Knowing Where You're Going: Planning for Meaningful Course Closure

A literature review on approaches to a final course session reveals a dearth of attention to the issue. Options for last-day activities fall into three categories: professor-centered, activity-focused, and student-driven. Using the criterion that meaningful course closure calls for last-day activities that engage students in reflection not only about what they have learned but also how they will use these ideas in the future, this article reviews the literature and analyzes options for last-day planning from each category. Drawing upon apt examples as well as upon the author's personal experience, the article makes the case that, because the last class needs to stimulate reflection on the key ideas and enduring understandings of the course, planning for the final class should be an integral part of the initial course design.