The Challenge of Coverage

These tips may help you to plan and manage class time so that students can more easily follow, actively process, and understand the material:

Prioritize 2-3 main points that you want students to leave the room remembering.

If you try to cover much more, the key points can get lost in a flood of details.
In prioritizing, be sure that you can explain why learning each main topic is important.
When you can identify up front why students should learn about a topic, students are often better able to follow the goals, structure, and flow of the class.

Plan classes to complement the textbook, not replace it.
It is useful to check with colleagues in your discipline to see how they connect readings with in-class learning.

Focus more on teaching skills and processes, less on summarizing facts.
You can most help your students by using class time to work on central learning, reasoning, and problem-solving processes.

Design classes in 10-15 minute "chunks" to help you manage your time.
Each chunk should address a single main point and may include relevant examples or explanations. Generally, each should end with a brief summary and transition to the next section to provide cohesiveness and reinforce the logical structure of the material.

Remember how and why students take notes.
The most effective visual aids should indicate emphasis and organization, not provide every detail. Profuse boardwork or detailed transparencies can dilute your key messages. Be selective in providing detail so that students are not overly concerned about copying and so that opportunities for questions and interaction are maintained.

Source: Teaching Tips, Wilbert McKeachie and Tools for Teaching, B.G. Davis
From: Enhancing Teaching @ Carnegie Mellon/Teaching Tips

The Syllabus as a Tool, Not a List

From Inside Higher Ed, 2005

The Syllabus as a Tool, Not a List

When he started teaching, said Todd Estes, he was a minimalist about his syllabus, seeing it as a place to list assignments, schedules, etc. But Estes, a professor of history at Oakland University, in Michigan, said that his thinking - and his syllabuses - have evolved. Currently, he has an 11-page syllabus for his introductory American history course.

In a paper for a panel at the AHA meeting, Estes said that his primary goal for his students is to have them act and think like historians, not like students in a history class. In a class of 55 - many of them "skeptical or even hostile to the notion that history has value" - how can you do this? Estes argued that one way is through the syllabus, which isn't just a list, but provides context about the course, so that students are confronted with ideas, not just information, every time they look at the document.

Many students are uncomfortable with the idea that there is not a "single definitive answer" for some historical question. So Estes drives home a point about history, using the syllabus. A section of the syllabus is called "Why Historians Argue All the Time - And Why YOU Will Be, Too, This Semester." In that section, Estes said, students are told why this is the case, and also that they will be required in papers to identify conflicting arguments in historians' writings.

Each book that is read isn't just listed on the syllabus, but is annotated - again with the idea of showing students that there is a broader context to history and to the work of historians, not just a list of correct answers and assignments.

The syllabus also contains the usual information about assignments, work expectations, and plagiarism. Together with the context, Estes said, it tells students not only what they will do, but the kind of thinking they will be asked to try.