We begin with some learning theory.. don’t worry, we’ll make it short
There are two design approaches that we think will be useful in your course design:
Learner-Centered Teaching:
Learner-centred teaching matters because it shifts the focus from what we teach to what students actually learn. As Maryellen Weimer explains in her book Learner-Centred Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice, when students are actively engaged in the learning process, they develop deeper understanding and become more independent, confident learners. Rather than simply covering content, this approach helps students build the skills they need to think critically, apply their knowledge, and take more responsibility for their own learning.
Learner-centred teaching shifts focus from what instructors do to what and how students learn. Rather than viewing students as passive recipients of knowledge, this approach recognizes students as active participants who bring diverse experiences, needs, and ways of learning to the classroom.
Learner-centred teaching creates the conditions that help students engage, grow, and meet those standards from wherever they begin.
Read this 2-page summary, via UBC Library with your CWL:
Weimer, Maryellen. 2012. Five Characteristics of Learner-Centered Teaching. The Teaching Professor
Backward Design:
Developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, backward design is a three-stage process that starts with the end in mind. Rather than beginning with content or activities, you first identify desired learning outcomes, then determine how you’ll assess those outcomes, and finally plan learning experiences that prepare students for success. This approach matters because it ensures that all aspects of your course—objectives, assessments, and activities—are intentionally aligned to support meaningful and measurable student learning. You’ll see how satisfying this is as you work through the design process.
Watch this brief video on backward design (up to 3:50 mins):
Make Learning Relevant for Your Students
Help students see why content matters beyond passing your course:
- Connect concepts to current events or issues students care about
- Invite students to bring their own examples or applications
- Share why you find this content meaningful or exciting
- Design assignments around authentic tasks professionals actually do
- Ask students to reflect on how course content relates to their goals
Build on Your Students’ Prior Knowledge
Students learn new information by connecting it to what they already know:
- Start new topics by asking what students already know
- Address common misconceptions explicitly
- Use analogies and metaphors that connect to familiar experiences
- Activate relevant background knowledge before introducing new concepts
- Preview how new content connects to previous lessons
Here are concrete ways to implement backward design in your course design and teaching:
Backward Design
What would you like your students to be able to know, do, and appreciate at the end of the course?
- What are the “big ideas” that anchor this course?
- What skills will transfer beyond this course to other contexts?
- What activities will build progressively toward complex performance?
- How will you know students truly understand (vs. just memorized)?
- What do students need to practice to succeed on assessments?
Want to join a course design cohort?
The Centre for Teaching Learning and Technology (CTLT) hosts annual course design programming.
Consider joining the Journey into Course Design (a two-day workshop where you will explore the four stages of course design: reflecting on situational factors, writing learning outcomes, considering assessment options, and exploring instructional strategies to support learners), or the Course Design Intensive for faculty (a multiday course design program where you will will work in an a supportive atmosphere, both individually and collaboratively, to design or redesign a UBC credit course that you teach or are planning to teach.)
