Course (re)Design Series
Are you designing a new course or revising an existing one? The Course (re)Design Series will guide you through the creative process of developing a course design while enhancing teaching skills that are applicable to any course. Throughout this series, you will analyze influences on course design, develop engaging learning activities, create authentic and reliable assessments, and explore high-quality feedback for learners. Reflect on your teaching practice and share ideas, challenges, and strategies with colleagues in a supportive and collaborative environment.
The Course (re)Design Series requires a 12-hour engagement over 6 weeks. Full-time faculty should be allocated Standard Workload Formula (SWF) hours with a constraint. A timetable constraint is automatically applied by the Registrar’s Office. Other-than-full-time faculty (OTFT) will be paid the hourly meeting rate ($25/hr) by Learning and Teaching Services for their participation and completion of the series . Participants receive a certificate upon successful completion.
Learning Outcomes
After successfully completing this program, participants will be able to
- Analyze personal, cultural, and disciplinary understanding of teaching and learning to determine their influence on teaching practice.
- Reflect on how designing with equity, diversity, accessibility, and inclusion in mind promotes student success and humanizes teaching and learning.
- Explore and apply educational technologies that enhance learner engagement across diverse learning environments using multiple modalities.
- Use a variety of evidence-informed resources to inform, develop, and refine high-quality, learner-centred lesson plans, assessments and feedback.
- Design aligned assessments and activities that support significant, deep learning experiences and achieve learning outcomes.
- Integrate quality standards and institutional policies into course design and redevelopment.
Sessions
Session 1: Reflective Practice in Course (re)Design
Reflection is an integral to teaching and learning. In the first session, new and experienced instructors are invited to reflect on their teaching practice. We’ll identify opportunities and challenges within the course development process, consider strategies to humanize learning environments, and explore accessible and inclusive teaching strategies to support and engage all students.
Session 2: Foundations of Course Design
What are your design goals? In this session, we consider the various factors that influence course design. You will plan learning activities and assessments that support the achievement of the learning outcomes.
Session 3: Designing Assessments
What constitutes acceptable evidence that students have achieved the learning outcomes? This session explores the accuracy, validity, reliability and equity of assessments. We discuss the advantages and limitations of various assessment formats and choose strategies that align with your teaching goals. You will develop an authentic assessment that allows students to demonstrate their learning and define marking criteria that describe qualitative differences at each level of achievement.
Session 4: Enhancing Teaching with Active Learning
Interested in adding new activities to your repertoire of teaching strategies? This session explores a variety of active learning methods to create an engaging and inclusive learning experience. We discuss the practical considerations of integrating active learning into your teaching practice and explore how these strategies can be adapted for various disciplines and teaching contexts. You will develop an active learning strategy to teach a key concept in your course and exchange feedback with your peers to further refine your plans.
Session 5: Designing with GenAI in Mind
Generative AI tools are increasingly changing how we work and learn. How might you use tools such as CoPilot and ChatGPT to support your assessment design process? What are the opportunities and considerations for student use of GenAI in your assignments? You will try out simple ways to use GenAI as your instructional design assistant. You will also explore design ideas to support students to use GenAI intentionally, responsibly, and transparently in their assignments.
Session 6: Portfolio Presentations
The Course (re)Design Series provides time and space to reflect on your teaching challenges in a highly supportive, collaborative environment. In the final session, you will share an element of your course design with peers and engage in collaborative brainstorming for improvement while emphasizing the importance of reflection and community for enhancing teaching and learning experiences.
Frequently Asked Questions
Am I eligible to enroll in the Course (re)Design workshop series?
Contact your department Chair to determine your eligibility. With approval from your Chair, this workshop may be included in your Standard Workload Formula (SWF) for full-time faculty. Other-than-full-time faculty (OTFT) will be paid meeting rate for completing the series.
Can I participate if I’m not currently developing or redesigning a course?
Yes, you can. If you are not currently developing a course, you can select a course you have previously taught or are currently teaching to use as an example for the practical activities.
Will the sessions be offered in-person or online?
Sessions 1 and 6 are offered as synchronous in-person. Sessions 2 to 5 are synchronous online with facilitated discussion and feedback in small groups.
What is the expected time commitment for completing the program?
Each workshop session is two hours. In addition to attending the workshop sessions, participants will complete assignments independently.
Can I miss a session and still complete the program?
If you are unable to attend a session, please let us know. You will be given an opportunity to make up the session the next time the series is offered.