Design Worksheets
Design Worksheets
Various worksheets have been designed to guide your course design work.
Your Big Dream — What do you hope for on your students' behalf? How will your course prepare them to act in the future?
A Situational Analysis of your course allows you to identify the key characteristics of the course, your learners, your discipline, and yourself as an instructor. Identifying these factors in context of how the course aligns with institutional and program outcomes is essential to the design process.
Drafting Significant Learning Goals is one of the most inspiring aspects of course design work. Choose at least two types of significant learning goals — for best results, address all six types.
The "Three-Column Worksheet" allows you to determine how you'll assess your students' proficiency for each of the significant learning goals you've identified. Once you've identified the means of assessment, you will specify the learning activities that will provide students opportunities to develop and practice their knowledge and skills. Look for alignment back across each row: does each learning activity support the means of assessment, and does each assessment clearly align to your significant learning goal? (See this example.)
The Activity Sequencing Diagram provides an overview of teaching and learning activities throughout the term, enabling you to balance the work flow and ensure that activities and assessment are aligned throughout the course. See how to complete this form.
Use this template as a starting point for fine-tuning one (or more) of your key assignments.
Peer review, ideally conducted by a "disciplinary stranger" (that is, someone who's not in your field) is a key tenet of the transparent assignment design protocol. Provide this peer review form to your colleague along with a copy of your assignment — and let the feedback begin!