Principles of Effective Methods and Instruction

Master of Science in Education

EDU 542

Breyer State University

Instructor: Catherine Moran, Ph.D.

COURSE OVERVIEW: Welcome to Principles of Effective Methods and Instruction, a Master’s Level course in the curriculum for the Degree, Master of Science in Education. I am pleased to instruct you in this course.

This is an upper level course that prepares you to work in the field of Secondary Education.  In this course you will study the ways of formulating, organizing and evaluating the educational objectives that have been chosen for a curriculum. 

I know you will enjoy this course. Please learn as much as you can as you progress through it, as it does lay down a solid foundation for the rest of the curriculum. It is my pleasure to have you in the course.

TIME FRAME: This is a 4 semester hour course. This course is allotted 15 weeks of time. You must complete all of the requirements for the course successfully by the end of the 15th-week period. The first day of week one will begin the day that you register for the course, or the day which you notify me that your textbook has arrived and you are ready to begin your studies. Please be cognizant of the time frame. Extensions of time are permitted if needed with my and/or departmental approval. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be awarded 4 semester hours of credit.

TEXTBOOKS: There are two (2) required textbooks for this course.

Book 1: Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction by Ralph W. Tyler.  University of Chicago Press.  ISBN # 0-226-82031-9.

Book 2:  Classroom Assessment:  Principles and Practice for Effective Instruction by James H. McMillan. ISBN: 020-5-48584-7.

These texts can be ordered online at the BSU bookstore.

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EXAMINATIONS:There is one examination for this course - A final exam that must be taken at the end of the 15th week in the course.  The final covers only the material from: “Classroom Assessment:  Principles and Practice for Effective Instruction”.   The exam is programmed and is located in the classroom for this course. The examination is "open book" objective type. You will have one (1) day to complete your exam, once you access it from the classroom. To access the exam, you must send me an email and request to have access to the exam. Upon registration, you will receive my email address. I will then program your access in. You will receive an email back from me telling you that you are now authorized to go ahead and to access your exam. To access, you will come into the classroom, click on testing, and click on the exam you are taking. You will need your User ID and PASS WORD to access the exam. The exam will appear on your screen. Once you access the exam, you have twenty-four hours to submit your answers. The program provides me the exact date and time that you accessed the exam. The program also notifies me of the exact date and time that you submitted your answers. Thus, the program is timing you. When you are ready, go back into the classroom and click in your responses and then click submit. Shortly, you will receive the exam in your email box with your computed score. You will also know what questions, if any, that you missed, and what the correct answer is. I also receive a copy of your exam and your score.

GRADING: The grading scale for this course is as follows:

90-100%    = A
80-89%      = B
70-79%      = C
Below 70% = Fail

COMMUNICATION: You are encouraged to communicate with me. I am available as a teacher, coach, and mentor to assist you in meeting your goals for this course. Primarily, communication is through email. However, I am also available for conversation by telephone if you would like. Our classroom for this course has a "chat" room. I am also very willing to meet with you one-on-one in the chat room at your request. From time to time, depending on how many students are enrolled in this course at a particular time, we will have some scheduled group chats. You will receive more detailed information at the time such chat sessions are scheduled. Please keep my email address handy so that you can contact me whenever necessary. If at any time during this course you change your email address, please be sure to notify me right away.

ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR: I, Catherine Moran, Ph.D., currently teach undergraduate and graduate courses at Breyer State University and Canyon College. I hold Ph.D. in Education and a Master’s degree in Education from Breyer State University.  A Bachelor of Science from Kent State University with a major in Chemistry and Biology and Speech. I have worked in several hospitals as a Med. Tech. I lecture at conferences on “Assessing and Teaching Children with Learning Disabilities”. 

I am the Registrar of Breyer State University.  

COURSE OBJECTIVES: TThis course will examine current research on how students learn and offers a variety of perspectives on learner-centered classrooms, assessment systems, teacher education, and policy implementation.  The following objectives for this course are:

1). Understanding the role of assessment in teaching.
2). Understanding classroom assessment: its purpose, measurement, evaluation and use in diagnosing, grading and instruction.
3). Know the research on learning, motivation and instruction.
4). Know the four major components of assessment.
5). Know the learning targets.
6). Know the different types of learning targets.
7). Know the sources of learning targets and their standards.
8). Know the types of assessment methods.
9). Define validity, reliability, fairness and positive consequences.
10). Know how validity & reliability are assessed and determined.
11). Define practicality and efficiency.
12). Understand norm-referenced standardized test scores.
13). Understand high-quality pre-instructional assessment.
14). Know formative assessment.
15). Understand objectively scored assessments.
16). Know: summative assessment, types of knowledge and simple understanding targets and assessing knowledge.
17). Know: deep understanding, reasoning skills, and how to assess both.
18). Know and understand Performance assessments: assessing deep understanding, reasoning and skills.
19). Know what is a portfolio and the advantages and disadvantages.
20). Know the steps to implement a portfolio assessment.
21). Know what are effective targets.
22). Define and list affective traits and learning targets.
23). Know the methods of assessing affective targets.
24). Know how to assess students with special needs in inclusive settings.
25). List the steps for this process.
26). Know the teachers’ judgments for grading.
27). List the functions and approaches in marking and grading.
28). List the fundamental descriptive statistics.
29). Know the types of derived standardized test scores.
30). Know how to interpret standardized and state standards-based tests.

ASSIGNMENTS: For specific assignments, please click on the link "Assignments."

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