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Designing and Redesigning Courses

There are many ways to design a new course and to approach a redesign of an existing course. This section is intended to give you some ideas for how to think about your course design and redesign.

Crafting and Revising Your Syllabus

The syllabus provides a vital function for your classes. It acts as the guide for what will happen over the semester, it represents a type of contract that outlines your expectations from your students and what your students should expect from you, and it is, in many ways, your chance to make a great first impression, as the syllabus is typically the first document that students will receive from you at the start of the semester. Due to the importance of the syllabus, we provide some links to help you both craft a syllabus for a new course and to offer ideas for how to revise a syllabus for an existing course.

Since your syllabus acts as a guide and a contract, it is important to spend time developing and fine-tuning this critical document. There are many websites that provide ideas for how to craft a new syllabus and also how to revise an existing syllabus. We would recommend checking out the following first

Innovations in Course Design

New ideas for how to think about course design appear in the news and blogosphere frequently. Below are a couple of innovations that appear to have some traction

  • Backward Design: A (relatively) new trend in course design is to implement what is called Backward Design, which involves designing a course in a way that starts with your learning goals first and works backward from there to develop the assignments and course structure.  For more details on backward design and how it can be used to help you develop or redesign your course, check out these resources from Georgetown University and Vanderbilt University. Also read past CTL Fellow Kathleen Archer‘s report on implementing backward design in one of her Trinity courses.
  • Flipped Classroom: The flipped classroom (also known as “peer instruction”) has garnered a lot of media attention recently. A flipped classroom occurs when students are asked to watch a video of a lecture and/or carefully read course materials outside of class –  and class time is then used interactively to help students synthesize and deeply understand the materials. For an excellent (and detailed) explanation of the flipped classroom, we recommend these resources from Vanderbilt University and the University of Texas. There is also a blog focused on the flipped classroom that can be accessed at http://blog.peerinstruction.net. Finally, click here for a one-minute video clip that defines the flipped classroom.

Creating a Course with a Community Learning Component

Due to Trinity’s urban location, some courses may be enhanced by incorporating a community learning component as a complement to the in-classroom experience.

The Center for Hartford Engagement and Research at Trinity College provides the following definition of community learning: “What is community learning? At Trinity, we define it as a type of experiential learning—an academic course in which the faculty member works in partnership with a person or group from the local community to involve students in an experience they could not get in the classroom alone. The learning goes both ways, as the students and community residents share knowledge.” To access a great resource from the Center for Hartford Engagement and Research for faculty members who would like to develop a community learning course at Trinity, please click here.

For a detailed explanation of community learning and why it can be a useful for engaging students in the classroom and beyond, you may want to review this resource from the Coalition for Community Schools.

To learn more about community learning and how other colleges and universities conceptualize community learning, please see the following websites from Johns Hopkins University and Carnegie Mellon University. When designing a community learning course, this comprehensive handbook from University of California – Berkeley may also be a useful resource.

Archive of “Teaching Tips” Related to Designing Courses

Strategies to Promote a Deep Approach to Reading
Teaching with Reading Journals
Reflection Exercise on a Course’s “Big Question”
Motivating Students to Do the Reading
What is Universal Design?
Types of Tests
Constructing Effective Exams
Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education
How to Design a Learner-Centered Syllabus