Designing a Course to Enhance Learning: The Well-tempered Syllabus

Ed Neal, Director of Faculty Development in the UNC Center for Teaching and Learning

College teachers must make many difficult decisions when they plan their courses: What material should I cover (and what should I leave out)? What should I test and how? What methods of instruction should I use? How will I be sure that the students learned what I intended? This workshop will present an approach to course design that provides decision rules that solve many-if not most-of the problems associated with planning a college course. Participants will develop elements of a sample course design, discuss the implications of various planning decisions, and discuss the teaching and testing methods implied by their designs.