Course number: CSAD 221 Dysphagia and the Medical Setting

Redesign / Alignment / Clarity

Syllabi Review Description and Reflection:

For this activity, I reviewed Lisa D'Angelo's syllabus for CSAD 221 Dysphagia and the Medical Setting. I reviewed the syllabus for clarity, cohesiveness, and comprehensiveness. As a part of this FLC, I also created a new syllabus for CSAD 271P Clinical Practicum: Pediatrics, which Dr. D'Angelo will review. The purpose of this review is to support each other's course development process and ensure that our syllabi are of the highest possible quality before we implement our curriculum redesign. This redesign addresses a significant need in our department: modifying our Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology (formerly in Communication Sciences and Disorders) so that students complete their internships in May instead of July. This will greatly improve the chances that they get all of their paperwork processed for licensure and credentialing to start in the workforce in time for the beginning of the next school year. Also, our program has received feedback from the professional community that we need to provide better training in medical speech-language pathology before placing students in medical SLP internships, so this redesign includes adding more graduate-level medical coursework, as well as other subjects that need to be strengthened at the graduate level.

When reviewing the syllabus, I referred to the Quality Matters rubric to ensure that as many Specific Review Standards as possible were met. I also referred to the provided documents (CAA and CCTC standards and a curriculum crosswalk) to ensure that all relevant standards were included and that the learning outcomes and activities in the course aligned with these standards. This was very challenging because there are so many standards that the course must align with, so it would take more time than I currently have available to check them all.

Approach and Process Reflection:

To complete the analysis, I worked my way down the Specific Review Standards of the QM rubric, checking off each one as I went. Then, I checked for alignment between the MS program learning outcomes (PLOs) and the course learning outcomes (CLOs). I also looked for clarity and measurability in the course learning outcomes. One challenge to the process is that the Knowledge and Skills Acquisition (KASA) standards for Speech-Language Pathology from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) are overwhelmingly extensive, and are listed at the end of the syllabus, so it was very difficult to determine whether or not they align with the CLOs.

I learned that showing alignment between the PLOs, CLOs, and course components (activities and assessments) can be done pretty easily using our syllabus template. It is clear that the instructor has considered the alignment of the course. This activity made me realize the importance of making all of these connections transparent. It also made me realize that the ordering of the information is important to maximize clarity. For example, starting with the MS PLOs was a bit confusing, because students usually open up the syllabus to find out exactly what they will be doing in the course. Demonstrating the alignment between the CLOs and the activities and assessments, with the point values and grading criteria, are immediately-needed components of a course that students need at a moment's notice. In my opinion, the PLOs would be better placed toward the end of the syllabus. This may inform our decisions about how to design syllabi for the program-wide curriculum redesign.

I will apply what I learned by making sure my new syllabi are fully aligned with the PLOs, as well as the standards in the curriculum crosswalk, making it transparent how everything fits together. I will also consider the ordering of each section of the syllabus, so the most pertinent information for students is right at the beginning. I will share my thoughts with the curriculum committee, so we are all on the same page and use the same template for our syllabi.

Course Syllabus (upload the course syllabi you analyzed and critiqued)

Course Syllabus

Next Steps / Recommendations

The next steps include sharing our recommendations with each other. I added comments to the syllabus and will send it back to my colleague for her review. Next, we will need to finish creating the syllabi for all of the courses we are redesigning, then meet in small groups to review them, including part-time faculty who have volunteered to be a part of this process.

**Faculty Bio**
	My name is Razi Zarchy, and my pronouns are he/him/his. I worked as a school-based speech-language pathologist from 2011 to 2023, primarily (but not exclusively) with deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children of a wide range of ages, specializing in early intervention/preschool. I am currently the speech and language clinic coordinator for the Maryjane Rees Language, Speech, and Hearing Center in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders.

Funding
	This work was supported by: US Department of Education Hispanic Serving Institution Project STEM4Equity P031C210012 *Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the US Department of Education.