Support student learning with a weekly Plan of Action!

Do you like crossing off items in your to do list?

I start my day by creating a list of things I need to do. Call it a to-do list, schedule, agenda, or plan of action, but there’s nothing like a mini win when an item is crossed off.

Have you spent time creating a weekly schedule in your syllabus? You’ve probably included a list of readings, activities to complete, and even reflection points for that week. I admit, as a former student, I viewed the course syllabus at the beginning of the term, and maybe around exam periods.

Consider adding a page at the beginning of your Bruin Learn Module to provide your students with structure and direction for the module or week. This can include learning objectives for the lessons, schedule for the week, important dates to remember, or reflections for the module. You can also add color and images to help build context to the module or week. If you have a created a schedule in your syllabus, this would be a great opportunity to copy them from your syllabus and embed into your Bruin Learn site. This can allow students to spend more time checking and reflecting on their progress, which can lead to better decision-making.

Further Reading and Additional Resources on Supporting Student Learning with Learning Objectives and Structure

“Five Tips for Helping Post-Secondary Students Overcome Failure,” from Faculty Focus.

Checklists and SMART goals are good strategies to teach (and model to students), and think about how you as an educator can make room for “implementation intentions.” This article also includes shifting to a growth mindset and encouraging social communities to help students with their goals.

“Examples of Learning Outcomes: Good and Bad,” by Thompson Rivers University.

A great one page resource to get you started on writing concise and good learning outcomes. They have a chart that walks you through examples of improving a statement to make it specific and measurable.

“The Educational Value of Course-level Learning Objectives/Outcomes,” by The Eberly Center at Carnegie Mellon University.

This literature review argues the merit of clearly articulated learning objectives and how it supports student learning, knowledge discovery, and how to deliberately practice the right skills in their learning. In the end, we want students to develop reflective thinking as part of their metacognitive skills that foster life long learning.

“How to Use The Weekly Action Plan System to Win Your Week,” from BestSelf.co

There are different ways to create action plans, but what helps is to write down each task and add time estimates. This helps makes tasks look achievable and gives students a sense of how much time they need to allocate to complete the task. There are also additional tips to help make tasks less overwhelming.