I. I must admit that I had a small hand in the initial subject matter development and learning objectives, but Alexia carried a great deal of the production burden associated with the assignment. Throughout this process, I have sharpened my syllabus creation skills. I think this assignment snuck up on each of us, as we both thought it would be a less demanding task than it turned out to be. In this vein, I would recommend starting earlier than you feel is needed, and give your group a healthy cushion of time in which to complete the assignment.

Alexandra. The syllabus evaluations were collected by David.  Although, I didn’t have personal contact with the evaluators I felt like I could glean a good deal of knowledge by reading their feedback as documented within the Appendices.  I found the collaboration process throughout both the Syllabus Design and the Syllabus Evaluation assignments to be very enjoyable and relatively free of stress.  My working style is somewhat different than David’s but we really seemed to balance each other well.  I learned a tremendous amount of new information and believe that I have gained some very valuable, usable job skills through this process.

Tables

Table 1. Syllabus Evaluation One: Kelli Kreider

Evaluators	Ideas for Improvement	Revisions Made	Student Response	Appendix
Kelli Kreider, Program Chair: Dept. of Agriculture, Ivy Tech Community College	Formatting needs improvement, more references should be brought in to further support the paper, and solidify the need for this training	Corrections, and sentence restructuring have been addressed on a case-by case basis	Helpful comments; their inclusion into the paper helped the overall flow of the training proposal	A

Table 2. Syllabus Evaluation Two: Darrel Kesler

Evaluators	Ideas for Improvement	Revisions Made	Student Response	Appendix
Darrel J. Kesler, Ph.D. Dean: School of Technology, Ivy Tech Community College	Include methods for finding and purifying drinking water, include preliminary first-aid diagnostic information	We have added additional content related to finding and purifying drinking water, and first-aid diagnostic information	Useful to have an outsider’s perspective of our work, Comments illuminated weaknesses in our proposal that are being addressed.	B