Course Design Intensive for Faculty

Are you designing a new course entirely or hoping to redesign an existing course? Design or re-design your course now, by participating in the Course Design Intensive (CDI).

What is the CDI?

An intensive program, where you will work in a supportive atmosphere, both individually and collaboratively, to design or re-design a course that you teach or are planning to teach.

Throughout the workshop, participants will acquire a broadened understanding of course design concepts, and will gain skills and tools they can apply to their own course. Ultimately, the goal of the CDI is to support instructors as they work to enhance their students’ learning.

Program goals

The purpose of a well designed course is to support learning. As such, strong course design is learner centered. While many variables influence course design, alignment between learning outcomes, assessment approaches, and teaching and learning activities is the backbone of a well designed course.

During the 3-day Course Design Intensive (CDI), you will be designing or revising a course using principles of a learner-centred approach.

By the end of the CDI, you will be able to:

  1. Design or re-design a learner-centered course.
  2. Apply principles of alignment to your course.
  3. Determine various learning activities and assessment strategies that best support your course learning outcomes.
  4. Engage in peer learning as a means of iterating and refining your course design.

The Big Idea for the CDI is that course design both influences and is influenced by learning.

Format of the CDI

The CDI is a week-long workshop, where we meet for three of the days, giving you some space in-between meetings to continue working on your course design (either in group, in consultation, or on your own). The online offering will follow this schedule, with a blend of synchronous and asynchronous learning activities held throughout the three days.

The CDI takes a “flipped” approach to course work, and you will be asked to complete pre-work prior to the first day of the workshop, so that learning done on your own can be further developed in discussion together. You will also be required to continue to work on your course design plans and complete homework prior to each day of the workshop sessions.

Who is it for?

This workshop is for UBC faculty members who have full responsibility for an academic, (for-credit) course. That course can be face-to-face, blended, or online. PhD students and postdoctoral scholars may be eligible to participate provided they have full responsibility for an academic (for-credit) course at UBC.

Non-UBC faculty members are eligible; however, they will be charged a non-refundable participation fee of $600. Please contact the CDI coordinator, Sue Hampton, at susan.hampton@ubc.ca, to explore your participation in the CDI.

Registration

Spring 2023 (online)

The workshop will take place online the week of June 15-22, 2023. There are three mandatory sessions that run from 9am until 4pm each day. Attendance is required. The three mandatory meeting dates are:

  • Thursday, June 15
  • Tuesday, June 20
  • Thursday, June 22

The online CDI is a blend of synchronous and asynchronous components. The CDI relies on the active participation of all learners who, as a team, collaborate to support each other in enhancing their course design. Synchronous sessions will take place through Zoom, and there are parts in the day where participants will work on their own (asynchronously).

Participants are requested to clear out their schedules for as much of the week as possible in order to progress on their course plans alongside the rest of the cohort.

Apply here