Course Design

When faced with the challenge of designing a course, you may find yourself having to build a totally new course from the ground up. This takes considerable research, planning and development. More often, though, we are faced with the challenge of revising an existing course. Although the curriculum development processes are similar for the two tasks, the steps involved can differ.

Designing a brand new course

Steps in New Course Design

There is no definitive sequence that must be followed in course design; however, there are certain steps that one can take that seem to build logically from each other.

1. If you are designing a vocational course, the first thing you will want to do is review the list of Vocational Learning Outcomes for your program. You must ensure that your new course validates at least one of your program's outcomes. Most program coordinators will have a list of the vocational learning outcomes for their program. You can also access the program standards, which will include the vocational learning outcomes, from the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities website.

2. When you first propose a new course, usually a course description is required, so this will often be where your writing begins. A good course description includes the following characteristics:

• is one paragraph in length
• includes the purpose, rationale or aim of the course
• provides an overview of the topics to be addressed
• describes some of the major learning and activities

Click here for more information about writing strong course descriptions.

3. Once you have the course description, you are ready to develop the course learning requirements. These are statements, beginning with an action verb that let students know what they will be able to demonstrate when they have successfully completed the course. In order to be demonstrable, the learning requirements must be measurable, durable, transferable and significant. For each course learning requirement, decide what key concepts and skills students will need to be able to demonstrate that outcome; this will lead to a list of Embedded Knowledge and Skills. The course learning requirements and the embedded knowledge and skills now form the content of your course. Your knowledge of the subject matter will help you to develop and sequence the material in a natural, logical manner. Learners need to be able to make connections between existing concepts and new learning, so the sequencing of material is a crucial part of the course design.

4. Once you have your content, you are ready to plan your course delivery. Lifesaver #10 - Planning Your Course Delivery will help you to get going on this part of the process. When developing your course learning materials, in-class activities, on-line activities (if necessary) and assignments, a key point to remember is to try to find material that will appeal to a variety of learning styles; this way all students can find something that works for them. This website gives one simple description of different learning styles. This website provides more theoretical information on learning styles and includes an interactive learning style test.

The following sections of the Professors' Resource Site may also be helpful for this stage in the process:

Using a Variety of Teaching and Learning Strategies

Creating Specialized Learning Materials

Assessing Student Performance

5. Once your course has been developed, in most cases, you will need to identify which of the 11 Essential Employability Skills are addressed in this course. See the Essential Employability Skills Lifesaver for more information. Click HERE for the Essential Employability Skills representative for your school

Revising an existing course

Revising an existing course is usually a simpler process than building a course from the ground; however, it still can require significant curriculum development. Keep in mind that if changes to your course are significant, it may be necessary to request a new course number.

Use the following checklist to review a course that requires revision:

• √    Does the plan for the new course still validate the same vocational learning outcomes (VLO)? Perhaps the new focus of the course might validate one or more new VLO or eliminate one or more existing VLO.
• √    Does the course description still adequately give students an overview of what to expect? Does it clearly provide the purpose, rationale or aim of the course? Does it list some of the topics to be discussed and describe some of the major learning and activities?
• √    Do the course learning requirements still clearly describe what learning students will able to demonstrate at the successful completion of the course? Are they written using strong action verbs? Are they measurable? Do they describe learning that is significant and durable?
• √    Is the list of embedded knowledge and skills (EKS) clearly linked to the course learning requirements? Does each EKS statement also start with a strong verb that describes the learning building blocks that help students to demonstrate the learning in the course learning requirement?
• √    Do the learning activities (both in-class and out-of-class) provide students with the most effective way to practice, review, apply or demonstrate their learning? Is there some variety of learning activities that will appeal to different learning styles? See the following website for a simple discussion of learning styles. This website provides more theoretical information on learning styles and includes an interactive learning style test.
• √    Are the assignments a fair and adequate reflection of students' learning? Do the assignments validate all the course learning requirements and essential employability skills identified for the course? Are there different ways for students to demonstrate their learning? Remember that any one assignment should not exceed 40% of the final grade. See Directive E1 for more information on evaluation of student learning.
• √    Are there learning resources (e.g., books, videos, websites, digital media) that students might find useful and accessible?
• √    Is the Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition component still appropriate? Does the learning that students have to demonstrate clearly connect with the learning that would have taken place during the course?
• √    Have you used the new template for Course Section Information?

Algonquin Course Design Resources

You may find some of the following resource materials helpful in your course design:

Lifesaver #2 - Writing Course Learning Requirements

Lifesaver #3 - Developing Course Outlines

Lifesaver #5 - Guidelines for General Education Courses

Lifesaver #10 - Planning Your Course Delivery

Directive E1 - Evaluation of Student Learning

Directive E11 - Grading System

Directive E33 - Course Outlines and Course Section Information

Directive E38 - Course Assessment

Other Course Design Resources

You can find lots of useful information on course design here at the University of Guelph’s Teaching Support Services.

Dr. L. Dee Fink, from the University of Oklahoma, lists Fink's Five Principles of Good Course Design.

Barbara Gross Davis, at the University of California at Berkley, offers some great tips for both developing and revising courses at this website.

Terry Doyle, from Ferris State University's Center for Teaching and Learning, leads readers through a step by step description (with examples) here of how to plan and design an effective college course.