Long-term behaviors are the optimal starting place when designing a course. As much as we might wish we had a Transmogrifier (a la Calvin and Hobbes) that we could use to turn students into organized, patient, curious, details-oriented (etc.) people, that just isn’t possible (yet). The best we can do is try to help students build the behaviors NOW that they will hopefully show in the future as graduates and professionals.
Simply put, a behavior is as an ability, skill, or attitude that is demonstrable in various contexts and which is evident because one desires to and is capable of exhibiting that ability, skill, or attitude when necessary.
Words words words.
Think of this way: We can demonstrate the ability to BE ORGANIZED if we both want to be organized and know how. Just wanting to be organized isn’t enough. Neither is knowing how. We need both. So a course that would help students acquire the long-term ability of BEING ORGANIZED would help them 1) desire to be organized and 2) know how to become and stay organized.
Maybe not every kind of course needs to result in long-term behaviors, but when we’re talking about an academic course which is nearly always in the context of an academic program, we’re safe assuming that there are behaviors that the best practicing professionals in that area have that our students don’t (yet). And this is the single best way to go about figuring out what long-term behaviors to build: by reverse engineering from those desired future behaviors. A great way to do this is by finding or creating an expert profile. That’s a description of the behaviors of an expert in whatever field the course is geared toward…a target. Once we can see that target (describe those behaviors), we can begin to find ways for the course to help students hit that target (develop those behaviors). It’s also worth recognizing that showing students this expert profile and real-life examples of it can be extremely helpful, as it gives them a concrete idea of who they need to become, if they want to be a professional in that field. As the phrase goes, “You’ve got to see it to be it.”
How to Develop Long-Term Behaviors
- Imagine your students in future situations where they’ll be expected to perform well.
- What behaviors do they show that mean they’re “performing well”?
- Describe these behaviors as accurately as possible.
- Try to come up with a list of 3 to 5 of the most critical behaviors that indicate “performing well”.
From here, you can continue the process as a way to create learning outcomes, performance criteria, and rubrics. - Ask, “What are the characteristics of each of these behaviors?” List the important characteristics.
- Compare how the imaginary future students demonstrate these characteristics with how your current students demonstrate the same characteristics. What are the real students lacking?
- Those deficiencies are what a program, and, by extension, a course should mitigate. If students are currently at “X” and need to be at “Y” as graduates, their program and courses need to help them make that transition. (This is what makes it possible to create learning outcomes for a course or program.)
- Establish the levels of performance for the behaviors, from novice to mastery/high performing. (This is what allows for assessment and evaluation of performance in these areas.)
- Review with colleagues and professionals to ensure that the behaviors and characteristics you’ve landed on are ones that are valued and that the quality levels you’ve determined as levels of performance are appropriate for the course/program/context.
Let’s try this with an actual course…say an elementary statistics course.
1. Imagine your students in future situations where they’ll be expected to perform well.
- We visualize our students in their senior year, taking internships in various programs.
2. What behaviors do they show that mean they’re “performing well”?
- It’s common for interning students to ask analytical questions, collect and test data, question analyses, use appropriate techniques, and confer with a statistician
3. Describe these behaviors as accurately as possible.
- They will need to thoroughly validate data set quality, including the method of collection, sources, and appropriateness. Once the data is validated, they will need to analyze statistical processes, including data manipulation, analysis, and presentation.
4. Try to come up with a list of 3 to 5 of the most critical behaviors to “performing well”.
- They carefully describe the setting for the data collection and clearly state the rationale for the data collection process.
- They then describe the statistical methods used and their rationale.
- They deliver the results of the analysis, the conclusions, and, if appropriate, offer suggestions for further work.
The reminder of the process helps determine what specific skills the course can help build that make these behaviors possible.
5. Ask, “What are the characteristics of each of these behaviors?” List the important characteristics.
- Some of the characteristics include thinking analytically, inquiring, collecting data, testing data, determining appropriate techniques, reporting, receiving and acting on information, etc.
6. Compare how the imaginary future students demonstrate these characteristics with how your current students demonstrate the same characteristics. What are the real students lacking?
- Because this is an elementary course, it’s likely students are especially unfamiliar with testing data and determining and using appropriate statistical techniques.
7. Those deficiencies are what a program, and, by extension, a course should mitigate. If students are currently at “X” and need to be at “Y” as graduates, their program and courses need to help them make that transition. (This is what makes it possible to create learning outcomes for a course or program.)
- The course should intentionally target testing data, understanding statistical techniques, and understanding that the statistical technique used depends on its fit with the specific context. Intentionally targeting these skills means giving students the opportunity to build these skills in the course..
Steps 8 and 9 are (thankfully) beyond the scope of this post and best left to the statistics instructor, but can easily be imagined by extension, if we think about our areas of curricular expertise.
No matter what course you teach, focusing on long-term behaviors is the best way you can help your students develop the desire and at least some of the abilities, skills, and attitudes they will need to be successful. Maybe we don’t need a Transmogrifier after all.
