Welcome

Welcome to Course Design, the first module of Promoting Instructional Excellence (PIE)! In this module, we’ll explore the first core value statement of the Teaching Excellence Framework: Strategic Course Design.

What is Strategic course design?

We design courses that are rigorous and relevant, aligning course objectives, content, and assessments with broader curricular goals to promote teaching excellence. We employ high-quality, relevant materials and create assessments that connect directly with learning outcomes, offering a cohesive and effective educational experience. Furthermore, our instructors prepare for teaching through drawing on the latest scholarship in their fields, bringing their pedagogical skills to engage students deeply and utilizing the best resources to advance the curriculum effectively. This approach guarantees that every course element advances our students’ learning and responds to the evolving demands of our disciplines.

Objectives

After you’ve completed this module, you will be able to:

• Apply the principles of Backwards Design to your course
• Align Student Learning Outcomes to course activities, assignments, and assessments
• Create a course map to use for designing or redesigning your course

Survey

Before we begin, let’s consider our starting point. Please answer the following four questions about your experience.

Note, responses are not recorded.

Designing, or redesigning, a course happens over time and depends on the developer’s level of readiness and the format of the materials.

Click the bars in the interaction below to learn more about the timeline for designing a course.