Course Design Heuristic

Designing a course is a significant task, but following a proven strategy can help. The following design questions are listed here in one possible order of completion. Please feel free to start wherever you are most comfortable. Just be sure to check all new input against your existing input to ensure that your ideas are complementary, not contradictory. Your goal is to create an integrated course design.

Setting the Context: Situational Factors

  • What is the context of the course? (i.e., required or elective course, fit within the larger curriculum, professional accreditation requirements) What makes it different from other courses in your department/area?
  • Who are your potential students? (i.e., background knowledge, experience, interests, expectations about course and how it is taught, etc.)
  • How many students will you have? Do you consider this to be a large class?
  • What kind of learning space might you have? (i.e., classroom, lab, fixed or movable furniture, available media equipment)
  • Where else have you taught and at what level? What was the learning environment like there? How does this new one differ, if at all?
  • What are your strengths as a teacher? What are your targets for change?

Assessing Your Teaching Philosophy

To assess yourself as an instructor, please complete the following prompt. Indicate, in an ideal situation, what you do (or would like to do) when teaching this course and why. The “what” reveals teaching strategies and the “why” reveals your philosophy, your beliefs about teaching and learning. Generate 4-8 brief responses.

“When I teach, I (would) ________ because _______"

For example: When I teach, I encourage students to ask questions because it allows me to assess their understanding of the material, helps to establish an open classroom environment, and builds their confidence in their own knowledge and analytical skills.

Setting Initial Course Learning Goals

Now work on setting 4-6 overarching goals for your course and your students’ learning. These are not your plans for you will do, but rather your plans for your students. Try to be as specific as possible and focus on what your students will be able to do, know, or feel by the end of the course. Learning implies change. How will your students be different? What will they have learned? It is often much more than just course content. Avoid only using words such as “understand” and “appreciate.” Instead, use stronger action words such as “explain,” “compare,” or “evaluate.” Use the following prompt to help you:

“By the end of my course, the students will________”

For example: By the end of my workshop, the students will have started to design their own course.

Selecting Feedback & Assessment

What would the students have to do to convince you that they had learned what you wanted them to learn?
Check your goals carefully to ensure that you are assessing them. Consider giving both ungraded, dialogue-based feedback and graded assessment. Also consider if you can work in student self-assessment (your assessment criteria need to be clear and illustrated to the students).

Choosing Teaching & Learning Activities

What would have to happen during the course for the students to do well on the Feedback & Assessment activities?
Consider what amount of hearing, talking, reading, writing, looking, and doing is sufficient, required, and possible, and create a mix of activities to facilitate this. Your students are not necessarily the same as each other (or you), so varying your methods should be helpful to them.

Evaluating Your Course

During your course, consider soliciting feedback on your teaching from your students, a peer, or a teaching consultant. Once you have an idea of your course’s strengths and targets for change, you can assess these and consider what you can reasonably change while the students are still in your course. Also, consider keeping a teaching journal for each course in which you record your own impressions of each class and the course in general. Keeping such records makes course revisions, and future offerings of the same course, much easier to do.
At the end of term, you will also receive course evaluations from your students. Read them and focus on more than the quantitative data. Analyze the qualitative data for trends, and use those as benchmarks to learn about your course. Course evaluations can provide very useful data to help you hone your teaching, but avoid focusing only on the negative or taking the comments too personally. Celebrate your strengths and reflect on the areas for improvement.

More Resources

To find more questions to consider for the various elements of course design, see the CTE Teaching Tip Sheet “Designing a Course: Questions to Ask.”

Selected Bibliography

All of these can be found in the CTE library, MC 4051.

  • Bean, J.C. (1996). Engaging Ideas: The Professor's Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. (PE1404.B35)
  • Davis, B.G. (1993). Tools for Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. (LB2331.D37)
  • Diamond, R.M. (1998). Designing & Assessing Courses & Curricula (revised ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. (LB2361.5.D5)
  • Fenwick, T. & Parsons, J. (2000). The Art of Evaluation. Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing. (LB3051.F46)
  • Fink, L.D. (2003). Creating Significant Learning Experiences. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. (LB2331.F495) (or go online: http://www.ou.edu/idp/significant/index.htm)
  • Forsyth, I., Jolliffe, A. & Stevens, D. (1999). Delivering a Course: Practical Strategies for Teachers, Lecturers and Trainers (2nd Edition); Evaluating a Course: Practical Strategies for Teachers, Lecturers and Trainers (2nd Edition); Planning a Course: Practical Strategies for Teachers, Lecturers and Trainers (2nd Edition); Preparing a Course: Practical Strategies for Teachers, Lecturers and Trainers (2nd Edition). London: Kogan Page Limited. (LB1025.3.F67)
  • Lowman, J. (1995). Mastering the Techniques of Teaching. 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. (LB2331.L68)
  • Lovell-Troy, L. & Eickmann, P. (1992). Course Design for College Teachers. New Jersey: Educational Technology Publications. (LB2331.L67)
  • Maki, P.L. (2004). Assessing for Learning: Building a Sustainable Commitment Across the Institution. Sterling: Stylus Publishing. (LB2366.2.M35)
  • Menges, R.J. & Weimer, M. (eds.). (1996). Teaching on Solid Ground. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. (LB2331.T418)
  • Neff, R.A. & Weimer, M. (eds.). (1990). Teaching College: Collected Readings for the New Instructor. Madison, Magna Publications, Inc. (LB2331.T33)
  • Newble, D. & Cannon, R. (1995). A Handbook for Teachers in Universities and Colleges: A Guide to Improving Teaching Methods (3rd Edition). London: Kogan Page Limited. (LB2331.N43)
  • Pregent, R. (1994). Charting Your Course: How to Prepare to Teach More Effectively. Madison, Magna Publications, Inc. (LB2331.P6813)
  • Walvoord, B.E. & Anderson, V.J. (1998). Effective Grading: A Tool for Learning and Assessment. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. (LB2368.W35)
  • Weimer, M. (1993). Improving Your Classroom Teaching. London: Sage Publications. (LB2331.W38)