• Podcast,  Teaching & Learning

    Transform Your Teaching: Instructional Management with Dr. Kevin Jones

    Reading Time: < 1 minute In this episode, Dr. Rob McDole and Jared Pyles discuss instructional management with Dr. Kevin Jones who has an Ed.D. from Spalding University and serves as the Dean of the School of Education and Social Work at Cedarville University. Check out the episode to hear about his philosophy of education and how he seeks to effectively meet students’ needs.  Podcast links Show notes Dr. Jones emphasizes the importance of planning and preparation in teaching. As he prepares to teach, he focuses on key tasks such as identifying essential questions and learning objectives, and then he utilizes backward planning to ensure students achieve the intended goals.…

  • Teaching & Learning

    Transform Your Teaching: Objectives with Dr. Haisong Ye

    Reading Time: < 1 minute In this episode, Dr. Rob McDole and Jared Pyles discuss objectives with Dr. Haisong Ye who has a PhD from Indiana State University and is an instructional designer in the Center for Teaching and Learning at Cedarville University. Check out the episode to hear them engage in a thought experiment to create objectives for a course on how to make a good cup of coffee.  Podcast links Show notes Dr. Haisong Ye advocates for working through creating course objectives by starting with a simple question: what do you want students to be able to do by the end of this course? This strategy helps instructors…

  • Educational Theories,  Podcast,  Teaching & Learning

    Transform Your Teaching: Back to the Basics – Assessments

    Reading Time: 2 minutes In this episode, Rob and Jared continue the series on the basics of education by discussing assessments. Check out this episode to hear them use their road trip analogy once more to explain the differences between formative and summative assessments. Podcast links Show notes In this episode, Rob and Jared discuss how objectives relate to assessments, including four important terms.   All four terms work together to create a properly aligned course structure. A good assessment is directly tied to an objective. Consider using your objective verb in your assessment to emphasize the connection between the two.   Formative assessments serve as opportunities for students to try, to…

  • Educational Theories,  Podcast,  Teaching & Learning

    Transform Your Teaching: Back to the Basics – Objectives

    Reading Time: < 1 minute In this episode, Dr. Rob McDole and Jared Pyles start a new series titled “Back to the Basics,” beginning the conversation with a discussion on objectives. Check out the episode for an acronym to help instructors identify areas for improvement. Podcast links Show notes Objectives are the targets for every course. Jared and Rob provide an easy-to-remember acronym (DRIVE) to help instructors create or refine their course objectives.   Objectives must be:   Designing courses with these steps helps instructors identify areas that need refinement and provide students with resources to ensure success in reaching their end goal.  We would love to get your feedback!…

  • Educational Theories,  Teaching & Learning

    How to Write Learning Objectives

    Reading Time: 2 minutes A learning objective is “a statement that tells what learners should be able to do when they have completed a segment of instruction” (Smith & Ragan, 2005, p. 96). A precise, concrete, and specific learning objective is valuable to the course designer, instructor, learners, and reviewers. In this post, we will focus on module-level or lesson-level learning objectives that are subordinate to the course level objectives. We will use the learning objectives generator to assist in the objective writing process, using the who+verb+goal+condition pattern. Who: Describe the Learner When you are working on module-level or lesson-level learning objectives, the target learner must be identified for the…