• have a shared cognitive set with the instructor,
• are motivated to learn,
• actively construct their knowledge.

How we structure learners' experiences is most crucial in promoting deep learning. A well-structured course should have:

• Clearly described and communicated goals for the course. What do you want your students to "look like" by the end of the semester? An alternative question might be, "What would make you feel good if you had a conversation with one of your students five years after they graduated?"
  • What should they know,
  • what should they be able to do, and
  • what should they feel about the subject (attitude).

• An integrated, goal directed set of activities, well founded in the tenets of effective pedagogy that promote learner acquisition of deep knowledge and specifically contribute to the goals of the course. A useful cognitive model for arranging student intereaction with the material is Acquisition, Personalization, Application, Synthesis and Abstraction (APASA):
  • Acquisition--What constitutes a coherent unit of material?
  • Personalization--How can students connect the material to their lives?
  • Application--How can they use this to understand something they see?
  • Synthesis--What are the important elements of the material?
  • Abstraction--What organizing principle(s) hold these elements together?

  Each step of APASA stretches the student, so that by the end, they have a deep understanding of the material.

  Two separate, but interrelated pedagogical techniques that contribute to deep student knowledge are:

  • individual student reflection, integration, and synthesis of material (largely through writing), and
  • learning as a communal event.

• Instruction that is student knowledge driven -- Frequent Formative Feedback (Classroom Assessment) that informs future course activities. Frequent, appropriate assessment will help assure that the course is promoting your goals for your students' learning.