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The Evolution of a Term Project: Iterative Course Redesign to Enhance Student Learning — Andrea Greenhoot

Andrea Greenhoot

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Background

Cognitive Development (PSYC 430) is a survey course on the mental changes that take place from birth through adolescence. The main goals of this course are: 1) To promote students’ understanding of the development of cognitive abilities between infancy and adolescence; 2) To introduce students to the use of research methods in studying cognitive development; 3) To teach students how to apply newly learned concepts to novel and meaningful settings; and 4) To foster the development of skills that will facilitate further learning and reasoning, including information literacy, critical thinking, argument development, and verbal and written expression.

One of the requirements of this course is to write a paper on a cognitive development topic using primary research sources. The project is designed to integrate a number of skills; students must identify and locate appropriate sources, read and evaluate psychological research, apply their research findings to real-world situations, and write a clear and cohesive response to the question. However, the first offerings of this course indicated that students were having difficulties with each step of this process, so I have made a number of changes in order to better support the development of the skills required for successful completion of the project.

| Implementation

Implementation

During the first offering of the course, in Fall 1999, students were initially required to find and analyze five relevant empirical articles for the term project. However, I found that students had a difficult time identifying and evaluating scholarly sources. Furthermore, they also had difficulty reading, analyzing, and integrating the information provided by empirical articles, and many struggled with basic writing mechanics.

Thus, across the subsequent offerings of the course, I have made a number of changes to the term project assignment. These included: (1) reducing the number of articles that students are required to integrate, (2) developing a detailed grading rubric, (3) breaking the assignment down into multiple subcomponents that are completed throughout the semester and providing support and feedback at each stage, and (4) as of Spring 2007, partnering with the Writing Center and the KU Libraries.
| Student Performance

Student Performance

There were several indications that the latest course modifications were successful. In terms of the supporting assignments, not one student required individual assistance locating and selecting his or her empirical resources this past semester, and no one submitted articles from inappropriate sources (e.g., popular media). Furthermore, I was also very impressed with the insightful and constructive feedback the students gave each other during the peer review process; most students provided high-level comments on their peers’ writing mechanics, clarity, detail and conclusions.

While overall grades on the term project have changed very little from year to year, in part because my expectations for what constitutes “outstanding” or “adequate” work have increased with the level of support I am providing to students, comparisons of actual student products from year to year illustrate that the papers, particularly the “A papers,” were clearer and more sophisticated during the most recent offering than they were during previous semesters. In particular, I observed a much improved ability to synthesize diverse research findings and draw appropriate conclusions, and this change is especially noteworthy given that students were required to synthesis more research findings during the Spring 2007 offering than in earlier semesters.

| Reflections

Reflections

I was very happy with students’ improved information literacy skills and the increased level of synthesis after the most recent course modifications and instructional partnership. Student work is more closely approximating the types of upper-level work that I think should be exhibited. Therefore, this is an approach that I will continue to use. Furthermore, my current approach represents an accumulation of many small changes that I have made across several years of teaching and “tweaking” this course, which has made the course refinement process quite manageable. However, there are still several areas that need further refinement and exploration.

First, a large subset of the students had a negative assessment of the peer-review process. In future offerings, it might be helpful to make these connections more explicit to the students. A second issue is that the writing consultants were not well-utilized. The GTA and I provided very specific feedback and suggestions on the students’ optional rough drafts, which might have led students to believe that the writing consultants were superfluous. In the most recent offering of the course (Fall 2007), I restructured the manner in which we assessed rough drafts, such that the GTA and I focused on evaluating the papers, and encouraged students to visit the Writing Center consultants for assistance with problem-solving. This modification did lead to increased visits to the writing consultants. Finally, I would like to continue gradually increasing the difficulty level of this assignment to challenge students to produce more sophisticated work. | Summary

Project Summary

A psychology professor modifies an upper-level psychology course to enhance students’ analysis, integration and application of empirical research in a term project.

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