Backwards Course Design in Religious Studies—1 of 2

As a new teacher in a liberal arts undergraduate college, I had no idea how to plan a religious studies course, except to imitate the text-book dependent plans of my own teachers.

I quickly felt frustrated; no textbooks quite did the trick and my creative innovations felt more like clumsy interruptions.  Understanding by Design, by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, gave me some very useful tips that I now pass onto you, adapted for college-level teaching in religion, biblical studies, and theology.

Decide what students need to understand

Start with a basic principle: we teach for a particular end, what Wiggins and McTighe call “an enduring understanding.” This is still the hardest part for me to figure out: Why does anyone need to know anything about the Bible, religion, theology, or ethics? How are these subjects relevant to contemporary students? The issue becomes even thornier when I face a class of students with mixed religious commitments and varying levels of interest.  How will their life be enriched by my course?

It really helped me to write an essay outlining the content I thought students should know at the end of my course, and then to reflect on why they should know it, both in their chosen profession and in life.  I realized, for example, that biblical literacy helps people to identify subtle cultural coercion, so I identified biblical literacy as an objective in my first-year Introduction to the Bible course. I also realized that people should be able to examine evidence to test absolute truth claims; weighing arguments is an objective in my Historical Jesus course. I realized that we should know about other religious traditions so that we can get along with other people; “Civil Religious Discourse” is an objective in my Introduction to Religion course. When I move a big idea into the center of my course design, I have a better sense of where to go next and where to direct the content.

Decide what students need to do

The next principle for effective course design is to target a skill. What do students need to know how to do in order to be successful in their careers and/or life?  Possibilities might include written or oral communication, critical thinking, problem solving, or computer skills. (Trying to cover them all in one course is too confusing, so just focus on one.) Identify reasonable expectations for this skill based on typical student preparation and course sequence, and imagine what cognitive skills students would need to develop in order to transition from this course to the next. For example, they might be able to describe accurately but cannot identify patterns, so target pattern analysis and comparison; they might be able to identify an argument but not evaluate it, so target evaluation methods. (Bloom’s Taxonomy is helpful here.)

Decide what you do best

Next, consider the kinds of products that arise in your discipline: Are they well-constructed essays, sermons, petition letters, legal documents, strategic plans, spreadsheets, presentations, works of art, plays, poems, annual reports, etc.?  Then consider what kinds of products your students need to produce in their chosen career? Where is the overlap?  Use this “real-life” product as the summative assessment for your course.  For example, in my various classes with mixed majors, students learn how to write a short argument (to defend an interpretation), give an effective power point presentation (to explain a religious ritual), write a dramatic first-person monologue (to understand the bias of history), or write a letter to a senator (to examine an ethical dilemma).  Students will demonstrate that they have learned a useful and concrete skill, engaged the content of the discipline, and acquired an enduring understanding.

Set your standards

When you have this summative assessment clearly in mind, prepare a sample product yourself being mindful of the steps you take to get there. Then, create a rubric that describes in detail how you will measure student success at various levels, including criteria for both content and skill development. Distribute your rubric and template at the beginning of the course so students will know what is expected of them. Then use the rubric consistently throughout the course: added bonus, rubrics make grading faster!   See my second post of this series—“I know it when I see it”: Pedagogical Scaffolding.

Design Formative Assignments

When you have a summative assignment planned with its accompanying rubric, begin to map into your course outline the various skills that students will need to learn in order to do their project successfully. These are called “formative assessments” because they allow students to build necessary skills; they also allow you to adjust your course to the actual learning needs of the students. You may have to add some instruction on citing sources, research, or setting up power point slides, for example. Provide students with enough time to respond to your feedback, perhaps giving them multiple low-stakes opportunities to try. By the time they face their final project, they will be well-prepared to succeed.

Select Content

Now that you have the basic learning-objective outline for the course, consider what content will move students most effectively toward their enduring understanding.  In this electronic age, we no longer need to deliver facts (students literally have the world in the palm of their hand), so as much as possible, provide opportunities for students to evaluate and to work with information, especially ways to use different content within a familiar skill. For example, students can use a short argument template (learning skill) to describe in sequence how Amos, Micah, and Hosea (content) interpret their context differently (enduring understanding).

Make it Explicit!

Students will be more willing to work hard if they know exactly where they are going and why.  In fact, the more explicitly we address the transferable skills and the bigger understandings, the more engaged they become. And often to our surprise, they learn a thing or two about the content!

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