New Course Development and Course Revisions
What does the course development process look like at Algonquin College?
Our faculty at Algonquin College—both full-time and part-time—engage in the continuous enhancement of curriculum at various levels—program, course, and lesson—to ensure that our teaching and learning experiences are current, aligned with industry standards, and grounded by evidence-informed principles of teaching and learning in higher education.
In Academic Development at Algonquin College, and specifically in Learning and Teaching Services (LTS), we are committed to meeting faculty where they are at both conceptually and contextually throughout the curriculum making process. Our instructional designers and curriculum consultants work in collaboration and in consultation with our faculty members to build capacity for designing and facilitating engaging, equitable, inclusive, and accessible learning and teaching experiences. Throughout this process, we also partner with multiple constituents at the college, including chairs, program coordinators, and other service departments to ensure academic quality.
This process involves a clear alignment to academic standards and policies at Algonquin and is also informed by teaching and learning scholarship and research. In both individual consultations and through emerging Communities of Practice (CoP) groups, our team in LTS engages in curriculum-making, revision, and review with our faculty developers in the context of a variety of degree programs, diplomas, graduate certificates, and micro-credential offerings.
Courses at Algonquin College have various stages of design, development, and revision, which may include New Course Development, Annual Curriculum Review (ACR), Program Quality Review (PQR), and Program Modification (PM). The latter avenues (ACR, PQR, and PM) can range in the level of course development needed, from minor curriculum changes, adjusting course hours and curriculum, to fully creating a brand-new course.
For New Course Development, a full set of course content and resources need to be created. This means that any qualified professor will have everything they need to facilitate an engaging, high-quality, learner-centred course. Our team in Learning and Teaching services collaborates in partnership with course developers to ensure that the course uses evidence-informed principles of teaching and learning. A high-quality course includes the Course Outline, Learning Schedule (or Course Section Information), all assessments, weekly content, and a fully developed Brightspace course that also aligns with Algonquin College academic policies and quality assurance.