Key Takeaways

1. Align content and assessments to course learning objectives

2. Evaluate the quality of your course design

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Studies show that misalignment between course learning objectives, instructional activities, and assessments is the leading cause of poor student outcomes. A poor learning design will result in a poor learning experience for both the students and the instructor.

When considering design principles in an emergent situation, reviewing course learning objectives as appropriate for the situation, clearly communicating any changes, and providing course content and materials around those stated outcomes is the most important step. If the course becomes available online for a longer term (or permanently), you can focus on designing your course around objectives from the beginning, and consider enhancing and optimizing course objectives to set yourself and your students up for success.

Aligning Learning Goals and objectives with both Teaching & Learning Activities and Feedback/Assessment


Beginner

Review and Communicate Your Learning Objectives: Focusing the design of your course around well-written and measurable learning objectives/outcomes helps both students and instructors by providing a structure for the course and clear goals.


Intermediate

Quick option: Align content and assessments to learning objectives/outcomes 

In-depth option: Use your learning objectives to create a “map” of your course that shows an outline of the associated course content and learning objectives. Mapping your course provides a template to organize content and design for an effective teaching and learning experience.

Advanced

Evaluate your course design standards using this checklist.  Evaluating quality is an essential part of continuous improvement, and using tools such as the Scorecard helps ensure that your course is in alignment with current best practices.




Last modified: Monday, July 6, 2020, 1:25 PM