Outcomes Frustration

I've taught 3 Quality Matters workshops in the last two days and am in the second week of moderating a two week Applying the Quality Matters Rubric class online.  So, I am feeling all QM all the time at the moment.  One key aspect of Quality Matters is Alignment - essentially seeking to have everything in the class lead students to meet the course outcomes.

I'm working on making sure my American Government module level objectives are aligned with my course level objectives. I'm going to be honest with you - these course level objectives are horrible. They are not measurable and they omit about half of the important things one should be able to do at the end of an American Government class, including being a good citizen or a thinking member of our country (which to me is the key reason for students to take this class). I was talking with my dean about this and he observed that these objectives were written ages ago and need to be completely rethought.

So, I am struggling, as I imagine many of you do, to make the class that needs to be taught align with the objectives that I have. I am getting around it by thinking broadly about the language of the objectives. For example, one outcome is to "Explain the changing nature of government" and under that, I am including many of the media pieces of the class, where students examine media depictions of the government and explore how that matches with what they know to be true.

The other option, which I am also likely to take as I pull things together in these last days, is to have some portions of the class that do not align with the outcomes that are there.  For this class, meeting the existing outcomes seems like only about 2/3 of the class. The other 1/3 really focuses on using the understanding of American Government to become a good citizen. So this class as it stands would not live through a Quality Matters review, as I confess that I likely will have some module level objectives that don't align with course level objectives.

Are any of you struggling with alignment? Trying to make the course you think should be taught align with the ancient objectives of a course that used to be taught?

Reference:
American Government Alignment Outline - in Workflowy
Quality Matters website

Course Structuring - Technology last

The quarter starts in less than two weeks and I am scrambling to get everything organized. I am especially conscious of the fact that I will be out of town at a conference every week in October. So at least the first several weeks of my American Government class needs to be completely done.

I have been using Workflowy to organize my American Government class and create my course map. Workflowy is essentially an outlining program.  I personally love outlines - I have a linear mind and ordering things in lists like this makes me happy.  I know it is not for everyone, so you might want to use mind maps or whatever. 

When planning an online class it is incredibly tempting to dive right into the learning management system, but resist the temptation!  The technology should be last.  You want the technology to support what you are doing, not the other way around. If you don't know what you are doing, then you can't know how to support it. So, start with your outline, your course plan, your outcomes/objectives.  

This is hard, I admit. For me and I'm guessing a lot of you, playing with the technology and thinking of how it can improve teaching and learning is great fun. But in the crunch time of the last couple of weeks before the quarter, there is no time for fun. I have to be focused and get this course map/outline done. You'll see how successful I am by checking out my live Workflowy American Government Outline.

I know I'm not the only one to get to September and wonder where the summer went. I have dozens of blog posts that I wrote mentally but somehow never managed to get my fingers to the keyboard.  Now, my Summer 2012 Global Studies class is done.  It was a whirlwind of craziness. This week, I will write several posts on my experiences with Canvas and lessons learned.

I'll also be gearing up for my American Government class, which was also sadly neglected during the summer months.