Task+1+Group+2


 * This workshop material is adapted from On the Cutting Edge, a professional development program for current and future geoscience faculty. 

Teaching a course involves making choices about what you will ask your students to do and why. External factors such as context of the course, student demography, and support structure are significant and should influence the choices that you will make as you design your course. Consider the external factors that influence a course and explain why these factors are important to consider before you begin to set realistic goals for the students in your course. **Start by choosing a course or a portion of a course to work on.**  Answer the questions below. In addition to the facts, comment both on the **challenges to designing your course posed by each factor** and on the **opportunities presented by each factor that you could take advantage of in designing your course**.  Does your course serve as a prerequisite for a subsequent course or does it prepare students for a exam? If so, what?  Challenges: Students are at different writing levels; content is built on in Science and at later year levels  Opportunities: Linking learning goals between different subject areas (English/ SOSE/ Science) and teachers  Does your course have prerequisites? If so, what are they?  Challenges: Students at different understanding levels of environments/writing  <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Opportunities: Students learn about their own back yard <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">How big is your course, and what kinds of rooms are available for you to teach in? <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Challenges: working laptops / data projectors / reliable networks <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Opportunities: Underwater World / Beach activities / out of classroom experiences
 * Part 1.1 What are the course contexts and constraints**
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Task 1.1a: How will your course work? **<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">

Does your course have a lab and/or on-line component, and do you teach it? <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Challenges: Infrastructure (network), <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Opportunities: students get a new way to approach their learning, interacting with each <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">What are your options for frequency and duration of class/lab meeting times? <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Challenges: booking lab time/ data projector

Opportunities: <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Answer the questions below. In addition to the facts, comment both on the **challenges to designing your course posed by each factor** and on the **opportunities presented by each factor that you could take advantage of in designing your course**. <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Are your students gifted & talented, middle-of-the-road, or learning support? <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Challenges: Middle of Road ... stretching students to reach potential ; Learning support students modified assessment tasks
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Task 1.1b: Who are your students, and what do they need? **<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">

Opportunities: slow workers may be able to access technology to help them <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">In what way might your students use what they have learned in your course in the future? <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Challenges: Students not losing skills because the skills may not be practised <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Opportunities: Making the use of technology relevant not just a fill in. <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">What is the demography of students in your course in terms of age, race, gender, and ethnicity? <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Challenges: <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Opportunities: Most students are from a similar background and have real life experience with ocean environment, may be able to make a real difference to the way students relate to the ocean (e.g. littering problems at school) <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">What percentage of students in your course have high-speed computer access outside the at home? <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Challenges: some students don't have a computer at home <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Opportunities: Students will be able to utilise their computers in a more worthwhile way <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Answer the questions below. In addition to the facts, comment both on the **challenges to designing your course posed by each factor** and on the **opportunities presented by each factor that you could take advantage of in designing your course**. <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Are you the default computer troubleshooter, or do students and staff have other support people to turn to if they run into difficulty with a computer problem related to your course? <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> No!! <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Challenges: Access to the IT support staff and the time it takes to solve problems. Machine reliability. Student Profiles easily corrupted <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Opportunities: Fix some of the issues <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Does your school have writing, quantitative literacy, or oral communications skills centres that can provide supplemental help/instruction for students? <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> Challenges: Support staff for students (LEC) may need training - > opportunity to PD staff to continue practise of using IT in school. <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> Opportunities: Better links between English (communication) skills and other subject areas ||  ||
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Task 1.1c: What is the support structure for your course? **<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">
 * <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-no-proof: yes;">[[image:file:///C:/Users/ghughes/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image003.gif width="8" height="8" caption="http://c1.wikicdn.com/_/2009010800/i/bBL.gif"]] <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> ||