Course Design
This is a collection of resources to help you design engaging courses that enhance student learning. Please contact us if you would like to explore any of these topics further.
Resources
Building Better Bookends: The First Day of Class
Suggestions for the first day of class, including how to assess students’ preconceptions about your field and their baseline knowledge of the subject (without making them feel like they’ve already failed a quiz).
Building Better Bookends: The Last Day of Class
The last day of class carries outsized importance in both student learning and their lasting impressions of the course. Here we share possible goals for your last day along with sample activities that may help you meet each goal.
Canvas Course Template
Using a template helps you create a Canvas course quickly and efficiently. Developed by Teaching and Learning Technologies (TLT) and
Course Design Resources for Newly Hired Faculty
These resources compile information related to course design, assessment, active learning, and inclusive teaching. In them you will find ideas
Inclusive Course Design
Inclusive course design is an iterative process that begins with adopting a reflective and equity-minded approach to teaching and learning. An equity-minded approach involves intentionally applying pedagogical strategies to curriculum development and assessment that engage students in meaningful, relevant, and empowering learning experiences as well as identifying and removing barriers to student success.
Incorporating Multimodal Assessment into Your Course
Multimodal assessments are alternative, often digital, assessments that allow students to demonstrate skills and knowledge in a new way by presenting them in multiple forms. Multimodal assignments can either stand alone as an independent assessment or ask students to re-envision an existing assignment, like an essay, into a different format, like a podcast or infographic.
Syllabus Policy Language
Course and university policies you choose to include in your syllabus are an opportunity to develop an inclusive and supportive
Transparent Assignment Design
Transparent design principles encourage instructors to reflect on how and why they are teaching specific subjects and, more importantly, to
Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
The UDL Guidelines operate as a tool for implementing inclusive teaching practices, particularly by encouraging instructors to provide multiple ways
Related Workshops
Decolonizing your Curriculum I: Overview of Practice
Description: In recent years, there have been many calls to “decolonize your curriculum” or to “decenter your syllabus,” but what
Decolonizing your Curriculum II: Syllabus Workshop
Description: In this session, participants will be asked to bring a syllabus they wish to “decolonize” in a workshop setting.
Designing Effective Short Courses
Description: This workshop will focus on the initial steps involved in planning a compressed course. Participants will be guided through
Introduction to Backward Design
Interested in creating a course from scratch? In this interactive workshop, participants learn and apply strategies for effective course design. Topics include understanding the value and structure of the backward design process as well as drafting learning goals, assessments, and learning experiences that align with each other. A recording of the workshop is also available.
Introduction to Course Design Series
A four-part series focused on the theory and practice of designing courses to enhance student learning. Session 2 is devoted to assessment and exam design.
Selecting/Creating Asynchronous Content
Description: In this workshop, you will consider which parts of your course content can be presented asynchronously to best help
Transparent Assignment Design
Description: Transparent Assignment Design results in positive impact on self-efficacy and sense of belonging for all students with stronger impact
Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a pedagogical framework focused on responding to learner diversity by designing flexible pathways to engage, represent, and express knowledge. This three-part series covers the three components of UDL: The Why of Learning, The What of Learning, and The How of Learning, the last of which is particularly relevant in an assessment context.