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Goals/Syllabus Submission Form

About You and Your Institution










About the Course



Course Type













Goals

In the months and years after having finished a course, a student should be able to DO things in the discipline that he/she couldn't do before taking the course. Careful thought should go into what you want to enable your students to do, what value the course will add to their lives, and how the course will develop their skills and abilities. In this portion of the goals/syllabus submission form, you will have the opportunity to share goals of various types that you have for your students.

Please start by completing the entry for discipline-related goals. The entries for skills and attitudinal goals are optional.

Discipline-related goals

In the box following the instructions below, please describe the discipline-related goals that you want your students to achieve. Please read the guidelines and examples carefully before proceeding.

Please DO:
  • enter the goals as a list
  • use the format "Students should be able to..."
  • focus on the main goals of the course
  • emphasize higher order thinking skills (analyze, predict, synthesize, interpret, evaluate, formulate), rather than lower order thinking skills (recognize, describe, define, identify, list, explain). A well-constructed goal involving higher order thinking skills has lower order skills embedded in it.
Examples
  • Students should be able to interpret unfamiliar geologic maps and construct cross sections.
  • Students should be able to analyze and assess geologic hazards in unfamiliar areas (which is different than recalling those done in class).
  • Students should be able to formulate new research questions in X.
  • Students should be able to design computer or analog models of X.
  • Students should be able to predict the weather given appropriate meteorological data.

Please DO NOT enter a list of content items.

Please DO NOT use vague and difficult-to-assess goals involving phrases such as "appreciate", "understand", "be exposed to", "see the value in", "know about", "learn about". Here are two examples of what we don't want you to do:

  • "Students will be exposed to X." Such a goal does not focus on enabling students to do something.
  • "Students will be able to see the value of the scientific method" or "appreciate the complexity of Earth systems". While these are laudable aims, it is difficult to evaluate whether students have achieved such goals.




Skills Goals

You may also have goals related to general skills in the context of your course. These might include goals involving improving skills such as

  • student writing
  • quantitative abilities
  • critical analysis of web sites
  • peer-teaching
  • oral communication
  • accessing and critically reading the geologic literature
  • working in groups


Statement about achieving skills goals



Attitudinal Goals

You may also have goals related to student attitude. These might include goals such as

  • building students' confidence in course- or discipline-related abilities
  • developing students' sense of stewardship of the Earth
  • improving students' sense of healthy skepticism
  • increasing student excitement/personal wonder about learning about the Earth
  • improving students' awareness of the issues of ethics in doing science
  • changing student attitudes toward science


Statement about achieving attitudinal goals





Optional Material


Course Syllabus
All uploaded files are public unless you are in a private workspace

Title: A descriptive, human readable title.

e.g. 'Student Handout for Sauerkraut Assignment'

Select the file: Make sure it has an appropriate suffix (e.g. .doc) or specify the type in the Optional Fields below

Description: A very brief description of the file.

File Type:


The system will attempt to determine the correct file type based on the name of the file you've selected. Choosing the correct file type here will override that.

File Name:

e.g. 'student_handout'
This will be the name of the downloaded file. By default the system will generate this based on the title you specified and the type of file. If you specify a name here it will over-ride the automatically generated name. This is generally only useful when uploading file of a type not recognized by the system (not in the list of file types above). In that situation choose File Type: Unknown Binary and include the appropriate suffix in the file name here. e.g. myfile.m3z Avoid spaces or special characters in the file names.

Authorship/Reuse

Either:
I am the author (copyright holder) of the contents of this file and people are allowed to reuse it for non-commercial purposes as long as they give me attribution as described by this creative commons license.
Or
Who is the original creator/copyright holder of the information in this file?

Provenance/Acknowledgements

A short description of where the material came from. Include names and institutions of authors and contributors as well as acknowledgment of any work from which this was derived.

Reuse License

The creator/copyright holder must have agreed to allow distribution of this file through this site.
If you are the creator we strongly encourage you to select the CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike option.

If none of the above licenses apply describe the conditions under which this material appears on this site as well as any information about reuse beyond this site.

Distributing information on the web generally requires the permission of the copyright holder--usually the original creator. Providing the information we request here will help visitors to this site understand the ways in which they may (legally) use what they find.

If you created this file (and haven't signed away your copyright) then we'd encourage you to select the CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike option. You'll retain the copyright to your file and can do as you please with it in the future. Through this choice you are also explicitly allowing others to reuse that file as long as they give you attribution, and don't use it for commercial purposes.

If the file (or content within it) was created by others you'll need their permission. If it predates 1923 or was created by a U.S federal employee (as part of their job) it is likely in the public domain (and we can all do as we choose with it). The original author may also have explicitly stated how it may be reused (e.g. through a creative commons license). You can describe the licensing/reuse situation in the box above.

Without permission you should not upload the file. There are several options in this case:

  • You can contact the original author to get permission.
  • You can provide a link to (or a description of how to get) the original material rather than uploading it here.
  • You can find a substitute that isn't encumbered by copyright.
  • You can create a substitute yourself. Remember, ideas can't be copyrighted, only particular expressions of those ideas. Of course you'll want to give credit the original author.

The Stanford Copyright and Fair Use Center has more good information about copyright as it applies to academic settings.


Additional course materials. Please combine any relevant materials into a single PDF file. Be sure to include a "cover sheet" describing how the assignment/activity illustrates how the course helps students meet the stated goals.
All uploaded files are public unless you are in a private workspace

Title: A descriptive, human readable title.

e.g. 'Student Handout for Sauerkraut Assignment'

Select the file: Make sure it has an appropriate suffix (e.g. .doc) or specify the type in the Optional Fields below

Description: A very brief description of the file.

File Type:


The system will attempt to determine the correct file type based on the name of the file you've selected. Choosing the correct file type here will override that.

File Name:

e.g. 'student_handout'
This will be the name of the downloaded file. By default the system will generate this based on the title you specified and the type of file. If you specify a name here it will over-ride the automatically generated name. This is generally only useful when uploading file of a type not recognized by the system (not in the list of file types above). In that situation choose File Type: Unknown Binary and include the appropriate suffix in the file name here. e.g. myfile.m3z Avoid spaces or special characters in the file names.

Authorship/Reuse

Either:
I am the author (copyright holder) of the contents of this file and people are allowed to reuse it for non-commercial purposes as long as they give me attribution as described by this creative commons license.
Or
Who is the original creator/copyright holder of the information in this file?

Provenance/Acknowledgements

A short description of where the material came from. Include names and institutions of authors and contributors as well as acknowledgment of any work from which this was derived.

Reuse License

The creator/copyright holder must have agreed to allow distribution of this file through this site.
If you are the creator we strongly encourage you to select the CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike option.

If none of the above licenses apply describe the conditions under which this material appears on this site as well as any information about reuse beyond this site.

Distributing information on the web generally requires the permission of the copyright holder--usually the original creator. Providing the information we request here will help visitors to this site understand the ways in which they may (legally) use what they find.

If you created this file (and haven't signed away your copyright) then we'd encourage you to select the CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike option. You'll retain the copyright to your file and can do as you please with it in the future. Through this choice you are also explicitly allowing others to reuse that file as long as they give you attribution, and don't use it for commercial purposes.

If the file (or content within it) was created by others you'll need their permission. If it predates 1923 or was created by a U.S federal employee (as part of their job) it is likely in the public domain (and we can all do as we choose with it). The original author may also have explicitly stated how it may be reused (e.g. through a creative commons license). You can describe the licensing/reuse situation in the box above.

Without permission you should not upload the file. There are several options in this case:

  • You can contact the original author to get permission.
  • You can provide a link to (or a description of how to get) the original material rather than uploading it here.
  • You can find a substitute that isn't encumbered by copyright.
  • You can create a substitute yourself. Remember, ideas can't be copyrighted, only particular expressions of those ideas. Of course you'll want to give credit the original author.

The Stanford Copyright and Fair Use Center has more good information about copyright as it applies to academic settings.

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