How to Design Your Course

How to Design Your Course

1. Objectives should be specific and measurable. They determine which activities you choose, where you focus discussion, how you prioritize what to correct and what you put on your final exam.

2. look at all the readings, activities and assignments and make sure they relate to the big question(s) your course addresses.

3. A good teacher can break down a question, concept or skill into its component parts.

4. A great way to start is to look at how two different textbooks teach the same concept.

5. Planning backwards from specific course objectives makes planning individual lessons easier.

6. A challenge is that your students will rarely get as far as you planned.

7. communicate your expectations to your students.

8. A syllabus tells students exactly what they can expect from your course.

9. A textbook is written to meet the needs of as many hypothetical students as possible. Choose a good book.

10. Video can provide students with authentic material to observe, analyze and/or criticize.

11. Technology should only be used when it’s the best tool for the job.

12. Students don’t make constant, incremental progress. Teachers must create an environment that cultivates breakthroughs.

13. The best learning comes from the search for answers to the questions we care about ( line of inquiry).