2.0 Module Overview: Design Your Course

Designing my remote, in-person, or blended course: where do I start?

The OSU Center for Teaching and Learning promotes the very useful Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principle of "+1" in your teaching: one thing you are going to transform in the next few days, in the next week, etc.  If you are preparing your in-person, remote, or blended course with at least a few weeks notice, it's a good time to consider the design of your course as one of your transformation points (albeit a big one!) because you and your students will be more effective together if you focus in on what is most important in the course.

In this module, we describe backward design as a model for planning or revising a course. You may have heard the recommendation to start with the end in mind - the desired learning outcomes for your students. The reason we will begin with the intended end is that it will be easier to envision how to re-structure learning activities for a remote, in-person, or blended course, if you are focused on what students need to achieve.

target

Learning Objectives

 

By the end of this module, we hope you will be able to:

  1. Apply the backward design model to the planning or revision of your course. [PCD #3]
  2. Develop a balanced remote assessment plan that applies supports for academic integrity. [PCD #3]
  3. Plan a mix of synchronous and asynchronous activities that engage students in active learning by leveraging different types of interaction (student-to-content, student-to-instructor, and student-to-student) [PCD #4 and #8]
  4. Organize and design your own course using Canvas Modules. [PCD #5, #6, and #9]
  5. Update your syllabus to highlight for students some of the key elements of remote or blended learning. [PCD #1 and #2]

[Note: the related Principles for Remote and Blended Course Design and Teaching are listed after each learning objective.]

Additional Learning Objective for colleges that deliver labs:

6. Identify strategies for delivering labs or other hands-on activities with physical distancing or through a remote method [PCD #5, #7, and #8].

Table of Contents

2.1 Course Planning with Backward Design

2.2 Aligning and Developing Assessments

2.3 Assessment: Considerations and Options

ACTIVITY A: Practice Aligning Assessments to Learning Outcomes

2.4 Planning Learning Activities: Types of Interaction

2.5 Planning Learning Activities: Remote and Virtual Labs

ACTIVITY B: Mapping Out Synchronous and Asynchronous Interactions

2.6 Structuring Your Canvas Course Site

2.7 Organizing and Writing Your Syllabus

Finished here?

Click "Next" to move on to Course Planning with Backward Design.