CHAPTER 5 Clarifying Linkages Within Your Course SCENARIO 1: Linking the Mission Statement and Objectives You have written a great mission statement for your course and have mea- surable objectives for each week. You are concerned that, once the first page of your syllabus is turned, your students will lose sight of the mis- sion and the relevance that goes with it. SCENARIO 2: Linking Activities and Assessments to Objectives You have carefully created activities to help your students achieve and demonstrate competence related to each of the course objectives. Once they start in on the assignments, however, it seems as though your stu- dents view the assignments as a list of things to get done and do not re- late them to the objectives and mission for the course.
SCENARIO 3: Linking Activities to One Another You have a series of assignments that build on one another, and you re- ally want your students to do them in order to get the most out of them. SCENARIO 4: Linking Activities and Objectives to the Real World You know that your students are more highly motivated when they see that course activities are what people in the field actually do. Even if course activities are grounded in the real world, it is critical that your stu- dents see that link. SCENARIO 5: Linking Activities and Objectives to Policies and Resources A wide range of university policies and resources are relevant to the stu- dents in your class—it’s just a matter of getting access to them in front of your students at the right times and places.
Clarifying Linkages 103 Introduction Strategic Planning Model—a plan for Students are often so used to missing the forest for the creating, implementing, assessing, and revis- trees—moving from one activity or concept to another ing the strategy of an organization; compo- without seeing how they relate to each other or fit into nents usually include a mission statement, measurable objectives that support that mis- the big picture—that their knee-jerk reaction when sion (that, if accomplished, will mean the confronted with new material is not to ask, “Where mission has been accomplished), and action plans (actions needed to accomplish the does this fit into what I already know?” or “What am I objectives) learning from this?” but “Will this be on the test?” A va- riety of technology tools are helpful in clarifying these linkages, none more than Hypertext. The ability to allow students to Hyperlink to more detail (a definition, a picture, an assignment, a Web site, a quiz), but always to revert back to the big picture, is invaluable in helping students begin asking the right questions and constructing their knowledge. SCENARIO 1: Linking the Mission Statement and Objectives TRADITIONAL SOLUTIONS It is increasingly common for instructors to build and present their courses using the framework of the Strategic Planning Model. Instructors using this model begin by defin- ing the mission of the course with a brief statement indicating why the course exists and what knowledge and competencies students will build by taking it.
A sample mission statement is presented below. The mission of this course is to help students become familiar with the variety and diversity of securities that exist in the United States and throughout the world: the forms they take, how they are valued, how they are interrelated, and how and why they are used. Markets and instruments considered will include foreign exchange, equity, fixed income, and derivatives markets. Various course activities will allow students to develop research, computer, problem-solving, writing, and presentation skills.
Supporting the course mission are specific, measurable course objectives, such as: 1. Master the definitions and appreciate the importance of basic market terminology 2. Develop a pool of resources for gathering market information 3. Understand and appreciate the variety of market and economic indicators used by market participants 4.
Understand and be able to contrast and apply the various concepts of market efficiency 104 Clarifying Linkages 5. Master the basic terminology of currency markets 6. Understand the variety of factors that help determine currency exchange rates With the creation of the course mission and objectives, an instructor has defined the “forest” her students will be exploring. The “trees”—the specific activities that will help students understand, appreciate, and perhaps even be able to live in that forest—are dis- cussed in the next section of this chapter.
But before students will be able to understand how the course activities derive relevance from the course objectives and mission, they need an appreciation of the relevance of the mission and how the objectives support it. The content of the mission and objectives are, of course, critical in helping students appreciate their relevance. But even well-thought-out and well-written missions and ob- jectives need to be presented prominently and often if students are to realize and remem- ber their importance. Faculty employing the strategic planning model often present the mission and objectives at the top of the syllabus, making them among the first things dis- cussed on the first day of class.
To the extent that a list of activities is handed out each week, the course mission, along with the week’s objectives, can be included in the hand- out, reminding students that there is a “forest”—and where they are in it. Class discus- sion can also reinforce the course structure if it is continually put in the context of the mis- sion and objectives. TECHNOLOGY ALTERNATIVES Technology, in the form of hyperlinks in electronic documents, offers a powerful yet simple way of keeping the course mission and objectives linked and in front of students throughout the course. Beginning with a syllabus, like that in figure 5.1, the course mission can be presented prominently and linked to the course objectives.
Clicking on the hyperlinked “Objectives in support of this Mission” takes students to another document listing the objectives of the course, shown in figure 5. From the “Objectives of the Course” stu- dents can return to the syllabus (by clicking on “Mission of this Course”), go to a week- by-week outline of the course (like that in figure 5.3—also available from the syllabus) by clicking on the hyperlinked “weekly Web pages,” or go to the Web page for the week in which a given objective is addressed by clicking on the hyperlinked “Week 1,” “Week 2,” etc. From the week-by-week outline of the course shown in figure 5.3 students can get to the objectives and assignments for any week by clicking on the topic line for that week. Upon arriving at the Web page for the week (as shown in figure 5.4) the student is immediately presented with the objectives for the week, along with the opportunity to refer back to the mission of the course via the hyperlink.
[To view this image, refer to the print version of this title.1: Course mission and links to the course objectives in the syllabus. Microsoft Internet Explorer™ screenshot reprinted by permission from the trademark holder, Microsoft Corporation. [To view this image, refer to the print version of this title.2: Web document listing course objectives and providing links to the weeks in which those objectives are covered. Microsoft Internet Explorer™ screenshot reprinted by permission from the trademark holder, Microsoft Corporation.
105 106 Clarifying Linkages Creating these links between the mission and ob- Dead Link—a hyperlink for which the as- jectives is simple—Web pages with hyperlinks can eas- sociated Web page does not exist or is not ily be created in Word and in many other software tools. available; the user will get an error message instead of being taken to the intended The process of creating such pages in Word is laid out Web page in Scenario 2 of this chapter. Misdirected Link—a hyperlink to the wrong target material or pages Target—the Web page or resource to POTENTIAL PITFALLS which a hyperlink takes the reader The most important concern when creating hyperlinks is ensuring that all links actually take the reader where you want them to go. Dead Links and Misdirected Links cause readers confusion and frustration and will not reinforce the strategic plan of the course.
You must be careful to get the links right in the first place and to update them if you should change the locations of any of the Target pages. Aside from ensuring that your links are good, your main concern should be organiz- ing your links in ways that give your students access to information you want them to have when and where you want them to have it. Randomly distributed hyperlinks to your course mission and objectives will not be seen as useful, and your students will quickly learn to disregard them. By carefully considering the best points at which to reinforce the mission and objectives by providing access to them—and whether to do so by printing them on the page or hyperlinking to them—you can optimize your students’ appreciation of the relevance of the course.
SCENARIO 2: Linking Activities and Assessments to Objectives TRADITIONAL SOLUTIONS With the mission and objectives in place, the next step is to help students see the relation- ships between course activities and course objectives. This second set of links is vital if stu- dents are to see the relevance of course activities—the mission and objectives are just talk unless students clearly and constantly perceive how course activities are related to them. Faculty wishing to help their students understand the links between course objec- tives and course activities might hand out a list of objectives for the week, indicating the activities for the week that are associated with each of those objectives.1 shows five objectives to be met in week five of a course, and four activities for the week (ACT 5.4) in support of the first objective (OBJ 5. The list of activities would continue to include those for the other four objectives.
With assessments (quizzes, tests, and/or other evaluated activities) built in, these activities should help the student both develop and demonstrate the competencies required by the objectives. This form of presentation can help students perceive the links between activ- Clarifying Linkages 107 [To view this image, refer to the print version of this title.3: Week-by-week course outline with links to the objectives and activities for each week. Microsoft Internet Ex- plorer™ screenshot reprinted by permission from the trademark holder, Microsoft Corporation. [To view this image, refer to the print version of this title.4: Web page for the week.
Microsoft Internet Explorer™ screenshot reprinted by permission from the trade- mark holder, Microsoft Corporation. 108 Clarifying Linkages Table 5. A handout describing course objectives and activities for a given week Arbitrage and Parity Relationships Objectives for Week 5 OBJ 5.1 Master the currency profit/loss calculation OBJ 5.2 Continue building a stock portfolio, using the resources available so far OBJ 5.3 Understand the basic terminology and relationships involved in Arbitrage and Parity Relationships OBJ 5.4 Continue developing a pool of resources for gathering various types of market information OBJ 5.5 Begin to demonstrate knowledge of financial markets in specific countries outside the United States Activites OBJ 5.1 Study the “Notes for Calculating Profit/Loss in Currency Transactions” presentation in the attached file (0.2 Master the calculation by working problems on the attached “Drill Sheet for Currency Profit/Loss Mastery Quiz” (0.3 Pass the Currency Profit/Loss Mastery Quiz (0.4 Complete and submit Lab 2 (1.5 hours) ities and objectives so long as students keep referring to this list of objectives and associ- ated activities for the week. If students lose the list, or set it aside and focus on the activi- ties (that is, if their personal objectives become simply to complete the activities instead of to meet the course objectives), the link between course objectives and course activities may be lost.
TECHNOLOGY ALTERNATIVES Technology, in the form of hyperlinks, allows faculty to constantly remind students of the relationship between course objectives and course activities, thereby reinforcing the rel- evance of the latter. By presenting the information in table 5.