What is it?
Course design is more than selecting readings or drafting a syllabus. It is a purposeful process of aligning learning outcomes, assessments, and teaching and learning strategies to create a coherent and engaging learning experience. When a course is well aligned, students understand what is expected of them, engage more deeply with the learning, and view assessments as fair and relevant. However, when a course is misaligned, students may feel confused, disengaged, or even frustrated. Aligning the core elements of a course is, therefore, essential to successful course design.
A widely used approach to achieving alignment is backward design. This model encourages instructors to plan with the end in mind by:
- Identifying desired learning outcomes: What should students know, do, or value by the end of the course?
- Determining acceptable evidence: What assessments will demonstrate students’ achievement of those outcomes?
- Planning learning experiences and instruction: What activities and content will help students succeed in the assessments?
In addition to alignment, effective course design requires careful attention to context as your design decisions are shaped by a range of situational factors, including course context (e.g., class size, level, or modality), student characteristics (e.g., prior knowledge), instructor experience and teaching philosophy, and institutional or disciplinary expectations.
Considerations
As you design your course, consider the following areas as they influence how students experience and engage with your course.
- Accessibility: Design with accessibility in mind to support all students, including those with disabilities. Identify potential barriers and plan multiple ways for students to access content, participate, and demonstrate learning. For guidance, visit the Accessibility 101 and UDL Hub.
- Workloads: Set realistic expectations for yourself and your students. A three-credit undergraduate course typically involves eight to nine hours of total work per week, including in-class and out-of-class activities. Space out assessments to avoid workload peaks. Use the Student Course Time Estimator to help plan.
- Student engagement: Promote active learning by integrating strategies such as case studies, simulations, or problem-solving. Include opportunities for peer interaction and feedback.
- Technology integration: Leverage your Canvas course site, selecting only the tools that add clear value to the learning experience. Explore available tools and guides on the LT Hub website.
- Academic integrity: Clarify what academic integrity looks like in your course, including how generative AI tools may influence assessment design. For guidance, visit the Generative AI and AI in Teaching and Learning websites.
- Syllabus: Use your syllabus to communicate key elements of your course design. Access the Course Syllabus for templates and resources.
Where to start
The steps below are drawn from course design frameworks such as Constructive Alignment (Biggs, 1996), Understanding by Design (McTighe & Wiggins, 2012) (PDF), and Integrated Course Design (Fink, 2003) (PDF) to guide you through the course design process.
- Understand your teaching context:
- Course context (e.g., format, duration, level, class size, physical space)
- Student characteristics (e.g., prior knowledge, motivation)
- Instructor characteristics (e.g., experiences, teaching philosophy)
- Nature of the subject (e.g., convergent or divergent)
- Institutional and disciplinary expectations (e.g., accreditation requirements)
- Set clear and measurable learning outcomes:
- Define clear, essential learning outcomes by focusing on key concepts, skills, and values.
- Write from the student perspective, emphasizing what learners will do.
- Use measurable action verbs (e.g., analyze, create, evaluate) to ensure outcomes are specific, clear, and achievable by the end of the course.
- Determine assessments:
- Align assessments with learning outcomes.
- Provide multiple ways for students to demonstrate learning.
- Balance formative (ongoing) and summative (final) assessments.
- Provide rubrics or evaluation criteria.
- Plan learning experiences and instruction:
- Design activities that align with learning outcomes and prepare students for assessments.
- Determine instructional methods (e.g., case studies, problem solving, simulations) that promote engagement and deeper understanding.
- Provide clear instructions, scaffolding, and opportunities for practice to support student success.
- Organize and sequence lessons.
- Gather feedback, reflect, and modify:
- Seek input from colleagues, students, the CTLT or instructional support units.
- Plan for student feedback (e.g., mid-course surveys, informal check-ins) to identify what is working and what needs adjustment.
Go further
Explore the following programs, workshops and services to deepen your course design practice or get tailored support:
Articles
- Enhancing Teaching Through Constructive Alignment (Biggs, 1996),
- A Self-Directed Guide to Designing Courses for Significant Learning (Fink, 2003) (PDF)
- Understanding by Design Framework (Mctighe & Wiggins, 2012) (PDF)
Professional Development Programs
- Course Design Intensive for Faculty
- Instructional Skills Workshops for Faculty
- Introduction to Teaching Online
- Teaching Development Program for New Faculty
Workshops at UBC
Contact:
- Connect with the CTLT for tailored support.
Faculty story
Sheryda Warrener, Lecturer
School of Creative Writing
“In early iterations of my Introduction to Writing Poetry course, students expressed a need for more clarity and structure around assignments and outcomes. I appreciated this feedback, but didn’t yet know how to square this with my genre and discipline, which requires trust in the mysterious nature of the creative process. From the Course Design Intensive, I learned that design emerges from the articulation of a meaningful and unique core concept, and this concept becomes a generative force around which everything coheres, making it easy for learners to draw clear connections between subject matter, learning activities, course outcomes, and the relevance to their lives beyond the classroom. The reflective CDI activities helped me articulate the complexity of the practice of poem-making while honoring this need for transparency and alignment. I’ve since redesigned all my courses using this framework and find teaching across the board to be a much more pleasurable and rewarding experience.”
