The Bridge Course Design: Formative Assessment and Student-Centered Learning in Cross-Course Classrooms

Authors

John Davies, Brigham Young UniversityFollow
Casey Welch, Flagler CollegeFollow
Jace Hargis, University of the PacificFollow

Abstract

This paper reports on the effectiveness of an innovative course design that bridges classes from two different disciplines. The Bridge design creates assignments in two classes: a summary class and a panel class. The design encourages students to engage in teaching and interacting with their peers within and across disciplines, and provides instructors with unique opportunities for formative assessment. Relative to control groups, students in the summary class perceived greater opportunities to teach peers, participate in class discussions, think critically, and engage in collaborative learning. Students in the panel class showed gains in critical thinking. Both classes afforded multiple opportunities for formative assessment. Following a discussion of the results, recommendations for improving the Bridge design are presented.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Davies, John; Welch, Casey; and Hargis, Jace (2008) "The Bridge Course Design: Formative Assessment and Student-Centered Learning in Cross-Course Classrooms," International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Vol. 2: No. 2, Article 6.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2008.020206