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Moderator: Revati Borkhade, UMass Amherst
Scott Auerbach, UMass Amherst
At UMass Amherst, we've been offering a certificate in real-world problem-solving to undergraduates across 35 STEM majors. Here we offer a workshop on designing such problem-based curricula, focusing on choosing the platform problem, the deliverables that students create, and the expectation statements that frame how instructors judge whether students attain the target learning objectives. We aim for participants to leave the workshop with an optimistic and realistic attitude about the benefits and possibilities of using real-world problems to reach important student learning objective
In this workshop, participants will begin developing case studies relevant for their courses following the iCons Innovation Cycle. Each team of workshop participants will identify a real-world problem area as a platform for their case study, and will map the study of that problem area to learning objectives for their course(s). Participants will then identify tractable “Create” assignments for their problem area, and will map learning objectives to specific “expectation statements” through the lens of the problem area and Create assignment. Participants will then consider the scaffolding necessary to support student work including mini-lectures, expert mentors, and online content. Finally, we will discuss assessment strategies including genre deconstruction, student-driven rubrics, and self- and peer-assessment. Participants will leave the workshop with a framework for designing case studies around real-world problems, and will have made significant progress in applying that framework to the development of a new case study. We also aim for participants to leave the workshop with an optimistic and realistic attitude about the benefits and possibilities of using real-world problems to reach important student learning objectives.