Scoping Questions for Faculty

Faculty: Use these questions to refine your SL project plan.

1. What are the learning goals for this project?

2. What essential question do you want students' projects to address? Can you also provide a theme, guiding questions, and goals for the final product? See Example Lesson Plan for Video Advocacy Project.

3. How much time do you want students to spend on this project? 

4. What kind of audience do you want students to reach with their projects? 

5. Do you want students to work with a Community Partner, and if so, will students reach out to Partners on their own? 

6. How will you prepare students to engage with Community Partners ethically and professionally?

7. What ethical outcomes are most important? (Increased awareness of community needs? Better grasp on diversity? Sense of personal empowerment? Critical consciousness? Understanding of power and privilege?) 

8.  Is it appropriate/ethical for this project/message to go public? How public? Have stakeholders approved it for going public?

Below is an alternative approach to these questions, focusing on empowering students (thank you to Blake Harms*)

• 1. Are you interested in assigning a project, co-creating a project, or asking students to create their own project?

  2. What are your course learning outcomes, and how can you invite students to bring their goals into class through this project?

  3. Together, how will you approach the conversation of creating them together?

  4. What essential question do students' want their projects to address? Can you also provide a theme, guiding questions, and goals for the final product? See Example Lesson Plan for Video Advocacy Project.

  5. How much time do you want to spend co-creating projects with students? 

  6. What kind of audience do you want students to reach with their projects? What audience do students want to reach?

  7. What key learning outcomes do you want students to gain while working on this project? How can those align with student goals?

  8. Do you want students to work with a Community Partner, and if so, will students reach out to Partners on their own? 

  9. How will you prepare students to engage with Community Partners ethically and professionally?

  10. What ethical outcomes are most important to you? To the students?  (Increased awareness of community needs? Better grasp on diversity? Sense of personal empowerment? Critical consciousness? Understanding of power and privilege?) 

  11. Is it appropriate/ethical for this project/message to go public? How public? Have stakeholders approved it for going public?

*Blake Harms sites SANDERS, M., BOSS, A., BOSS, R., & MCCONKIE, M. (2011). INCREASING STUDENT ENGAGEMENT AND LEARNING: USING BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOALS AS AN EMPOWERING SEMESTER PROJECT. Public Administration Quarterly, 35(4), 494-519. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23209326