Twist on a Classic: Anchoring a Course With a 3-2-1 Report

Barry Sharpe, Western Governors University

Keywords: 3-2-1 Report, Backward Design, Elaboration

 

Key Statement: Anchoring a course with the 3-2-1 Report can strengthen backward design and expand opportunities for students to use elaboration as a learning strategy.

Introduction

The 3-2-1 Report guides student note-taking by prompting students to reflect on their learning and consider where they are still struggling (Van Gyn, 2013). Common features of a 3-2-1 Report include:

• Three things you have learned

• Two areas of interest or confusion

• One key insight or application

Although often viewed as a guide for reading and a framework for taking notes, the 3-2-1 Report can also be used in other ways: monitor student reading and gauge student learning; prompt students to reflect on what they are learning; gather information about student progress; solicit student interest in topics; and encourage students to explore connections and relevance. By responding to student submissions, faculty can reinforce student agency by exploring topics identified by students, addressing student questions, and sharing connections or points of contact students have made. When viewed as a way to not only gather information from students but also listen to and learn from students, the 3-2-1 Report can play a pivotal role in supporting student learning and faculty self-reflection.

Chain links across an ocean background.

Report as Linking Assignment

If the 3-2-1 Report is the “classic,” what is the “twist”? Although I have used the 3-2-1 Report for several years in a business ethics course, I did not until recently think of using the Report as practice for other assignments in the course. Each section of the Report now connects with at least one other assignment for the course. Thus, the “twist” involves how the section questions provide structure and practice for other assignments. That small change, adjusting the structure of the Report to link to other course assignments, greatly expanded scaffolding and reflection for student learning. Making the Report an anchor for the course also prompted me to rethink and reinforce backward design and elaboration in course design and instructional practices.

Backward Design and the Report

Here are the sections of the Report I currently use in my business ethics course:

1. What are the three most significant takeaways (i.e., what you have learned)?

2. What two concepts, issues, or ideas would you like to know more about?

3. Pose one question to the author(s) about which you would like to know more.

4. Identify and explain a point of contact with the assigned reading and one of the following: a different module of the course, another course, or work experience.

Although I added a fourth section to the Report, the real twist came with using the Report to strengthen backward design. I previously discovered backward design as part of a shift away from a content-based to a more learner-centered approach to course design. Specifically, begin with the learning destination in mind, decide how you know when students will reach that destination, and develop activities to guide students to the destination (Stapleton-Corcoran, 2023). I always found it easier to pay attention to where I wanted students to go than designing activities to help them get there. Reworking each section of the Report to provide practice for other course assignments made it easier to think about how the pieces of backward design might fit together.

Section 1: What are the three most significant takeaways?

The primary goal for this section is to get students into the habit of reflecting on their learning. Because students complete weekly Reports, this reflection on learning becomes a regular part of student engagement. This section also connects to and provides practice for the final exam. Here is an example from the Final Exam.

Revise one Discussion Board post. Why did you select this post to revise? What did you learn from the revision process? 

To make it clear to students that the Report is practice for the Final Exam, the course syllabus includes the Final Exam questions. Students know the learning destination and are provided the means, the Report, to get there.

Elaboration and the Report

As a learning strategy, elaboration involves asking questions and making connections (Smith & Weinstein, 2016). The Report guides students to generate questions while they read. It provides practice for discerning similarities and differences between ideas. It also prompts them to make connections with life experiences and other ideas in the course or another course.

Section 3: Pose one question to the author about which you would like to know more.

Section 4: Identify and explain a point of contact with the assigned reading and one of the following: a different module of the course, another course, or work experience.

I want students to practice thinking about the course text as something to interact with instead of just a place to get information. Section 3 prompts students to pause and consider what they know and do not know and, in the process, promotes practice in developing questions. This section also provides space for curiosity. Section 4 provides practice in discernment, encourages students to make connections, and assists in exploring relevance. Structured in this way, the weekly Report prepares students for weekly Discussion Board posts. When working on the sample Discussion Board prompt (below), students would have already considered similarities and differences among the assigned readings and had the opportunity to think about what questions they might have for the authors.

Imagine that Milton Friedman, Ciaran Driver, and Katherine Klein/Witold Henisz [these are authors of texts assigned for the week] are on the same panel at a conference on corporate governance and responsible investing. Have one panelist present a question to one of the other panelists (e.g., Ciaran Driver asks Milton Friedman a question). Provide a response for the panelist who received the question (e.g., Friedman answers Driver’s question). Present commentary from the third panelist (e.g., Klein/Henisz comment on Friedman’s answer).

The Discussion Board prompt encourages students to build on their learning by thinking about how to get the texts to interact with one another, further reinforcing the link to elaboration.

By providing practice in making connections, the Report prepares students to work more dynamically and creatively with the course text. As students become more comfortable thinking about the course text as something to interact with instead of just a place to get information, they are better prepared when asked to imagine how they would revise or restructure part of the assigned text. The following Discussion Board prompt presents students with the opportunity to rework part of the text in a way that they think better supports learning.

Consider how and where you would place the article “Can Corporations be Held Morally Responsible?” in The Vision of the Firm. You can select any chapter. Things to consider include location in the chapter, explanation of key themes, attention to transition after insertion of the article, and how a review of this article would add to the reader's experience.

The Report functions as a central learning node for the course. In addition to providing regular practice for other assignments, the Report reinforces habits of reflection important for durable learning. To further support the development of such habits, several assignments reappear in similar forms. There are several assignments, like the Discussion Board post above, that require students to interact with the text in creative ways. The Final Exam questions combine sections of the Report and serve as a capstone for learning across the course.

Here is one example:

Identify one of the videos assigned for the course you recommend all business students should watch. Provide a summary of the video. How did it impact your learning? How did it connect with another course reading/video/assignment? Why did you make this recommendation?

Conclusion

One small change, restructuring the Report to link to other course assignments, strengthened the connections among the elements of backward design in my business ethics course and expanded student opportunities for elaboration as a learning strategy. This small change also provided me with leverage to rethink course design and learn more about my students without starting from scratch or investing huge amounts of time.

 Discussion Questions

1. How do you prompt students to consider what they do not know and reflect on what they have learned? Are students able to draw on these self-reflection experiences as they prepare for other course assignments?

2. Have you thought about providing students with final exam questions at the beginning of a course? What might be some of the advantages and disadvantages of this approach?

3. What small change can you make to a course to strengthen backward design and promote more elaboration by students as a learning strategy?

   
   

Resources

Chick, N. Metacognition. Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt University.https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/metacognition/

Critical Reading. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning, Brown University. https://www.brown.edu/sheridan/teaching-learning-resources/teaching-resources/classroom-practices/critical-reading

Lang, J. (2021) Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning, 2nd ed. (Jossey-Bass).

Northern Illinois University Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. (2012). Instructional scaffolding. In Instructional guide for university faculty and teaching assistants.  https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/instructional-guide

Smith, M., & Weinstein, Y. (2016, July 7). Learn how to study using elaboration. The Learning Scientists. https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2016/7/7-1

Stapleton-Corcoran, E. (2023). “Backwards Design.” Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence at the University of Illinois Chicago. https://teaching.uic.edu/resources/teaching-guides/learning-principles-and-frameworks/backward-design

Van Gyn, G. (2013, May 6) The little assignment with the big impact: Reading, writing, critical reflection, and meaningful discussion. Faculty Focus. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/course-design-ideas/the-little-assignment-with-the-big-impact-reading-writing-critical-reflection-and-meaningful-discussion/

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