Course Overview Page & Typical Assignments

Home Page

Home page--When you go to the link (the url) for a particular course, you land on the home page for that course.  There you will find the official course description, the semester units for that course, and whether or not it is a required course. Then, there are usually two or three paragraphs that give an overview of that course's content. Then, you will be reminded to fill out and share with your supervising faculty member a "course enrollment form."  That form is not needed to formally "register" for the course, but it is a way to see if you understand some of  the course expectations, and to share with your supervising faculty member as a way to facilitate dialogue with them about your pursuit of the course. You are then also reminded of the importance of meeting often with the faculty member who is supervising your course (you can choose to work with whomever you wish, so long as they are a Graduate Faculty member, and so long as they agree that they are qualified to supervise your work in this course).  If you have questions about who to ask to supervise the course, you should check with WISR's President or Academic Dean. 

Most importantly, on the home page for each course, you will find a listing of the assignments for the course. 

Typical Course Assignments

In designing our online curriculum, WISR faculty have attempted to follow a rather standard, recurring set of assignments for most (90%) of the WISR online courses.

First, a couple of added considerations (and at the end a few details about the items on the check list). The assignments for each course are always listed on the “home” page for that course—although there is other content on the home page that may make it difficult to “see” all the assignments. Second, it’s crucial that you be in regular communication with at least one faculty member who can help you to understand and remember what to do, and answer questions you might have, and provide you with direction.

1.    Module Assignments

1.      Discuss briefly two or three important insights and/or questions that came up for you in the readings and/or videos--write about 2 pages per module

2.      Module Learning Outcomes, write 1-3 sentences about what you learned in relation to each module learning outcome. [Note for students in the MFT program, each module usually  contains a 20 minute video that helps you learn about each of the module's outcomes.]

2.    Online Forum Posts

For each module completed, you are to post a paragraph

1.      in the online forum accessible in "WISR Space" accessible through Google Chat for everyone at WISR through their wisr.edu email account.  

2.      the paragraph must include a question or issue for others to ponder

3.      also reply to another student’s post

3.    Term Paper/Action-Research Lab/Project

A.      For courses that are three (3) semester credit hours, or less, this may often not be an assignment in these courses, and may occasionally vary

B.      For courses that are four (4) semester credit hours or more, there is a term paper, and generally an action-research lab/project as well. 

FOR ACTION-RESEARCH PROJECTS . . . 

                                      1.      You can pick any topic of interest to you so long as it can be related in some way to the course topic.

2.     The action-research project a) is to make use of "real world" data; for                                                     example:                                            

• observations in real world settings--in the course of taking action or engaging in professional practice; 

• interviewing professionals/experts and/or lay people,                                       

•  gathering evidence about real world events and behaviors from the internet (e.g., one student looked for depictions of the “Karen Phenomenon” as part of his project for a course on racism and multiculturalism—and then analyzed these depictions for insights and questions for further study) ;   

• analyzing videos from some realm of human behavior and/or professional practice and/or change effort.

3.   The project focuses on qualitative methods, such as those emphasized in WISR's required research course, and consequently may often evolve and develop/change during the course of the study, in contrast to using standardized procedures set in stone.

4. Students must get faculty approval for your action-research lab/project, before starting it (from both Dr. Steve Pomerantz, Chair of WISR's IRB, and the faculty member supervising your work in the particular course in which the action-research project is required). For example, you may need to give any people you interview an informed consent form to have them fill out and sign, and/or take steps to make sure the project provides some benefit to any research participants (people you are observing, working with or interviewing, for example). 

                                        5. the recommended writing length is noted on the course home page (usually                                           8 - 10 for Master's students and 10-12 for Doctoral students)

                                          6.      generally, in the action-research project/lab term paper you 

a) describe and critically analyze the methods of your action-research project (e.g., interviews with others, and/or observations and involvements in community or professional setting, or perhaps gathering data from first-hand information about people obtained online, such as videos of the behavior and views of people, and/or films that directly portray people’s behavior, not just documentaries “telling” about behavior); 

b) discuss and critically analyze your data, including relating insights from the data, to other things you learned in the course and from any supplementary research you did  (e.g., from readings or videos); 

c) present and discuss the main results or insights from the project, along with recommendations for possible follow-up actions, and/or questions for further study and investigation. 

For more details about action-research projects, go to:  https://sites.google.com/wisr.edu/guide-to-wisrs-online-courses/online-courses/the-action-research-lab-the-irb 

{Note: in several 4-5 semester credit you may be given a more specific term paper assignment—such as reflecting on what you learned in a course text. However, over 75% of the time your term paper will be on your self-designed action-research project.}

4.    Log of Collaboration

For all course work, keep track of your hours

1.      log hours of: your seminar participation, involvement in informal student study groups, informal interactions with other students or alumni (faculty and community people interactions alone do not count), and/ or:

2.  or one hour of credit for each extra post/reply combination on the online forum beyond the one required for each module

                    Download the excel spreadsheet used to keep track of hours of collaboration in each course, and use a “tab” at the bottom for each course.

5.    Annotated Bibliography

Write a solid, long paragraph on each of, what you consider to be the most valuable, 4 to 8 articles you read, videos watched, and/or chapters read in a text. [Note: for clarity and variation of specific expectations in each course, refer to instructions and/or options for each course]

1.      often, you will find that you can make use what you've written for some of the module assignments; however, you will have to make revisions or additions to format the annotation properly, to include the citations in a professional format, and quite importantly to do added analysis and evaluation to relate the reading or video to course learning outcomes. (see point #3 below).

2.      ensure citations to books, articles, and documents are incorporated.

3.     in writing each paragraph, discuss what you learned in relation to one or two course outcomes.

6.   End of Course Assessment by Student

Respond to the questions on WISR’s Student Self-Assessment form by describing the main highlights of your learning activities, processes, and outcomes /accomplishments

1. download this as a word file, and at the end of each course answer the questions on the form.

2.   for each question there is a suggested number of sentences for your answer to that question. With practice, you should be able to do each self-assessment form at the end of each course in an hour or two.

7.    Learning Outcomes Assessment by Student

Write a self-assessment of what you consider to be the main evidence of your learning in alignment with course learning outcomes (or learning outcome areas that conceptualize a list of related outcomes) and two degree program outcomes.

1.      In relation to each course learning outcome (or sometimes a learning outcome area), write one (1) solid paragraph for each–be specific and detailed enough that an outside reader can really visualize what you learned that makes your achievement of this outcome sound “convincing”

2.      Note: a few courses will have more than 6 to 10 course learning outcomes, and for these courses you will likely be asked to write about two outcomes or so, in each of about six learning outcome areas that help you to conceptualize a number of closely related learning outcomes. Further, in some cases, it is indicated that the course learning outcomes are best summarized by the learning outcomes in one or two course modules, and in these cases, you will be referred specifically to those module outcomes.

1.      note: the number of course learning outcomes may differ, so refer to course instructions, but

2.      typically, there are six to ten course learning outcomes.

3.      For degree program outcomes, write one (1) solid paragraph about what you learned in relation to just two of the program outcomes--the purpose here is for you to keep in mind, critically reflect on, and write about the your progress on the "bigger picture" of degree program outcomes as you move through the program. 

4.      Note: on the navigation tab at the top of each online course site, the second tab leads to “Overview: Learning Outcomes and Measures.”

5.      Please note and study the following! Below the course learning outcomes, there is a fairly long list of DEGREE PROGRAM learning outcomes. You should familiarize yourself with your degree program's learning outcomes (to understand the orienting concerns for student learning in your degree program) and specifically, you should read and understand (and if need be, discuss with faculty) the articles about the Dreyfus Model of Expert Knowledge which has been used to help guide and design some of the degree program learning outcomes. However, for the purposes of this assignment, you need to write about only two program outcomes (from the ten or so program outcomes listed at the bottom). You are to write one solid paragraph about what you learned in relation to just two of the degree program outcomes. Still, as you go through your studies at WISR, you are expected to be aware of the importance of all of these learning outcomes for your particular degree program. You will likely need to discuss this with faculty on an ongoing basis, and may well be asked to discuss progress on program learning outcomes in the oral exam. 

8.    Oral Exam

An oral exam with supervising faculty member

1.      verifies that you are the person who did the written work you submitted and that you understand what you submitted

2.        is an opportunity for in-depth critical reflection at the end of each course, on what you learned, what was challenging for you, and where you want to head next (e.g., which course or courses to pursue)

3.        is an opportunity for you to discus what you have (and haven't yet) been learning in relation to each of the degree program learning outcomes. 

9.    Course Evaluation Form.

1.      Respond to a questionnaire, evaluating course and estimating the amount of time you spent engaged in various activities for the course

2.      The link for the questionnaire for each course is found toward the bottom of the home page for that course, under “assignments.”

3.      It should take only 5 minutes to fill out, and then you click the “send” or “submit” button, and that’s it!

A few tips!

1.      In many cases, the above assignments overlap, and it’s ok if you use some sentences or paragraphs of your writing to address two (or in a few cases, three) of the above assignments. The important thing is for your writing to be relevant to what the assignment is asking for, and hopefully also somewhat meaningful to you. We want you to try to write on your own voice, and use straightforward language, and only use jargon when it is absolutely necessary (for example, when discussing some precise terms from the diagnostic manual or psychopharmacology). There is a lot of writing, but it is designed to be substantive and meaningful, even though some of it is to provide “evidence” that addresses how WISR, and our students, must be accountable to outside agencies—to prove that you really learned what you and we say you learned.

2.      Some students have found that it is useful to take notes as they read, and to have course and/or module outcomes right next to them—to keep those in mind while reading or watching videos. Faculty have found that it is helpful for students to become comfortable in writing imperfect drafts, so as to not inhibit themselves or delay in getting their “ideas out on paper.” Feel free to give rough drafts to faculty to help you fine tune, when that’s helpful to you. Ask faculty for frequent support, suggestions and feedback. Consider teaming up with one or even several other students, and work together on helping each other with writing. At WISR, it’s also possible for two (or more) students to submit a collaboratively written document (especially a term paper on an action-research project—however, it’s best for each student to write their own self-assessments--still feel free to discuss and share ideas with other students on any assignment). When students submit a collaboratively written document, they are expected to write one or two paragraphs about their collaborative process and the role and contributions of each person in the collaboration.

3.      Please give us suggestions on how to rewrite and improve on this highlighting of WISR online course assignments, and the related explanations and tips!  Email any member of the WISR faculty, and especially johnb@wisr.edu (John Bilorusky, President) and brian.gerrard@wisr.edu (WISR Academic Dean).