Background

I revised a 400-level elective course for Spanish majors, most of whom were often not familiar with Europe and Spain.  The course covered Spanish peninsular culture from antiquity up to the present day, a high content load.  Its underlying philosophy was that one cannot understand modern Spain without knowing from where modern conflicts arise.  The course was centered on concepts such as diversity, immigration and emigration, nation building, role of the church, and gender roles. 

Originally I taught this course three days a week in 50-minute sessions.  The short sessions were inconvenient as I could not show long videos or combine videos and class discussion.  For the first course offering, in fall 2004, I did not have time to prepare PowerPoint slides when designing the course.  I believed that adding PowerPoint slides would help students summarize information, and visuals would be a better way to review the readings.  In addition, some students had commented that they wanted PowerPoint slides during lectures.  In fall 2004, I was able to show some video documentaries but often there was no time for students to have an immediate discussion on what they had watched.  I felt that videos should be presented with a purpose, for students to actively watch in order to engage in meaningful discussions.  

After teaching the class the first time, I redesigned the course to enhance students' learning of course materials by making more efficient use of class time.  I was also able to teach the course twice a week in sessions of 110 minutes, which made it possible to show videos and discuss readings.  I wanted students to do more preparation before class, so that class time could be dedicated to discussion of the readings using PowerPoint.  With more class time, I was also able to have students’ watch documentaries to further enhance learning of the material.  The documentaries were always followed by a set of questions that students answered in small groups.  I found that having longer class sessions proved to be a better option than 50 minutes three days a week.

The current course offering in fall 2006 was the third time I had taught this course.  I decided to make additional changes based on students’ participation from last semester and my personal evaluation of how the course went.  This portfolio presents my course evolution to make more efficient use of class time and to improve assignments and course materials so that students better understand and appreciate the Spanish culture.