Course (Re)Design Seminar
The course (re)design seminar engages participants in the process of aligning learning outcomes, learning strategies and learning assessment in their courses. It is a hands-on, intensive seminar with key features of peer discussion and critique, systematic reflection and the identification of basic assumptions regarding course design and student learning.
Mapping Out Your Course:
This initial activity helps participants to sort, define and organize the major themes and concepts to be included in their course. The visual representation provides a blueprint for the redesign activities to follow. Participants also gain an understanding of how to use concept maps in their course to support student learning.
Learning Outcomes:
In the second step of the process, participants develop clear and specific learning outcomes that are consistent with the subject matter of the course and the preparedness of the students. Learning outcomes are defined as the knowledge, intellectual skills, and dispositions that instructors expect that students will gain in their redesigned course. To enable participants to write these outcomes, there are discussions to clarify the processes associated with learning. Learning outcomes help students understand what is expected in the course and can establish the relevance of a course to their particular program of study.
Learning Strategies:
Based on the learning outcomes that have been identified for their course, participants begin the process of choosing specific teaching methodologies that will enable their students to attain the learning outcomes that have been stated. Participants are also introduced to various instructional technologies that could be of use to enable their students to learn. A key feature encouraged in choosing learning strategies is learner engagement and the building of learning communities.
Learning Assessment:
Assessing student learning is one of the most complex tasks in course design. In this step of the redesign process, participants are introduced to different models of assessment and to the concept of alignment between learning outcomes and assessment strategies. Participants develop an assessment strategy for their course.
Last reviewed 
9/10/2010 1:42:38 PM
