Syllabus Transformation Workshop
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The document outlines a syllabus transformation workshop aimed at addressing institutionalized inequalities in curricula, particularly focusing on gender from an intersectional perspective. It emphasizes the importance of inclusive course design and revisions, encouraging participants to critically examine their teaching materials to reflect diverse voices and perspectives. The workshop is intended for educators involved in curriculum design and approval, stressing the moral imperative to challenge social inequalities through inclusive teaching practices.
Syllabus Transformation Workshop
- 1. Dustin Kidd Associate Professor, Sociology Director, Intellectu a l Heritage Temple Univers i ty dkidd@te mp le .ed u @ PopCulture F rea k dustinki dd. net SYLLABUS TRANSFORMATION WORKSHOP
- 2. The goal of this workshop is to engage a set of useful practices for addressing inequalities that are institutionalized in our syllabi, such as that our curricula not only reflect those inequalities but even become mechanisms for their reproduction. We will focus on gender from an intersectional perspective, but these practices are useful for many other issues: Race & Ethnicity Sexuality Disability and Health Nationality Religion Ideology & Method WORKSHOP PURPOSE
- 4. Anyone engaged in the lifelong process of critically examining the relationship between what we teach and the inequalities in the world we live in, as well as… Anyone designing a new class Anyone who has inherited a course designed by someone else Anyone designing or approving curricula in a centralized fashion Department chairs and undergraduate directors Departmental/programmatic committees General Education College/University-wide curricular committees Anyone concerned about whether their curricula reflects and speaks to their students Anyone working with a colleague to transform a course Anyone else? WHO IS THIS WORKSHOP FOR?
- 5. It’s the right thing to do We’re accountable to students to teach material that is reflective of their diversity and the diversity of the world we live in We’re accountable to our fields to teach material that is reflective of the diversity of the field We have a moral and scholarly imperative to examine, understand, critique, and challenge social inequalities We have an opportunity to discover and share new ideas, perspectives, and voices We have an opportunity to expand our understanding of the human experience and share it with our students Anything else? WHY ENGAGE IN SYLLABUS TRANSFORMATION AND REVISION?
- 6. In groups of 2-3, share the course that you are critically examining in this workshop: What is the course and what is the context? What are your areas of concern? What ideas do you have already? WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON?
- 7. Avoid the ADD WOMEN model Take the existing syllabus and add women authors, perhaps replacing a few of the men or adding women authors as additional readings Use the principles of backwards design Create inclusive learning objectives that follow from an inclusive course description Design inclusive assessments that align with learning objectives Design classroom learning activities (readings, discussions, lectures, active learning, etc.) that align with the objectives and assessments BEST PRACTICES
- 8. How could our learning objectives generate exclusivity? What are some ways that we could transform those learning objectives to make them inclusive? LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- 9. Current learning objective in Classical Sociological Theory: By the end of this semester, all students should be able to discuss the key contributions of the major founders of the field of sociology. PLEASE REVISE! LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- 10. Write one inclusive learning objective Briefly describe an inclusive assessment of that objective Identify 2-3 inclusive learning activities that prepare students for that assessment and help to achieve that objective If you have extra time, add additional learning objectives BACKWARDS DESIGN
- 11. With a partner or two share what you came up with What struggles did you have? What feedback do you have for each other? What readings might this approach suggest and how do they differ from the readings you currently use? What issues and opportunities do you anticipate and you extend this to additional learning objectives? PAIR, SHARE, PUBLIC SQUARE!
- 12. Existing inequalities are the direct result of business as usual. You cannot maintain the same practices and expect a new result. We cannot teach every text/author/topic. What and who we teach is a reflection of our priorities. Canons are social constructions that appear stable but are very fluid. Canon change is the result of transformative pedagogical and scholarly practice. Syllabus and curricular transformation is not a 1-time process. It’s a lifelong process that involves on-going conversations with new scholarship, new ideas, new self- reflections, and new inequalities. KEY PRINCIPLES
- 13. Teaching ideas: Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice by Maurianne Adams and Lee Ann Bell Unpacking canons: Sarah Corse and Saundra Westervelt “Gender and Literary Valorization: The Awakening of a Canonical Novel.” Socilogical Perspectives 2002. Sarah Corse and Monica Griffin “Cultural Valorization and African American Literary History: Reconstructing the Canon.” Sociological Forum 1997. Lawrence Levine’s Highbrow/Lowbrow and The Opening of the American Mind. Backwards Design: https://educationaltechnology.net/backward-design- understanding-by-design/. The Knapsack Institute: https://www.uccs.edu/knapsack/. RESOURCES