Course Design Institutes

The Course Development Seminars in Teaching Excellence (STE) and EPIC Summer Institute (ESI) initiatives brought together faculty and graduate students to develop undergraduate courses from fields across the Humanities. Building upon the foundational work of the Mellon-EPIC Fellows from the Collaborative Humanities Track (STE), participants worked collaboratively across disciplines and levels of experience to workshop and produce syllabi for fully designed, ready-to-teach courses.

While the format for each initiative was different, they both emphasized the following learning outcomes:

• Practice aligning learning outcomes with course activities and assessments

• Develop/revise an assessment with equity and flexibility in mind

• Redesign portions of a syllabus to reflect more inclusive, student-centered language

• Consider active learning techniques to enhance student engagement and understanding

• Explore tools for providing meaningful feedback and opportunities for soliciting feedback on one's teaching

• Practice accessible use of Bruin Learn

Course Development Seminars in Teaching Excellence

EPIC Summer Institute (ESI) on Course Design

The 2022 EPIC Summer Institute (ESI) brought together faculty from the Humanities to participate in a week-long intensive program modeled on the Course Design STE to design their courses ahead of the academic year. The ESI took place September 6 – 9th remotely via Zoom.

Instructors were required to attend multiple daily sessions on topics like Backward Design and Equitable Access, as well as meet with their small groups led by a faculty facilitator to complete and give feedback on assignments. A benefit of attending the ESI is that the instructors got a head start on course design for the upcoming year, had access to resources and teaching materials, and formed connections with a learning community of instructors across the Humanities dedicated to inclusive and equitable teaching.

All participants from the Course Design STEs were asked to design a brand new syllabus, or update an existing one, based on the framework outlined above. Below are some examples of what they produced.