Course Design Institutes
What is a Course Design Institute?
Course design institutes, sometimes referred to as a course development institute, is a multi-day, immersive experience aimed to aid the faculty to design (or redesign) one or more courses. The goal of such institute is to create courses for significant learning— that is learning that changes the students' lives. To design courses in which all elements of significant learning, including outcomes, evaluations, and activities, align to produce lifelong results, the Institute gathers faculty members for in-depth guided discussions, practical workshops, and working sessions.
Learning Objectives
After completing this section, participants will be able to:
Recall the importance of building CDIs
Recall the concept of backward course design
Identify the gaps that could be adressed by adopting a CDI in their institutional context
Backward Course Design
Based on the work of Wiggins and McTighe in their seminal work Understanding by Design, with some influence of Fink's Creating significant learning experiences: an integrated approach to designing college courses, the backward course design approach forces the faculty to step back from a content-driven teaching model to consider the underlying student learning outcomes. Backward design involves a 3 stage process: identifying desired results, determining acceptable evidence, and planning learning activities.
Another way of thinking about the designing process would include considering the following questions:
— How will my students be different after the course? (goals)
— How will I know they have changed (final assessment)
— What must students be able to think/do to succeed at that assessment ? (learning outcomes)
— What must the students do to be able to reach those outcomes? (activities, lectures, homework, etc.
This diagram licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 by the Indiana University Course Development Institute (Kurz, L., Metzler, E., & Rehrey, G.)
Want to learn more about the process of backward course design? Visit Indiana University— Bloomington's Backward course design page.
Why do you need a CDI?
Benefit of building CDIs, how the administrators can support them
Long-term, high-impact on both the courses and the faculty members involved, including knowledge of learning theory, course design skills, and improved attitudes toward teaching. (See Meixner, et al)
Research shows multi-day events like this are more transformative than one-time workshops (see Gravett, E. O., & Broscheid, A. (2018). Models and genres of faculty development. In B. Berkey, C. Meixner, P. M. Green, & E. A. Eddins (Eds.), Reconceptualizing faculty development in service-learning/community engagement: Exploring intersections, frameworks, and models of practice (pp. 85–106). Stylus.); See also Hurney, C. A., Brantmeier, E. J., Good, M. R., Harrison, D., & Meixner, C. (2016). The faculty learning outcome assessment framework. Journal of Faculty Development, 30(2), 69–77.
Cross-disciplinary teams can build community around improved teaching
For more on assessment of CDIs, see Palmer, M. S., Streifer, A. C., & Duncan, S. W. (2016). Systematic assessment of a high impact course design institute. To Improve the Academy, 35(2). https://doi.org/10.3998/tia.17063888.0035.203
Questions to Consider for Senior Leadership
How might participating in CDIs be acknowledged, incentivized, and/or rewarded?
See the Incentive section for details and suggestions
What resources can we bring to this multi-day event?
minimal is food and materials support; funding participation is extra. How can you make the CDI more successful?
What expertise can we bring to the CDI?
You can bring in instructional design experts, instructional technology experts, and experienced previous alumni. Are there other experts who could bring valuable information to the table? How will these individuals be funded? Do you need outside assistance with offering the first year of the CDI?
What follow-up can we support to ensure implementation?
Following a summer CDI with a Faculty Learning Community in the following academic year improves implementation of key pedagogical principles and allows for ongoing revisions of the course, since that first redesign is rarely perfect.
Are there certain courses that we want to see redesigned?
Certain courses might get particular invitations to the CDI, or funded to participate. Is that all you want to focus on? will the CID be an open-call opportunity for anyone to participate in? CDI can be tailored to certain campus needs, such as introducing active learning into large gateway courses, reducing failure rates in STEM courses, etc.
Further Reading
Meixner C, Altman M, Good MR, Ben WE, Altman M, Good M. Longitudinal impact of faculty participation in a course design institute (CDI) faculty motivation and perception of expectancy, value, and cost. To Improv Acad. 2021; 40; 1: 49-74. 10.3998/tia.959
Palmer, M. S., Streifer, A. C., & Duncan, S. W. (2016). Systematic assessment of a high impact course design institute. To Improve the Academy, 35(2)