Section 3

Course Design Materials

Designing courses is an integral part of any faculty member's job; however, few beginning instructors have much, if any, experience doing so. With some guidance and a little practice, any instructor can successfully design courses which lead to significant learning experiences for his or her students. The materials you develop for this section of the Dossier will provide the practice, and the resources listed below--all available at the TRC--will serve as a guide. Moreover, you'll create documents you can include in a teaching portfolio or distribute during a job interview as well as ones you can use to teach your own classes.

Course Design Materials
For a course you are currently teaching or would like to teach, prepare the following documents:

• a list of learning objectives
  
• an example of classroom/student assessment (e.g., a homework or paper assignment, exam, classroom assessment technique such as a "one-minute paper" or "background knowledge probe")
  
• learning activities
  
• syllabus
  
• discussion/lecture notes or an annotated plan for a day's or unit's lesson
  For this section, it is not necessary to design an entire course from start to finish, but representative materials from each of the above categories are required.

Course Design Resources

Binders:
Course Design (relevant articles from the literature)
Syllabus (sample syllabi from various disciplines)

Books:
Angelo, Thomas and K. Pamela Cross. Classroom Assessment Techniques.
    Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, 1993.
Diamond, Robert M. Designing and Assessing Courses and Curricula, Jossey-Bass:
    San Francisco, 1998.
Fink, L. Dee. Creating Significant Learning Experiences, Jossey-Bass: San Francisco,
    2003. (A "Self-Directed Guide" based closely on the book is accessible online.)
Grunert, Judith. The Course Syllabus: A Learning-Centered Approach , 1997.
Wiggins, Grant and Jay McTighe. Understanding by Design, Merrill Prentice Hall:
    Columbus, 2001.

Videos:
Della Coletta, Cristina. Designing the Syllabus for Your New Course, 2000.
Fink, L. Dee. Designing Courses that Help Student Learn: Creating Courses for More Powerful Student Learning, 2004.
Little, Deandra. Building Your Course Back to Front, 2004.
Neal, Ed. Designing A Course To Enhance Learning: The Well-Tempered Syllabus, 2001.