Developing and Using Vision Statements to Enhance Course Design and Improve Student Outcomes

Presenter: Rita Shea-Van Fossen, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Management, H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business & Entrepreneurship

Description: Instructors face many challenges when designing or redesigning courses including what content and topics to include and exclude, and how to bring course content into a cohesive whole. Organizations use vision statements to provide focus and direction to a company’s activities and motivate employees towards improved performance. In this hands-on LEC Teaching and Learning Conference session, participants will walk through the process of developing and using a course vision statement to focus and align content, communicate a course’s purpose, and motivate and engage students in a course. We will then use your course vision statement to fully design or redesign the course with the goal of improving student outcomes and engagement. This session will start with a brief overview of the benefits of vision statements and the research supporting improvements to student learning when visions are used in courses. Participants will then walk through the steps of developing the instructor’s core values in teaching, a course’s core purpose and goals for your students. The session will include a short primer on using Backward Course Design and Integrated Course Design models to align course elements into a cohesive whole. The session will conclude with a discussion of how this technique also helps instructors make quick course modifications mid-semester.

So BYOC (bring your own course) to develop a new vision for a course you teach.

Learning Outcomes:
• Define the benefits of vision statements.
• Identify the challenges in course design where visions can benefit.
• Identify and develop the 4 elements of a vision statement for a course.
• Utilize course design models to align course elements as a cohesive whole.
• Discuss ideas for using a vision statement to modify courses mid-semester and improve student engagement.