Syllabus Discussion

I am currently designing a syllabus for an international conflict management course, and the objectives I have designed are:

1. understand the theories, concepts, and issues surrounding international conflict management efforts;

2. demonstrate reflective thought through written assignments and peer-to-peer discourse;

3. relate central concepts, via case studies, to contemporary events;

4. investigate the manner in which international actors respond to conflict; 

5. exhibit an ability to systematically arrange the discipline’s concepts in a coherent framework;

6. assess the course’s relevancy to the international relations discipline and evaluate its effectiveness

I attempted to design an objective based on all six of Bloom’s taxonomy, discussed in class as well as in the readings, and, surprisingly, it is more difficult then it initially looks. I followed Bloom’s model from Knowledge to Evaluation, and, after re-reading, I feel that some ideas will be merged (ie. #2 and #3 are very similar) in order to aid in streamlining the objectives. I will leave them, as written, for the time being, however, in hopes of furthering discussion.

The way in which I plan to assess whether or not I have achieved these objectives is through a series of writing assignments that will be spread throughout the course; four essay assignments focusing on case studies, as well as short in-class responses to peer-to-peer discussions. The first paper will focus primarily on the first two objectives, because they are the easiest to write about and focus on. The writing assignments following that will slowly integrate the other objectives, resulting in the fourth essay to be focused on objectives 1-5. The final assignment in the course – in thus the final exam – will be a reflective essay pertaining to the course, which will allow students to evaluate the course in a constructive manner – what worked and what did not – and utilizing the theories and applications learned to defend their critiques.  

______

Class Participation

Because there will be in-class discussions and writing assignments that will aid in a student’s ability to fully comprehend the information being provided in the course, class participation is required for everyone. Students are expected to have the reading assignments completed on the day of class, and be prepared for in-class activities. Reminder: class participation will be 25% of the students overall grade.

Submitting Late Assignments

I will initiate an open-window policy when concerning late assignments. All major assignments in the course will be due at the time in which they are initially scheduled, primarily Friday’s at 5:00 p.m.; however, I will be accepting paper submissions until Saturday at 5:00 p.m. The window closes on Saturday at 5:00 p.m., and any assignment still pending will result in a 0 for a grade. Students are welcome to submit their work early, and those that choose to do this will receive a greater amount of feedback, then those that submit their assignments after the Friday deadline.   

Testing and Academic Honesty

I believe that the most important testing issue that faces college instructors is something that was glossed over by both readings; tests and assessments clarify weaknesses the students have, yet there is little attempt, by instructors, to follow-up on these weak points. Barbara Gross Davis tells instructors to “ascertain whether the exam was faulty”, “analyze why students performed so poorly”, and “talk about the disappointing results with the class”, yet there is nothing after that – such as, if the students all did poorly in one particular section, review and create a short quiz for them to take, again (2010, pg. 371-372).

I believe that there is a fundamental disconnect in the classroom if the instructor does not attempt to review and re-administer a test in which a large portion of students had done poorly. It seems that instructors are expected to chalk it up as a loss and move on, which, I believe, will further impede student’s ability to learn. Academics are linear and students need to understand all the base information, entry level and general classes, in order to be successful later on in their academic careers. By moving on from poor performance with little review, it will hurt students in the future.

-----

I believe that there are two primary causes for cheating. On the one hand, individuals can, at times, be incapable of managing their personal, professional, and academic lives that causes them to find an easy solution to a temporary problem. Disruption or competition in a student’s daily life I feel are the primary causes for cheating in academia, and it is the very competitive environment that has caused “’56 percent of graduate business students’” to cheat (Lang, 2008, pg. 197).

On the other hand, I do not believe in it solely being a student-based issue. Instructors may either fail to provide students with enough requisite information to complete the assignment, or have students answer overly-complicated questions that require a far greater knowledge base then they have, currently. It is important for instructors to understand that they need to provide students with not only an opportunity to direct their own education, but also create enough structure to guide the students to a successful conclusion. There are plenty of terrible instructors in the world that do not consider that some of what they do may be the reason behind the cheating.

Lastly, I will state that some (graduate school) instructors do not attempt to provide a realistic environment to test student knowledge. In the sciences, I understand it is important to memorize certain equations; however, I fail to see the purpose behind instructors not providing the equations to the students during tests. There should never be a point in your scientific career that if you forget an equation you will not have your resources at hand.

I believe that the most effective way to deter cheating is “give students lots of opportunities to do well in your course by giving a wide range of grade-bearing assignments, testing their skills and knowledge multiple times and in multiple ways” (Lang, 2008, pg. 202). By providing numerous avenues to achieve success in class, instructors provide students the opportunity to make up points in class if they were having an off-day.