Preparing Sessions

"Well begun is half done," Aristotle said. Preparing your classroom sessions is as important as running them. If you want to help students learn, you must first define learning outcomes, then design learning activities that allow students to achieve these outcomes. As part of your preparation, you must also take care of the learning environment, such as the room and any required equipment.

Learning outcomes are the key to the whole process. They suggest activities you can design and run for your students. They help you prioritize these activities and manage your time during sessions. They allow you to evaluate your sessions and dictate the type of exam you must organize to assess your students' learning.

Learning activities are activities students engage in: They are about what students do in the classroom (and perhaps outside of it), not about what you do. Designing activities that are adequate for the learning outcomes is the most important step. No matter how good a facilitator you are, you will not be able to salvage an inadequate learning activity by facilitation alone — not any more than you can salvage a poorly designed oral presentation by delivery alone.

Finally, the learning environment is an important success factor. Reserve an appropriate room for the learning activities you have designed, and prepare or secure any equipment you need for these activities.

To help students achieve specific learning outcomes, you must have a clear idea of what these outcomes are. If you are a teaching assistant, you may have received a list of outcomes from your professor. If you did not or if you are in charge of the course, you need to define them for yourself.

A learning outcome is not the material to be learned: It is a capacity applied to that material. As such, it is best expressed as a sentence that starts with:

By the end of the course, students should be able to . . .

And continues with a verb and an object, for example:

. . . balance a chemical equation.

The capacity can involve knowledge, skills, or even attitudes. Here are examples of verbs you can use to write the corresponding types of learning outcomes.

Knowledge

Skills

Attitude

Define learning outcomes both for the course as a whole and for each module (such as each classroom session) within the course. If you are a teaching assistant and have not been given the outcomes by your professor, you can define them by using your best judgment, by asking previous teaching assistants for the course, or by looking at the exam questions from previous years.

To be useful, a learning outcome must be specific and observable. In this respect, verbs such as know, recall, and understand are best replaced by more observable alternatives, such as cite, define, or describe. Besides the capacity to be developed, you can specify the means put at the disposal of students (for example, "using pen and paper only") and the criteria used for evaluating the capacity (for example, "in five minutes or less").

Once you have defined the learning outcomes, you can design learning activities that will help your students develop the desired capacities. To a point, these activities are suggested by the capacities themselves. For example, if one outcome states that "By the end of the session, students must be able to solve a problem of chemical equilibrium," the activity must have students working on problems involving chemical equilibria. The challenge for preparing adequate activities is threefold:

• To learn, students must be able to do what you ask them to do — although perhaps with some help and perhaps not the first time. As you design learning activities, consider their level of difficulty and the means at the disposal of the students. In the above example, the activity must probably go from simple to more challenging problems of chemical equilibria. You might also provide a written summary of the method or allow students to use their textbook or other resources during the session, possibly for the first few exercises only (depending on the exact learning outcome).

• To learn, students need feedback — they must know whether what they do is correct, ideally as they are doing it as opposed to after the fact. As you design learning activities, anticipate how this feedback will be provided and by whom. Will the activity itself provide the means for the students to evaluate their performance? Will students provide feedback to one another? Will you provide it? If so, how?

• To learn, students must be motivated — they must believe that the learning is worthwhile. You can increase their motivation by designing learning activities that they can relate to. In the above example, you might select cases of chemical equilibria that are part of their everyday life or you might build a contextual scenario that makes your cases meaningful.

Once you have designed your learning activities, you can prepare a plan for your session. Beyond the session's overall learning outcomes and a list of the equipment you will need, draw up a table with three columns and as many rows as you have learning outcomes. In each row, indicate the specific learning outcome you are striving to achieve, the corresponding learning activity you designed, and the duration you foresee for this activity. Next to this duration, you may want to add the time elapsed since the start of the session so you can easily see at any time during your session whether you are on schedule.

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First, secure an appropriate room for the learning activities you have designed. For example, if you want to capture an interaction with the group, you need something to write on: a blackboard, whiteboard, or flip-chart. If you plan to have students work in subgroups, you must be able to rearrange the tables and chairs. If you engage students in role-playing or other activities for which they have to get up and do something, you may even prefer a classroom without tables (chairs only) to encourage mobility.

In many universities and organizations, classrooms are at a premium; securing an appropriate room for you session might be a challenge. Still, do not give up too easily: If you need a different room than the one you have been assigned, ask for it, explaining what you need and why. Consider alternatives to the rooms managed by the centralized facilities services, too: Your department may have meeting rooms that are not officially listed as classrooms but that you might be able to reserve for your sessions.

Next, set the room appropriately for your planned activities. Rearrange the tables and chairs as you see fit: a hemicycle or U-shape for interacting with the whole group, small islands of tables for activities in subgroups, and so on. Get rid of whatever stands in your way or might distract students (many classrooms need some tidying up). Erase the board, optimize the lighting and the temperature, and ventilate the room. By making students feel welcome, you increase their motivation. By having everything ready for a productive session, you show them that you are prepared and dedicated, and thus you set the tone for your sessions.

Finally, remember to prepare or secure any additional equipment you need for your activities: a projector or a microphone, demonstration or practice material, or perhaps just chalk for the blackboard. If you run many sessions or if you do not know what to expect in the classroom, you may find it useful to carry your own set of basic necessities, including chalk and markers, a travel clock, and an extension cord for any electrical equipment you plan to use.