Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses (The Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education)

Very good book that introduces a design process for college courses. I am still reading it but i found it very instructive.

Valuable for any teacher/instructor. Valid points and reasonable practical guidance

The material in this book outlines the issues professors and educators are faced with from their audience and institutions. The author first discusses the controversial issues with "how professors teach" and how we need to change our way of thought in order to identify learning objectives and reinforce competency and critical thinking skills. With that being said, after reading the first couple of chapters I understand our leadership as mentors, educators or professors needs to be addressed; because often times its our inability to learn about how students learn.

This book was on a list of recommended reading for designing eLearning. Even though it's title specifies college courses, this book is a great resource for anyone who designs learning, including corporate programs.I love the emphasis on activity- and problem-based learning. Studies have shown time and again that lecture-based teaching is not effective for learning transfer. I've been out of college for 20 years now and I really can't recall the majority of what I "learned" there (although the student loans keep reminding me that I was there.)I think the first goal for anyone in the instructional design world today is to move from auditive assessments to educative assessments. Instead of asking folks to simply recall information, let's have them apply it to see if they really know it.Some favorite moments:* When I talk with faculty, many say their biggest concern is low student attendance in class. Many see daily class attendance running around 50 percent by mid-semester in their lower division courses. And they report other problems as well. Many of the students who do attend spend much of their class time checking their phone message and so on. Students do not complete reading assignments. The energy level in class discussions is low. Students focus on grades rather than on learning. Textbooks keep getting larger and larger, which means teachers have to work harder and harder to cover the material. Many say they have lost the joy in their teaching. And when they try to change, they often feel unsupported by students, colleagues, and their institution.* Students, for their part, have similar concerns. They often complain about courses not being very interesting, that they just sit and take notes and then cram for exam after exam. They have difficulty seeing the value or significance of what they are learning. They, too, see the textbooks getting larger and larger; for them this means greater cost as well as more material that they have to learn, master, or memorize for the test.* In this teaching strategy (team-based learning), students read the related material on their own, then come to class and take a test on that material both individually and as a group. This sequence, called the "readiness assurance process," brings nearly all students up to a moderate level of content understanding quickly and effectively. Then the students are able to spend a significant amount of time working in class in small groups, learning how to apply that content through a series of practice application exercises. Eventually students take a test that measures both their content understanding and their ability to use that content. Then the cycle starts over, focused on the next major topic in the course.* By working through this sequence and getting frequent, immediate feedback on their performance, the small groups gradually evolve into and become something quite different: learning teams. Once these newly formed groups have jelled and become cohesive teams, the members become very committed to the work of their teams and the teams become capable of accomplishing some very challenging learning tasks.Highly recommend.© Angela Risner 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from Amazon or Angela Risner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Angela Risner with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Very timely work; What Fink proposes requires a paradigm shift, the enormity of which may overwhelm educators who are simply looking to reuse the exact content and delivery methods that they may have used for decades, while this is disturbing, this frequently happens. For these, Fink has a distinct message: reflect and take responsibility for the teaching methods and integrative strategies you choose to adopt. His call to action is inspirational and well worth analyzing - simply because of the rapid ongoing changes in society and generationally.

I purchased this for a virtual class. The pages and chapter didn't line up with the other books. Not sure if it was a mislabeled older addition or not.

For anyone who is interested in designing a course whether it is for the college classroom or for high school, this is a well-organized, up-to-date guide that takes you step-by-step through the design process. FInk asks the readers pertinent questions throughout the designing process which instill constant reflection in the writing process. Fink doesn't omit a thing that should be addressed in any course and sums up each chapter to review main points. I really lucked up when I ordered this book.

I purchased this book for a class in my Masters in Ed work called Online Pedagogy. It is very thoughtfully and practically written. From the start I could see its potential in course design, and I plan to continue to use it even after this class has ended. Great, easy to follow charts and explanations of theory. I highly recommend it.