Syllabus & Course Design
Designing your Course to Promote Student Learning
These are the handout notes from a workshop led by Laurel Willingham-McLain that examines key research findings on learning and applies these to designing a new course or revising a course that already exists. We will follow these steps:
1. Identify the learning results we expect from students
2. Determine the ways in which we would know what students have learned (evidence)
3. Select instructional strategies and resources to foster the desired learning
4. Create assignments that deepen students’ understanding and help them develop learning skills they can continue to apply after the course is over
5. Plan ongoing feedback to students on their learning
The workshop draws on previous CTE course design workshops, and also introduces the “Backward Design” model from Wiggins & McTighe’s book, Understanding by Design. Although not an assessment workshop, per se, this session will integrate sound assessment methods into course design.
Dee Fink provides an overview of course design: situational factors, goals, teaching and learning activities, feedback and assessment.
This document provides a quick check to be sure all the important information appears on your syllabus.