How to Use High Structure Course Design to Heighten Learning

Justin Shaffer shares how to use high structure course design to heighten student learning on episode 506 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast.

Quotes from the episode

Some students might be doing just fine with the traditional, maybe unstructured class. But we know from evidence, lots of research now shows that this type of structure does help students.
-Justin Shaffer

The keyword through all 3 steps is alignment.
-Justin Shaffer

I don’t think the structure necessarily guarantees success because it’s the students ultimately have to put the work in to earn that grade, to earn that outcome.
-Justin Shaffer

Resources

• The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion, by Sarah Rose Cavanagh*
• Recombinant Education
• Podcases
• Calvin and Hobbes
• Kelly Hogan on Teaching in Higher Ed
• A Time for Telling, by Schwartz and Bransford
• Examples of Justin’s Reading Guides on his website
• Bibliography on Case Study Teaching in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
• Improving Exam Performance in Introductory Biology through the Use of Preclass Reading Guides, by Lieu, Wong, Asefirad, & Shaffer