Map the Course Using
a Course Plan

How To

Organizing your course by week (or topic if it lasts more than a week) rather than by class meeting makes them less susceptible to disruption because you can plan for both synchronous and asynchronous approaches to communication and engagement. This also provides students a road map for how to navigate and be successful in the course.

Use this template (make a copy) to document your course design. The simple table helps you see the big picture of your course quickly and how each lesson builds upon others. It is much easier to redraft options in this document than in multiple pages and clicks in the course. You can also share this document with colleagues for review or to check how this course aligns with their content.

Tips

• Plan for engagement (student-student, teacher-student, and student-content), communication, community-building, and feedback (both students to faculty and faculty to students) that does not rely entirely on face-to-face meetings. 

• Balance the needs of the three learner types: traditional learners who value synchronous interactions, collaborative learners who appreciate peer-to-peer interaction and continuous dialogue with facilitators, and independent learners who prefer minimal direct interaction and opt to engage deeply with structured content on their own. Hierholzer, N. (2025, May 6). Balancing Learner & Educator Preferences in Digital Courses: Practical Strategies from the Field. Online Learning Consortium. 

• Provide the day assessments are due each week and keep the day consistent for that type of assessment (e.g., all quizzes due Saturday by 11 PM). The more consistency you have, the easier it will be for the student to understand.

• Prioritize synchronous engagement (in-person or Zoom) for activities that benefit most from interaction. Always have a Zoom back-up plan in in-person isn't an option. See this planning matrix from Carlton college as an example.

For a step-by-step guide, see Mapping your blended course in The Blended Course Design Workbook: A Practical Guide, by Kathryn E. Linder (2017). It is available through our library.