{"id":2527,"date":"2025-10-10T11:06:05","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T15:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/ctl\/?page_id=2527"},"modified":"2025-10-10T11:06:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T15:06:05","slug":"designing-and-redesigning-courses","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/ctl\/course-design-and-policies\/designing-and-redesigning-courses\/","title":{"rendered":"Designing and Redesigning Courses"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>Crafting and Revising Your Syllabus<\/h4>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/crlt.umich.edu\/gsis\/p2_1\">Creating Your Syllabus: University of Michigan<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cmu.edu\/teaching\/designteach\/syllabus\/\">Write or Revise Your Syllabus: Carnegie Mellon University<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=QJ7zzqU5ljM\">Preparing an Effect Course Syllabus: Northern Illinois University<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Innovations in Course Design<\/h4>\n<p>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<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Backward Design: <\/strong>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. \u00a0For more details on backward design and how it can be used to help you develop or redesign your course, check out these resources from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/commons.georgetown.edu\/teaching\/handbook\/backward-design\/\">Georgetown University<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/cft.vanderbilt.edu\/teaching-guides\/pedagogical\/understanding-by-design\/\">Vanderbilt University<\/a>. Also read past CTL Fellow Kathleen Archer\u2018s report on implementing backward design in one of her Trinity courses.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Flipped Classroom: <\/strong>The flipped classroom (also known as \u201cpeer instruction\u201d) 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 \u2013 \u00a0and 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\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/cft.vanderbilt.edu\/teaching-guides\/teaching-activities\/flipping-the-classroom\/\">Vanderbilt University<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/ctl.utexas.edu\/teaching\/flipping_a_class\/what_is_flipped\">University of Texas<\/a>. There is also a blog focused on the flipped classroom that can be accessed at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.peerinstruction.net\/\">http:\/\/blog.peerinstruction.net<\/a>. Finally, click\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;v=r2b7GeuqkPc\">here<\/a>\u00a0for a one-minute video clip that defines the flipped classroom.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Creating a Course with a Community Learning Component<\/h4>\n<p>Due to Trinity\u2019s urban location, some courses may be enhanced by incorporating a community learning component as a complement to the in-classroom experience.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/cher.trincoll.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Center for Hartford Engagement and Research at Trinity College<\/a>\u00a0provides the following definition of community learning: \u201cWhat is community learning? At Trinity, we define it as a type of experiential learning\u2014an 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.\u201d 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\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/cher.trincoll.edu\/community-learning\/faculty\/course-design\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>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\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.communityschools.org\/assets\/1\/AssetManager\/CBLFinal.pdf\">Coalition for Community Schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about community learning and how other colleges and universities conceptualize community learning, please see the following websites from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jhu.edu\/csc\/cbl.shtml\">Johns Hopkins University<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmu.edu\/teaching\/designteach\/teach\/instructionalstrategies\/servicelearning\/\">Carnegie Mellon University<\/a>. When designing a community learning course, this comprehensive handbook from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/publicservice.berkeley.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/Final-Cal-Corps-Engaged-Scholarship-Toolkit_Jan%202012.pdf\">University of California \u2013\u00a0Berkeley\u00a0<\/a>may also be a useful resource.<\/p>\n<h4>Archive of &#8220;Teaching Tips&#8221; Related to Designing Courses<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/ctl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/110\/2020\/06\/WEEK-2-Strategies-to-Promote-a-Deep-Approach-to-Reading.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Strategies to Promote a Deep Approach to Reading<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/ctl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/110\/2020\/06\/WEEK-2-Teaching-with-Reading-Journals.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Teaching with Reading Journals<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/ctl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/110\/2020\/06\/Week-2-Reflection-Exercise-for-First-Day-of-Class.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Reflection Exercise on a Course\u2019s \u201cBig Question\u201d<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/ctl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/110\/2020\/06\/WEEK-4-Motivating-Students-to-do-the-Reading.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Motivating Students to Do the Reading<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/ctl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/110\/2020\/06\/Week-5-What-is-Universal-Design-modified.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">What is Universal Design?<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/ctl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/110\/2020\/06\/Week-7-Types-of-Tests.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Types of Tests<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/ctl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/110\/2020\/06\/Week-6-Constructing-Effective-Exams.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Constructing Effective Exams<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/ctl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/110\/2020\/06\/Week-15-Seven-Principles-for-Good-Practice-abridged.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/ctl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/110\/2020\/06\/Week-15-How-to-Design-a-Learner-Centered-Syllabus.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">How to Design a Learner-Centered Syllabus<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":691,"featured_media":0,"parent":2231,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2527","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.5 (Yoast SEO v25.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Designing and Redesigning Courses - Center for Teaching and Learning<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/ctl\/course-design-and-policies\/designing-and-redesigning-courses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Designing and Redesigning Courses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Crafting and Revising Your Syllabus The syllabus provides a vital function for your classes. 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