7 Approaches to Course Design

This week, I would like to share a recent Inside Higher Ed article by Mintz entitled, "7 Innovative Approaches to Course Design." In this article, the author shares two foundational approaches to design an effective course, Backward Design (BD) and Learner-Centered Course Design (LCCD). Backward Design offers the best way to ensure that a course has clearly specified learning outcomes (LOs) aligned with authentic assessments and active instructional methods. The author reminds us of the challenges, such as the difficulty of creating measurable, higher level LOs; the time consuming nature of effective assessments; and how most of us have commonly used lecture as the major teaching approach. Also, BD may not account for the wide variance of students differences.

Alternatively, a LCCD begins with an analysis of the learners, their needs, characteristics, expectations and prior knowledge, and the constraints on learning. After analysis, this instructor creates the LOs and offers well-aligned instructional strategies. It is then followed by design, development, implementation and evaluation phases. However, this approach places a heavy burden on the instructor, who must develop activities aligned with the students’ needs.

The author suggests integrating one or more of the following Approaches:

Inquiry-Based transforms students into investigators and helps them develop the ability to formulate meaningful questions, solve problems, interpret data and other forms of evidence, and participate in the creation of knowledge. This approach places students at the center of the learning process, it foregrounds research skills and higher-order thinking skills, and it helps students achieve conceptual understanding.

Case Study-Based organizes around a series of crises, pivotal incidents, critical junctures, legal cases, and other real-world scenarios where the students can study the decision-making process, the societal or professional response to a dilemma, past precedents for current events, societal and cultural change over time, and shifts in public values or in scientific understanding. Student engagement in authentic problem solving is the key.

Decoding the Discipline introduces students to the methods, skills and interpretive techniques used by scholars in the field. This skills-based approach familiarizes students with how experts within a discipline collect and analyze data; understand causality; interpret a graph, a text, a document or evidence.

Interdisciplinary integrates serious intellectual attention bridging disciplines such as conflict resolution, the environment and sustainability, health care, human rights, and social inequality.

Gamification attends to the goal of education, practice and skills development. There are role-playing games, simulations and immersive virtual environments. This approach includes achievement levels, interaction, competition and timely feedback.

Policy-Oriented systematically addresses policy design and delivery. Students undertake policy research, data analysis, policy planning and formulation, policy implementation, and policy assessment. This approach almost inevitably leads students to understand the technical, political and organizational barriers to change, theories of change and the role of stakeholders in policy decisions.

Project-Based Learning (PBL) substitutes process and product or performance for outcomes. This “show us what you know” approach assesses learning not by homework, quizzes, etc. but rather authentically: by a tangible result, typically an artifact. Scaffolding is key to the success of PBL. A project needs to unfold in stages with clear deadlines, guidance and frequent feedback.