The goal of most courses is to impart knowledge. From the perspective of course design, after the learning goals are established, it is not too difficult to identify the topics that need to be covered and the source material that will prepare students to learn. However, what if the objectives of a course are to not only think, but also to do something. Something that requires they learn how to actually do something? In other words, not just learn the fundamentals that underly something like a digital marketing campaign, but asks the students to actually develop a campaign for a client? It is not just about learning the basics, but now, more importantly, how to put those ideas into practice.
STAR2
A technique that we use to help students put ideas into practice is what we call STAR2. The approach is based on a commonly used behavioral interview technique where prospective employees are asked to tell about the time where they struggled to accomplish a goal, did something they were particularly proud of, or needed to meet some other challenge. A framework for answering that question is to identify a specific situation, the task they were given, the actions they took and the results (success) they achieved. When it comes to course design, we like to include an additional element where students are given an opportunity to reflect on what they have done and think about how they might do it different the next time.
It is one that we have effectively used to develop over 70+ courses in our Business in Practice program which places industry professionals in the classroom guiding a learning environment based on their work experience. The goal is to help students construct a narrative that they can share with employers that showcases how they developed skills that would be particularly useful to them.
Implementing the STAR2 approach entails the following:
SITUATION
Have students select a challenge that requires the use of key course concepts to both understand important challenges and to suggest potential actions that might lead to some form of resolution. Students should be given some flexibility in terms of the problem to be solved and how they might go about solving it. It should be something that they can personally relate to and approximate as closely as possible what they might encounter outside the classroom.
TASK
Students are assigned a task that demonstrates not only their understanding of key concepts, but how they are able to operationalize their knowledge by taking action. It should be something that potentially serves as a proxy for work experience by showcasing the student’s ability to actually get something done. It is similar to the type of learning that might take place on the job and demonstrate the student’s ability to put their knowledge into practice. This generally takes the form of a deliverable that can showcase all of the learning that has taken place.
ACTION
Here, students have an opportunity to explain what they have done to complete the task. It is an opportunity to showcase the skills they have developed and their ability to use them to accomplish a well-understood task. The goal here is to highlight that they have learned what is required to meet a challenge and bring it to a successful conclusion.
RESULT
Here students have an opportunity to detail specifically how they contributed to the task at hand and explain why they reached an outcome that led to the successful conclusion of the task. It is an opportunity to brag about what they have achieved as they describe how they can utilize the skills they have developed to accomplish similar results in comparable situations.
REFLECTION
Students can be given one or multiple opportunities to reflect back on what they have achieved. This might take the form of peer reviews, workshopping ideas with the entire class, or responding to some assignment at the end that requires the student to look back at what has transpired. It provides an opportunity to gain insights and think about how they might approach things differently the next time around.
WORK-READY GRADUATES
The advantage of the STAR2 approach is that it makes it possible for the student to go beyond just recounting what concepts they learned or what material was covered in a particular course and instead, provide the basis for constructing a narrative that can convey what they have done, the skills that they learned, and how completion of the experience uniquely positions them to make a contribution. It enables graduates to communicate that they can actually do something rather than merely conveying what they know.
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