Course Design Strategies to Enhance Critical Thinking Skills

Are students learning fundamental concepts in your course?

Students have a lot to learn. Certainly no one has to tell you that.

As you contemplate the vast amounts of text your students must read and the exhaustive list of concepts they must master over the course of a semester, you are well aware of the volume of material to be covered, committed to memory, and demonstrated on assignments, papers, and exams.

But what if you could be assured that your students master the fundamental concepts in your course even if you aren’t able to teach everything?

You can design your courses and structure your classes in ways that engage your students in a collaborative learning process that continues long after class ends.

That’s the idea behind this Magna Online Seminar. It shows you how to use course design and instructional strategies to promote critical thinking and develop high-level learning in your students.

By focusing on the fundamentals of your discipline and the essential questions of your courses, you focus your students’ attention on the content that is most important for them to know and use in order to think like a professional in your field.

Learning Goals

After this seminar you will be able to:

• Identify your disciplines most fundamental skills and thought processes
• Recognize the most fundamental and powerful concepts within a particular course
• Articulate the essential questions of a course and guide students to skills that help them answer those questions
• Create assignments and class activities that support the learning of your disciplines fundamental concepts, skills, and ways of thinking

We all feel pressure to cover more material and guide students to greater learning, but students won’t learn it all even when you try to teach it all.

This seminar helps you structure your instruction to focus on developing thinking skills and advancing learning rather than on covering content.

Topics Covered

Students simply cannot master every course concept every semester, and they may become overwhelmed if they try.

They can, however, master the fundamental concepts they need in order to think critically about course materials. You can learn how to design your courses for more meaningful instruction that uses fundamental concepts to help students develop the thinking skills they need in their disciplines and careers.

During this seminar learn to:

• Acknowledge that students will not learn and remember every concept presented in a course
• Identify and focus on the significant concepts that are a critical part of your disciplines vocabulary
• Identify the skills and thought processes that are fundamental to your discipline
• Develop activities that require students to think about and analyze problems using the most powerful concepts of your discipline
• Present opportunities for students to apply and use the skills most critical to your discipline

Audience

Course Design Strategies to Enhance Critical Thinking Skills would be particularly useful for the following:

• Instructors
• Course designers
• Staff at centers for teaching and learning

Purchase

Order today. Course Design Strategies to Enhance Critical Thinking Skills helps you prioritize so you can give your students a solid foundation in your discipline and prepare them for continuous learning.

Product Code: PC15CA