Re: a question about outcomes in a syllabus

Subject: Re: a question about outcomes in a syllabus
From: "Peter Neilson" <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Tue, 09 Apr 2013 12:39:06 -0400

No, no, no. Can't you eliminate it somehow?

It's drivel of the same sort as what mathematicians mean when they say, "follows in the same manner as the previous proof but which is left as an exercise," or "is too trivial to be discussed here," or "is intuitively obvious to the most casual observer." I think it really means, "We bet you won't understand it." Or sometimes even, "We're not too sure of it, ourselves."

On Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:56:05 -0400, sphilip <philstokes03 -at- googlemail -dot- com> wrote:

You can use 'should' + an action verb as Julie suggests below. This is a common form. The other way to do it is

"Students who engage successfully with this course will be able to:

Describe
Identify
Analyse
etc
etc:



On 9 Apr 2013, at 21:14, Julie Stickler <jstickler -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:

In the past I've seen introductions like the following:

This unit introduces...
This chapter is to familiarize you with...
This section will discuss...

And section or unit goals like the following:

After completing this unit you should be able to
Describe [concept]
Identify [things]
Name [number of things]
Navigate [interface]
Perform or complete [task]

Etc.

Hope that helps you get unstuck!


On Tue, Apr 9, 2013 at 10:00 AM, Becca <becca_price -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:

The coursework I am developing with my SME has a syllabus in which my SME
(who is designing the course; I'm only writing and editing the text)
consistently says, in his section outcome statements "The student will
understand..."

This seems dangerous to me, in that a student who does *not* understand
can say "you promised I would understand! I want my money back!" if the
student fails the course.

This is being developed under a very tight deadline, and I'm perhaps
over-tired (well, no perhaps about it), but I can't think of a better way
to say it, except to say "the student will be exposed to..." - but since
this is a very intense seminar, designed for experts in their field and
geared to prepare them for a certifying exam, "exposed to" seems overly
wishy-washy and not strong enough.

What is a better way of saying this? "We will teach..."?
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References:
a question about outcomes in a syllabus: From: Becca
Re: a question about outcomes in a syllabus: From: Julie Stickler
Re: a question about outcomes in a syllabus: From: sphilip

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