Syllabi as strategic and tactical documents
Each semester we are told that we need a detailed syllabus that clearly outlines expectations, grading schemes, assignment dates, etc. and that the syllabus is a contract between the students and the instructor. We dutifully collect these documents and hold copies in our main office for students, colleagues and anyone to view as a guide for course content. Some faculty members are completely true to their documents… topics are covered on the days indicated, PowerPoint slides are uploaded and in a machine-like fashion the process of education takes place… completely predicable, consistent from semester to semester… in some cases the same jokes, the same sentences appear at the same time for 10 consecutive semesters…
There is a quality to this mode of work… an art, the play gets repeated and with a good performance the audience leaves pleased and happy with the price of admission.
Is this the best we can do? Certainly it works. At its best the audience enjoys the performance, sees the connections, responds to the humor and the logic and they get their monies worth.
An alternative form is more impromptu… the general outline is there… but the class is less scripted… it’s “just in time” manufacturing at work… it may drift as new content is added and it requires concentration and participation from the audience… it requires a joint performance with the stage lights turned on the whole group as audience and company become one. There can be traditional components to the performance but it might look like a flash mob. The major characters may shift and uncertainty and surprise may illuminate failures and success.
The final act may not end as predicted or it may not come at all. If there is a lot of technology required, there is always a need to take this factor into account… each day you bring your best game… the students and the faculty members… your talent could be spotlighted… you might have to perform as leaderships shifts and content experts get their chance to strut their stuff…
It can be a little scary… but at the end of the day you leave charged up… ready to bring new stuff to the next session and see how it fits or causes fits.
There is a quality to this mode of work… an art, the play gets repeated and with a good performance the audience leaves pleased and happy with the price of admission.
Is this the best we can do? Certainly it works. At its best the audience enjoys the performance, sees the connections, responds to the humor and the logic and they get their monies worth.
An alternative form is more impromptu… the general outline is there… but the class is less scripted… it’s “just in time” manufacturing at work… it may drift as new content is added and it requires concentration and participation from the audience… it requires a joint performance with the stage lights turned on the whole group as audience and company become one. There can be traditional components to the performance but it might look like a flash mob. The major characters may shift and uncertainty and surprise may illuminate failures and success.
The final act may not end as predicted or it may not come at all. If there is a lot of technology required, there is always a need to take this factor into account… each day you bring your best game… the students and the faculty members… your talent could be spotlighted… you might have to perform as leaderships shifts and content experts get their chance to strut their stuff…
It can be a little scary… but at the end of the day you leave charged up… ready to bring new stuff to the next session and see how it fits or causes fits.
posted by hsypher at 8:46 PM
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