Guidelines for Student-Taught Seminars

APPENDIX D

Guidelines for Student-Taught Seminars (Guidelines affirmed at Fall Faculty Retreat (November 23, 2009) and revised at a faculty meeting (May 4, 2011). Accepted by unanimous vote in Curriculum Committee (May 11, 2011))

[IMPORTANT NOTE: This process requires three sequential quarters. Curriculum Committee (CC) does not meet in the summer, so appropriate adjustments need to be made to the CC presentation sequence if the research or pedagogy quarter is during summer term.]

General Guidelines

A student proposing a student-taught seminar course should already have taken coursework about the proposed topic at the 300 or 400-level (or have equivalent experience) and be prepared to research the topic in more depth at the 400 level.

The faculty sponsor accepts full responsibility for support and guidance of student in research, pedagogical preparation, and teaching of the course.

Typically the same faculty sponsor should be involved in guiding student through the process of all three quarters. Students may consult with any faculty members or other experts for research, pedagogical applications, or practical ideas, but one faculty sponsor from the permanent teaching staff should oversee and guide the entire process. (If another plan is proposed, it should be noted in the faculty sponsor’s initial statement for CC.)

In most circumstances Student-taught seminars will be offered at the 200 level, but if the faculty sponsor and student provide a compelling rationale, they may be offered at the 300 level. This rationale must be presented to the Curriculum Committee during the Research Quarter along with the course description and credit assignment proposal, with a supporting statement by the faculty sponsor.

Student-taught seminars are typically offered to other students for 2-4 credits with an enrollment cap of 12. The number of credits proposed should be developed in consultation between the faculty sponsor and the student and approved by the Curriculum Committee when the final course description is approved. In consultation with the faculty sponsor, pre-requisites or permissions may be proposed.

Course fees cannot be assessed for student-taught courses, although students may wish to apply for the Student Development Grant or other special funding to support materials and or speaker costs associated with teaching a student-taught seminar.

Teaching is a significant commitment and should represent a significant portion of the student’s work during the teaching quarter.

Student-taught seminars may not be counted as Core or GUR requirements. They may, however, be included as supporting courses in Concentrations. These restrictions should be noted in the syllabus and announced on the first day of class.

 

Research Quarter

Student registers for 400 level ISP, 2-4 credits. Student and faculty sponsor select appropriate number of credits for ISP and criteria for displaying learning and adequate knowledge of research. The ISP planning meeting should include a discussion of how teaching a course pertains to student’s concentration.

Research quarter ISP tasks include:

     In-depth subject research in the proposed topic of the course.

     Development of the proposal for the Curriculum Committee, including:

    • a rationale for teaching the student-taught course
    • a draft course description (use the same format as course descriptions on the Fairhaven website
    • an initial list of planned topic areas
    • a list of research sources being used to prepare in the topic area.

This initial draft proposal should be submitted to Curriculum Committee by the fifth week of the term. Both the student and faculty sponsor should plan to attend the CC meeting to discuss the proposed course.


Detailed responsibilities for the Research, Pedagogy and Teaching quarters are outlined below. A brief summary can be found in the Chart Appendix A.

 

Pedagogy Quarter

Student registers for 400 level ISP, 2-4 credits. Student and faculty sponsor select appropriate number of credits for ISP and criteria for displaying learning and adequate development of pedagogical understanding.

Pedagogy quarter ISP tasks include:
    ▪         continued topic/subject research
    ▪         research of pedagogical methods appropriate to teach course
    ▪         development of final version of course description for catalog, including credits, pre- requisites or student enrollment limitations
    ▪         development of preliminary and final drafts of syllabus, including:     
        o    outline of themes/intellectual strands
        o    daily lesson plans, including class activities and assignments
        o    reading list of required and suggested texts
        o    methods for evaluation
        o    credits proposed for student teaching the student-taught seminar. (The number of credits is negotiated between student and faculty sponsor and approved by CC.)
            i.     minimum credits = number of credits in the course
            ii.  maximum number of credits is flexible

The initial draft syllabus should be submitted to Curriculum Committee by the third week of the term. Both the student and faculty sponsor should plan to attend the CC meeting to discuss the syllabus and proposed course. At this point the final go-ahead for teaching the course will be confirmed. Lesson plans continue to be developed over the remainder of the quarter in consultation with the faculty sponsor. CC may ask to see revisions of the syllabus later in the term if there seem to be gaps or concerns.
 
Once approval is granted, the student should meet with the Curriculum, Assessment and Records Manager to schedule a time and location.

 

Teaching Quarter (Following the Pedagogy Quarter, the Curriculum Committee and the Curriculum, Assessment and Records Manager supervise the curriculum approval and registration aspects of the course. The faculty sponsor and the Dean assume full responsibility for monitoring the course’s progress and evaluation)

Student registers for 400 level ISP with faculty sponsor. See Pedagogy Quarter notes for guidelines on determining the number of credits. If teaching a student-taught class is registered as 401a Senior Project, the student should discuss this project idea with all committee members, including the number of credits proposed.

Student teaches course, and is responsible for all daily class activities, responding to student work, and in consultation with the faculty sponsor, making decisions about the awarding of credit and writing the final student evaluations.

Student instructor and faculty sponsor hold weekly meetings to discuss the progress of the course.

Faculty sponsor reviews student-instructor’s credit decisions and final narrative evaluations for the students in the course before submitting them.

In addition, the Faculty sponsor commits to visiting the course the first day, observing at least part of two different classes during the 10-week course and conducting one Small Group Instructional Diagnosis (See Appendix B).

First day

  • attend the opening of the first or second day of the student-taught seminar to explain student-taught courses and faculty sponsor’s role as supervisor. Also explain that a student-taught course may not be counted for a Core or GUR requirement.

First visit (by mid-quarter):

  • observe student-instructor leading the course
  • conduct SGID in the last 20 minutes of the course (See Appendix B)
  • prepare a short written evaluation of student as teacher :: to be discussed with student instructor, included with final student self-evaluation and submitted to the Dean.

Second visit (by end of quarter):

  • observe student-instructor leading the course
  • prepare a short written evaluation assessing how student instructor incorporated faculty sponsor’s previous suggestions into pedagogy :: to be discussed with student instructor and included in final student self-evaluation.

Faculty sponsor prepares a report (sent to the Curriculum Committee and the Dean) regarding course’s success. Criteria for displaying learning is based on faculty sponsor evaluations and other factors chosen by student-instructor and faculty sponsor, i.e. process log, end of quarter student evaluations of course, faculty observations and SGID, etc.

If the faculty sponsor, the student-instructor, the enrolled students in the course, or the Dean believe the course-in-progress is not proceeding successfully at any time, a case conference will be called, including the faculty sponsor, the Dean and the student-instructor to decide what course of action should be taken (eg, provide remedial support for the student-instructor and/or faculty sponsor assume responsibility for meeting obligations of the course, etc.)

 

Yearly- Each Summer

Dean reviews materials from all student-taught courses (syllabi, course descriptions, faculty evaluations, course evaluations, student self-evaluations and student-instructor self-evaluations) and prepares a summary report for CC, the faculty and Fairhaven’s permanent files. This report will address both questions of quality and suggest revisions to the process if necessary to insure instructional quality and oversight.

APPENDIX A

RESPONSIBILITIES RESEARCH QUARTER                                                                                                     
Student (with Faculty Sponsor)                  
    Register for 400 level ISP 2-4 credits

 Faculty Sponsor & Student
    Meet regularly to develop topics and background research

 Student & Faculty Sponsor
    Attend CC meeting with sponsor in fifth week to discuss: (see text above for details)
    -       Rationale
    -       Draft course description
    -       Initial list of planned topic areas
    -       List of research sources

RESPONSIBILITIES PEDAGOGY QUARTER
Student (with Faculty Sponsor)
   Register for 400 level ISP 2-4 credits

 Faculty Sponsor & Student
    Meet regularly to develop syllabus & teaching plans

 Student & Faculty Sponsor
    Attend CC meeting with sponsor in third week to discuss: (see text above for details)
    •    Final course description
    •    Preliminary draft of syllabus
    •    Credits proposed for student teaching the student-taught seminar.

 Student
    Schedule course time & location with Fairhaven College Curriculum & Records Manager

RESPONSIBILITIES TEACHING QUARTER
Student (with Faculty Sponsor)
    Register for 400 level ISP or 401a Credits determined with sponsor

Faculty Sponsor & Student
    Meet weekly to debrief

Student
    Conduct seminar (responsible for all aspects of planning, instruction and evaluation)

Faculty Sponsor
    Visit classes three times (see text above for details)
    Conduct SGID (see text above for details)
    Review narrative evaluations and decisions about the awarding of credit before submission
     Write short report to CC & Dean based on observations

Dean
    Writes yearly report to CC and faculty (due at fall retreat) about previous year’s student-taught seminars
 
 
   

APPENDIX B

SGID (Small Group Instructional Diagnosis) instructions for faculty sponsors.

Introduce yourself to students again and explain the purpose of the SGID: to give feedback to the student-instructor so that any mid-quarter course corrections can be implemented and any strong aspects of the course can be supported. Assure students that feedback about general themes will be given to the student-instructor in a private session. No individual student names will be used.

Instructions for students:

For 10 minutes, please write individually on the following topics:

  • What is working well in this the course/instruction?
  • What is not working well in the course/instruction, and how could the student instructor improve the course?
  • What can you do to make the course better for you, your classmates and the instructor?

For each of these topics, please try to focus on specific behaviors or evidence about what is working or not working or why you think your suggested improvement would be beneficial.

For the next 10 minutes, lead the class in a discussion summarizing these points.

Use the written feedback and the discussion in a private feedback session with the student- instructor. Do not use student names, but summarize the general themes.