Self-Reflection through Annotating Course Content

What is the purpose of self-reflecting on your course content?

For this aspect of your portfolio, you have the opportunity to analyze and annotate your course materials. The purpose of self-reflection on your materials is to illuminate your thought process behind the design choices you have made within your course and make the implicit explicit to the reader of your portfolio. These considerations may not be apparent when reading syllabi or reviewing instructional strategies and may be “hidden” to those reviewing your documents. Through annotating your course materials, you will be able to pull back the curtain and describe not only the policies and practices you are using, but also your reasoning behind why a particular portion of a class is designed in a given way.  

 

What documents can I annotate?

We suggest annotating your syllabus, a lesson plan for a specific class session, or an assignment description for a key assessment in your course.  

What should I annotate?

You can annotate any aspect of your syllabus, lesson plan, or other key course documents for which you would like to provide more detail. Perhaps you have an innovative approach to your course design and would like to describe why you chose that approach. For example, say you set up your class such that you use a semester-long case study to introduce content and allow students to apply concepts in a “real-world” situation. You could annotate the course description on your syllabus to describe the pedagogical benefits of organizing a course this way and describe how it helps students achieve the learning outcomes in the course. You could even incorporate student feedback into your annotations if they have shared specific feedback on aspects of the course design that they find particularly effective for their learning or that they enjoy.  

Annotations can also speak to how a particular practice or assignment has changed over time. Maybe students weren’t successful in the first iteration of a particular assignment, and you’ve adjusted it over time to support student achievement. You could choose to annotate the assignment description for that assessment to describe how you have adjusted the assignment. You could talk about how the assignment is now better structured to promote student achievement, or how you see deeper learning from students in that assignment. You could speak to the impetus for those changes: did you change it in response to student feedback, student success, or something else? You could also discuss any changes that you’d like to make in future iterations of the course, and describe your rationale behind those future adjustments.    

Overall, the goal for your annotations is to describe to those reviewing your documents your reasoning behind various aspects of your course. These aspects to comment on can be difficult to determine; therefore, we have a set of yes/no questions below that you can use to prompt your reflection. We recommend you first go through the list of questions to determine whether or not your documents have these components. If you answer yes to a question, think about why you answered yes, or what effect that yes answer would have on you and your students. If you answer no to a question, think about why you answered no, and similarly reflect on the effect that no answer would have on your students and course. It’s important to note that answering no to a particular question does not necessarily mean that a course is poorly designed. Each course is different, and your own teaching style is unique to yourself and your discipline. After you reflect on your responses to the below questions, decide on those that you want to annotate and write up your explanations.  

You should aim to annotate at least 5 aspects of your course documents; however, we encourage you to include more.  

Guiding Questions for Syllabus Annotation

View a sample annotated syllabus here.

Learning Outcomes

• Overall, why did you include these learning outcomes?  
• Are the learning outcomes specific and measurable? 
• Are the learning outcomes written from the students’ perspective? 
• Are the learning outcomes skills, knowledge, attitudes, and/or interpersonal skills that your students can use after your course? 
• Do the learning outcomes reflect common competencies for professionals or scholars in your field? 
• Do the learning outcomes reflect the departmental learning outcomes? 
• If teaching an AU Core course, do the learning outcomes relate to AU Core learning outcomes? 
• Do the learning outcomes speak to diversity, equity, inclusion, or justice (DEIJ) topics?  

Assessments

• Overall, why have you designed your assessments in this way?  
• Do the assessments align with the learning outcomes? 
• Do the assessments reflect possible projects or work of those in the field?  
• Are the assessments relevant to students’ future academic work, professional work, or personal lives? 
• Do the assessments reflect possible projects or work students will be doing in the future? 
• Are any of the assessments scaffolded? 
• Do any of the assessments involve work outside of class in the community? Will the students’ work impact the community involved? 
• Are there opportunities for the students to choose the delivery method or format of their work (e.g., paper, podcast, presentation, video, website, etc.)? 
• Are there opportunities for students to choose topics they will be assessed on (e.g., choice of final paper topic)? 

Course Content

• Overall, why did you choose this content to include in the course? 
• Does the course content support the students’ achievement of the course’s learning outcomes? 
• Do the readings or other course materials reflect a diversity of authors, topics, and/or viewpoints? 
• Are the assigned readings and resources presented in a variety of formats, such as journal articles, videos, screencasts, podcasts, online periodicals, etc.? 
• Is the content accessible (e.g., does the textbook have an audiobook, are all PDFs accessible by screen readers, etc.)? 
• Are there any openly licensed free to access materials in the course, such as Open Educational Resources? 

Course Policies

• Overall, why have you drafted your course policies as such?  
• Are there policies you have crafted that are innovative, equitable, or inclusive? 
• Do you intend to foster a specific type of classroom with the policies you have created? 
• Do the course’s policies support the students in the classroom and outside of it? 
• Do the students have multiple ways to participate and show their engagement in the course? 
• Are your policies clear and do you communicate aspects of the ‘hidden curriculum’? 

Overall syllabus

• Are there components within the syllabus that have changed over time? If so, why? 
• Is a particular pedagogical approach employed to guide the syllabus creation process (e.g., constructivism, connectivism, etc.)? 
• Is your teaching philosophy reflected in the syllabus? 
• Does your syllabus language and tone convey the type of teacher you want to be?  
• Does your syllabus have a diversity, mental health, or empathy statement? 

Guiding Questions for Lesson Plan Annotation

View a sample lesson plans here.  

Learning Outcomes

• Are there learning outcomes listed? If so, do they relate to the course’s learning outcomes? 
• Do the learning outcomes for the class session reflect skills, knowledge, attitudes, and/or interpersonal skills that the students can use after the course? 
• Do the learning outcomes for the lesson plan help students build towards the course learning outcomes? 

Assessments

• Do you know if students are making progress towards or are achieving the class’s learning outcomes? 
• Does the lesson plan employ a variety of assessment methods (e.g., diagnostic, formative, and/or summative assessments)? 
• Do this class session’s assessments relate to and/or build upon previous assessments? 
• Do the assessments reflect possible projects or work of those in the field?  
• Are the assessments relevant to students’ future academic work, professional work, or personal lives? 

Student Engagement

• What are the components that encourage a high level of interaction between the students? 
• Is there a high level of interaction between the instructor, content, and/or the students? 
• What kinds of in-class activities are in the lesson plan (e.g., group work, individual work, reflection, peer review, etc.)? 
• What are the instructional strategies that are used in the class (e.g., lecture, live polling, discussion, exit tickets, etc.)? 
• Are any technology tools used? Do they enhance the class? 
• Are there multiple ways for students to interact with the content, in accordance with Universal Design for Learning principles? 
• Do you incorporate diverse perspectives into the class session through readings, activities, lectures, etc.? 

Overall lesson plan

• Overall, why did you choose this lesson plan to annotate?  
• Are there components within the lesson plan that have changed over time? If so, why? 
• Is your teaching philosophy reflected in the lesson plan? 
• Does the lesson plan incorporate any diversity, inclusion, equity, or justice (DIEJ) concepts?   

Guiding Questions for Assignment Description Annotation

View a sample annotated assignment description here.

Learning Outcomes

• Are there learning outcomes listed? 
• Is the purpose of the assignment clear to students? 
• Do the learning outcomes for the assignment reflect skills, knowledge, attitudes, and/or interpersonal skills that the students can use after the course? 
• Do the learning outcomes for the assignment help students build towards the course learning outcomes? 

Task & Assessment Criteria

• Is it clear what students need to do to complete the assignment and by when? 
• Are the tasks aligned with the purpose of the assignment? 
• Does the assignment provide choice in topic and/or format (e.g., written, presentation, graphic)? 
• Is it clear how students’ assignment submissions will be assessed? 
• Do students have opportunities to practice or receive feedback prior to submitting the assignment? 

Overall assignment description

• Overall, why did you choose this assessment to annotate? 
• Are there components within the assignment that have changed over time? If so, why? 
• Is your teaching philosophy reflected in the assignment organization and description? 
• Does the assignment incorporate any diversity, inclusion, equity, or justice (DIEJ) concepts?   

How do I annotate my documents?

Microsoft Word (Recommended): Highlight the words or sentences that you would like to annotate. Then, add a comment to that section by right clicking and choosing “Add Comment,” or you can click the “Review” toolbar/tab and choose “New Comment.”  

Apple Pages: Highlight the words or sentences that you would like to annotate. In the toolbar, click on the sticky note icon. Or, in the review toolbar, click on the plus sign.