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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? Yes. It's preparing them for their Canberra Trip in August.
 * Part 1.1 What are the course contexts and constraints **
 * Task 1.1a: How will your course work? **

Challenges: Lots of topics and content to cover in little time.

Opportunities: Understand Australian Government and how voting, etc. works. Does your course have prerequisites? If so, what are they? Students need to know how to use the computer and have research skills. The course should have prerequisites, however it has changed from a 3 year cycle to a 1 year cycle. The students should have already learnt about the Local and State government, but they have not.

Challenges: The Year 7 students have not learnt about State and Local Gov.

Opportunities: Teach all the topics at a higher level because all students will learn the information for the first time. The information will be fresh when they go to Canberra. How big is your course, and what kinds of rooms are available for you to teach in? 10 weeks long, 2 hours per week. Rooms: Computer lab, Year 7 classroom.

Challenges: Don't always have access to computer lab. Time constraints. Opportunities: Integrate with other subjects.

Does your course have a lab and/or on-line component, and do you teach it? Yes, I will teach it. Challenges: Infrastructure (network), Students do not have access to computers all the time. Interactive Whiteboard is not set up yet. No internet in the classroom yet.

Opportunities: Access to current Government information off the internet.

What are your options for frequency and duration of class/lab meeting times? 2 lessons per week. 1 lesson (1 hour) in classroom, 1 lesson (1 hour) in computer lab. Challenges: Fitting course into timetable.

Opportunities: Integrating topics across all subject areas. **<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Task 1.1b: Who are your students, and what do they need? ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> 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**.

Are your students gifted & talented, middle-of-the-road, or learning support? Middle-of-the-road, one ESL student, some learning support students.

Challenges: Range of learning abilities. ESL student. Keeping information interesting to all students.

Opportunities: Make government exciting and relevant to all students.

In what way might your students use what they have learned in your course in the future? Being aware of the government, know how to be responsible voting citizens.

Challenges:. Some may see as irrelevant to their age currently.

Opportunities: To make government relevant.

What is the demography of students in your course in terms of age, race, gender, and ethnicity? 11, 12, 13, 14 year old students. Both genders. 1 Japanese student.

Challenges: Students are diverse.

Opportunities: Teach how government relates to everyone and everyone has a say (democratic society).

What percentage of students in your course have high-speed computer access outside the at home? 50%.

Challenges: Some students have no access to internet at home or kids have to share 1 computer between a family.

Opportunities: Home activities related to the unit topic.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> 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-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Task 1.1c: What is the support structure for your course? **

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? I assist in troubleshooting for basic problems. At the moment, there is no one else to help.

Challenges: Lack of computer support. Printing problems.

Opportunities: I will improve in troubleshooting.

Does your school have writing, quantitative literacy, or oral communications skills centres that can provide supplemental help/instruction for students? <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Yes, learning support and ESL support.

Challenges: Learning support is only available for some students and for set times, not during SOSE and computer lessons. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; msobidifontfamily: 'Times New Roman';">Opportunities: Have a teacher aide that can assist in class activities.