From Student to Researcher (in one Term!) Post 11: Transferring CURE Principles into ‘non-CURE’ courses: The ‘Science’
In this post we offer the transferable and reproducible ‘CURE-ALL’ principles that, we believe, can be incorporated into any course – yes, even yours!
By Harold Bull, Dawn Giesbrecht and Sheryl Mills(This blog series is authored by USask denizens Harold Bull, Dawn Giesbrecht and Sheryl Mills) Harold is Assistant Professor Biochemistry, Microbiology & Immunology. Dawn is Laboratory Instructor Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology; Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology. Sheryl is Associate Director, Academic Programs & Interprofessional Education)
In this post we offer the transferable and reproducible ‘CURE-ALL’ principles that, we believe, can be incorporated into any course – yes, even yours!
Table 1 Overarching CURE-ALL Principles
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Principle |
A plan for incorporating CURE principles |
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Course architecture |
The architecture of the course is clearly established well before the start of class The instructor team is all on the same page—and the course syllabus is clear, the deliverables are accomplishable and in alignment with the overall course learning outcomes. The deliverables, and what the learners do during the course, are also in alignment with the processes and values used within your discipline.[1] |
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Learner autonomy and choice within clear boundaries
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Review your course to be very clear (maybe for the first time ever!) on what you want your learners to actually be able to demonstrate upon exit in the domains of knowledge, skills and attitudes. Communicate this clearly and revisit regularly and repeatedly during the course. Provide the openness and structure[2] for learners to choose[3] their approaches and topics within the clear boundaries of the course deliverables. Teams often over estimate what is ‘doable’ and it is our role to coach learners to scope their topics/projects appropriately to the time available.[4] (We aim to help them arrive at ‘doable’ research projects for our thirteen weeks together.) Work with teams (or individuals) to break down larger projects into manageable steps and deliverables with opportunities for iterative feedback from peers or/and instructors. · Completing each step provides positive feedback and a sense of accomplishment. · Even when a project turns out to be overly ambitious, if clearly delineated, some of the steps can still be accomplished.[5] · Steps not completed may be excellent suggestions for the discussion section of their report and can be followed on up by learners in future offerings.[6] |
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Shared, clear, aligned goals[7] |
Alignment of individuals’ and teams’ goals with course goals · Individual goals[8] · Team project goals[9] · Overall course goals[10] |
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Just-in-time or just-too-late |
Don’t try to provide solutions to anticipated problems[11] – let the learners discover Encourage teams to rely on one another, coming to instructors only as a last ‘resort’ 😎✈ |
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Incorporate team opportunities |
Go teams go!! See earlier episodes. Use cooperative learning principles[12] to structure teamwork effectively. |
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Keep it real[13] |
Often there is a disconnect between projects learners do to collect grades and the ‘real world’. Let’s be honest, if you weren’t an academic, when would you ever write an essay again? Examples that are more real world: · Design and share a brochure for a community partner · Write a memo · Write a whitepaper · Write a news article or editorial · Write a Blog Post · Contribute to a website · Make and share a poster · Write a journal-ready article · Develop and host a game · Create an escape room that others participate in · Present to other experts in the field · Give a conference presentation · Create an open access resource · Contribute to a Wiki Page Common elements: · Any ‘thing’ that goes beyond the marker/instructor to a wider audience for information and review · Activities that are what occurs in a ‘real’ work setting · Generates real and meaningful dialogue within the collegium. When this is achieved, all involved feel enlivened and ‘appreciate’[14] the value of the shared experience. Celebrate those achievements! J |
These principles are transferrable, generalizable, and reproducible and that is ‘SCIENCE!’ Using these principles, we could indeed CURE all courses…if there were no humans involved. However, there are humans involved and as humans, we all have our own beliefs, values, perspectives, and lenses through which we approach our teaching. We will address this in the next post in this series.
Find ALL BLOG POSTS IN THIS SERIES HERE. Find the previous post here. Find next post 12 here.
Podcasts:
[1] For example, in our science research course, learners do scientific experimental research and share their findings to a wider audience. They are not simply asked to write a paper ‘on how the process works’, after listening to a series of lectures by ‘an expert’ 🧐
[2] Openness, choice, and freedom do not mean chaos. Ensure that the course is ‘structurally sound’ and provides a safe container for the instructors and learners. Build it, and they will come…and explore, and learn, and develop skills…See Episode 3 of this series. 🙂
[3] Avoid tokenism in providing ‘choice’ (i.e. light blue versus dark blue trousers).
[4] In their enthusiasm, often initial projects are overly ambitious in scope and complexity.
[5] We have witnessed this at least twice and resulted in learners wishing to continue their research on the project beyond the conclusion of the course. What we call a ‘first world problem’ J!
[6] This builds a strong sense of community for your course and effectively models science/research/collegium/life/our world…
[7] “Using the Principle of Constructive Alignment”: https://www.boisestate.edu/ctl-idea/teaching-with-tech/primer/using-the-principle-of-constructive-alignment/
[8] It may be that sometimes students come to a course because they ‘have to’, or it is the ‘least painful’ option available. To take some time at the beginning of any course—even yours—to have learners reflect on what skills, knowledge, and attitudes they intend to develop in ‘this course’, in relation to the learning outcomes, sets up the experience in a positively aligned direction.
[9] Aligning the team projects to the course goals is in the instructor’s bailiwick, as a coach and referee.
[10] Whatever your expectations and goals are, high or low, students will meet them…so you might as well aim high and far more will be accomplished than ever thought possible!
[11] Refrain from snowplowing! As our colleague Dr. David Oliver at UBC, who introduced us to CUREs, likes to remind us, nothing grabs a learner’s full attention like having an immediate problem they need solved—much more receptive to helpful advice! (You might have an immediate problem that this blog post series can help you solve! You can always be in touch as well – we can be your ‘David Oliver’…if he is too busy.)
[12] “Five Basic Elements of Cooperative Learning” http://tutorials.istudy.psu.edu/cooperativelearning/cooperativelearning4.html, or if you prefer a video experience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSZRRgpri-M
[13] To be authentic, one must look something up in real time and reference what one has written previously … and rediscovered!🤣
[14] We truly intend both meanings of ‘appreciate’ i.e.(1) to find value in and be grateful for, and (2) to increase value of an asset (or activity) 😉