Launched at the end of Fall term 2015, the Course Design Academy (CDA) is a student success initiative, a faculty development opportunity, and an investment in intentional design for key courses with the potential to substantially enhance student success. Funding has been allocated to support the redesign of a set of gateway courses that present special challenges to students. Redesigned courses began rolling out Fall term 2016.

The courses chosen for redesign have significant enrollment and hold substantial potential for improving student success through course and curriculum redesign. In addition to its initial focus, the third iteration of the CDA which began Winter term 2018 was partially supported by a grant from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) to promote high impact practices. CDA activities in the third cohort also included a focus on Transparent Assignment Design involving interdisciplinary teams of faculty, writing specialists, and librarians.

In AY 2019-20, the fourth CDA cohort featured a team of Computer Science instructors working together to redesign a three-course introductory series, an Environmental Science course, and a Communication course. The CDA has been on hiatus since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but is back on the books for the 2023-24 school year. The fifth cohort will involve courses emphasizing community engagement.

Check out this overview and request a CDA application to participate in this year's cohort. Read about CDA details for 2023-24.