Smart Planning for Meaningful Learning
“Failing to plan is planning to fail,” writes G. Petty in his book Teaching Today, highlighting the importance of careful and strategic planning to help students achieve the expected learning outcomes.
This workshop will guide you through the key steps in planning effective classes. You will learn:
- how to properly define learning outcomes,
- how to select appropriate classroom activities,
- how to design lessons that support the achievement of desired outcomes.
Participants will explore strategies for creating effective classes that not only align learning outcomes, instructional activities, and assessment methods but also help maintain student attention and enhance their motivation to learn. We will discuss how to structure lessons in the most effective way — from the introductory phase, through the core of the lesson, to the final summary.
During the course, we will aim to answer the following questions:
- How can learning outcomes be defined?
- How can classroom activities be selected to align with the learning outcomes?
- How can classroom activities be selected to align with assessment methods?
- What needs to be taken into consideration to avoid information overload?
Learning outcomes:
- Participants formulate learning outcomes that are specific and measurable.
- Participants design classroom activities that align with the defined learning outcomes and promote active student engagement.
- Participants design classroom activities that align with the planned assessment methods.
- Participants structure a lesson in a way that supports the learning process, maintains student attention, and minimizes cognitive load.
Competences developed in the course:
The course develops competences falling under Pillar 1 (Learning and teaching planning and design), Pillar 2 (Managing the learning and teaching process) and Pillar 4 (Reflective teaching and teacher professional development) of the Framework for Effective Teaching at CU. In particular, it focuses on the following competences:
- 1.2 The teacher sets learning outcomes for their course and individual classes and chooses suitable methods of measuring their attainment.
- 1.3 The teacher selects teaching strategies that contribute to achieving the expected learning outcomes and adapts them to the students’ needs.
- 2.1 The teacher motivates students to master the competences defined in the course.
- 2.3 The teacher utilizes a variety of strategies that promote student active learning.
- 2.6 The teacher monitors the purposeful use of class time and is able to respond to the development of unpredicted situations.
- 4.1 The teacher evaluates the extent to which expected learning outcomes have been achieved for a given course or individual class.
The course is designed for those with English language proficiency at B2 level or above.
Instructor:
Mgr. Bartłomiej Wróblewski
He graduated from Kazimierz Wielki University (Bydgoszcz, Poland) with a master’s degree in English Philology and a postgraduate degree in Pedagogy. He currently works as an educational developer at Charles University in Prague and is the vice-chair of the Paedagogium platform. He is involved in the development and coordination of the training system for academic staff and PhD students in the field of pedagogical competences. He contributes to improving the quality of academic teaching at Charles University through his involvement in various projects. He is responsible for coordinating the establishment of Teaching and Learning Centres at Charles University. He is also the co-author of the Framework for Effective Teaching at Charles University.