On this page you are provided with more details regarding how you may want to think through the development of a new program. Each of these elements carry a degree of importance to the overall development, implementation, and success of your program. We encourage units to take the time to explore each of these elements in their context. You can take the time to consider each of these elements as a group, or the Reinert Center would be happy to provide structured workshops that would lead you through thinking about each of them. Whatever the method you choose, we believe the time afforded this process will benefit learning for your students.
When thinking about developing a new program, one of the first steps we recommend is to look inward. Taking stock of preexisting programs and the roles of the faculty, staff and students.
Other things you may want to think about would be identifying your values. We recommend interrogating your place, and the place the new program may have in the university mission. Finally, think about who might be involved.
Knowing your students
As you are developing an idea of who you are, begin to focus on getting to know your students. What kinds of skills and dispositions would be required to be successful in a program? What Characteristics are you looking for in the students who will be successful. What are the skills and knowledge that are unique to your school or program of study?
Knowing your program
When developing a new program, some preliminary knowledge will begin to shape the program you want. Some of that knowledge may be whether external accreditation is required. If so, familiarizing yourselves with standards and competencies, structure or content requirements and such will be very helpful.
Also, thinking about the proposed infrastructure - personnel, faculty, support personnel and others - will help make both pedagogical and fiscal choices and estimations. Finding answers to questions regarding what competencies or potential content may be unique to the program offerings or overlapping with a preexisting program(s) that is already established will be useful.
Will this program result in a degree or certificate? Can your proposed infrastructure support it?
Finally, think about how these courses will be taught. Are there reasons for everything to be in-person or for everything to be online? Is there a reason for some things to be taught in one mode while other things are taught in another? What is the rationale for those pedagogical choices? Why are the assertions true? How would one mode or the other or a combination of the two be best for student learning?
Visioning and goal setting
Based on the work you have done prior to this step, this is the point to consider the overarching goals for your program. These may not be measurable, but are things you want to endure well after your students leave the program. Once goals are developed, you will need to identify objectives to outline how those goals will be met. Of course, as you have identified and developed your program goals and objectives, considering how you will know if you have met your objectives is an important activity. Developing a program assessment will allow you to determine how you have met your program objectives and afford you the opportunity to revise it in the future, based on data.
Meeting goals and objectives
After outlining the objectives for the program and an assessment plan thinking about topics and content that would be required is an important next step. From these discussions and planning sessions you may consider identifying course topics that are required to meet your goals, the goals of the program, the expectations of outside accreditors and those of the profession. This process may include codifying topics into groups that would eventually constitute courses.
Discussion about how these topics coalesce to form courses allows you to thoughtfully plan content to serve your students and their learning. Creating a curriculum map allows you to not only think though the sequencing of your courses, but also to determine how, when, and to what degree knowledge and skills are learned through the curriculum.
Developing Courses
Finally, there is course development. As with developing a program, we recommend a process of backward design for course development. That is, as you are thinking about each course, what do you want your students to learn that will endure after they've left the university. Course goals will differ from program goals, but serve the same purpose for the course. The process we recommend begins with identifying situational factors, developing course level goals and objectives, creating assessments and assignments, determining the course structure and mode, and a devising a grading system. Once complete consider again ensuring that each course is aligned with its place and purpose in the program by meeting objectives that contribute directly to achieving the goals of the program.