Course Design

Presented by:

Objectives

You will:Consider how the principles of good

course design will affect the design of your courses

Incorporate 3 basic design elements in the design of your courses

Including…

Content: What is the subject matter of the concept?

Learning outcomes: What will students know, value, do as a result of learning about this concept?

Instructional strategies: What kinds of practice and feedback will help students reach the learning outcomes?

Assessment of learning: How will I and the students be able to assess progress towards the learning outcomes?

7 Principles for Good Practice ...Chickering & Gamson, AAHE Bulletin, March

1987

Encourages student/faculty contactDevelops student cooperation Encourages active learningGives prompt feedbackEmphasizes time on taskCommunicates high expectationsRespects talents & ways of learning.

Fink’s 5 Principles of Good Course Design

Challenges Higher Level LearningUses Active Forms of LearningGives Frequent & Immediate

FeedbackUses a Structured Sequence of

Different Learning ActivitiesUses a Fair System for Assessing &

Grading Students

Course Design Process

Instructional Strategies

Student Learning

Content

Learning OutcomesAssessment and

Evaluation

CONTEXT

Basic Design Elements…Dr. L. Dee Fink, Creating Significant Learning Experiences:

An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses, Jossey-Bass, 2003.

Learning Outcomes

Instructional Strategies

Assessment & Evaluation

Context

Context

General Context

Subject Nature

Learner Characteristics

Teacher Characteristics

General Context

Context

Life Professional

EducationalLogistics

Context

Subject Nature

Convergent Divergent

Cognitive Physical

Abstract Concrete/Practical

Stable Change

Context

Learner Characteristics

Background

Attitudes

Needs

Knowledge

Context

Teacher Characteristics

“In functioning as a facilitator of learning, the leader endeavors to recognize and accept his/her

own limitations.” …Carl Rogers

Outcomes

Knowledge SkillsValues

By stating the learning outcomes well, we can work backwards from the outcomes to determine the best way

to achieve those results.

(Cognitive Procedural Affective)

Outcomes

PERFORMANCE: CONDITION:

Ride a Bicycle Along a paved road

CRITERION:100 metres

"WHAT WILL THEY BE DOING WHEN THEY ARE DOING IT RIGHT?”

Outcomes

Knowledge

Comprehension

Application

Analysis

Synthesis

Evaluation

Different levels of cognitive learning

…Bloom’s Taxonomy

Outcomes Exercise #1

Choose one central concept in your course

Identify one outcome for this concept in each of the 3 domains by completing the following statement

Students who have learned successfully in this course will be able to…..

Outcomes Exercise #2

Review your previously stated learning outcomes and analyze them in terms of the level of learning that they address

Outcomes Exercise #3

Write one learning outcome for your course for each of the following levels of learningAcquiring and integrating knowledgeRefining and extending knowledgeMeaningful application of knowledge

Students who learned successfully in this course will (be able to…..)

Instructional Strategies

Need to Know vs.

Nice to Know

•Varied activities•Learning complexity

Within:• module• course• programDifferentiatio

n

Integration

Structure

Some Assumptions:

We are designing for learning not for teaching.

120 hours/learning vs. 36 hours/teaching

“Students can learn without us being present and can learn material that we have not ‘covered’.”

Instructional Strategies -

Depends on your perspective: Teaching is…

1. Providing the students with an organizational framework with they can make sense of the course material.

2. The development of meaningful interactions between the instructor and the student

3. The transmission of information4. The promotion of conceptual change and

intellectual development in students

Instructional Strategies

Hear

Read

Write

Watch

Do

Instructional Strategies Exercise

Develop one instructional strategy for one of the learning outcomes you’ve determined for your course.

Teaching & Learning Activities

Course SyllabusRyerson Course Management Policy

http://www.ryerson.ca/~acadpol/current/pol145.pdf

About this session…

• I liked…..

• I wish…..

• I will use….