Teaching Essentials: Course Design Lab

Are you working on a brand-new course ‘from scratch’ or undertaking a complete course re-design? At times, this can be a bit of a lonely endeavour not to mention an additional task to your ever-expanding responsibilities. This ‘design lab’ has a very practical purpose: To provide time and space for you to work on your own individual course.

A bit more specifically, we aim to:

1. Reserve dedicated time in your agenda to simply work on your (new) course design. Using several core design steps, the goal is to end the day with a possible concept for your course. Depending on your starting point, this could be just an initial plan or a finalised version.
2. Design your course alongside fellow academics and an educational advisor. Use the group to think along some ideas and at the end of the day, receive feedback on your initial designs.

To this end, the format (and outcomes) of the day are quite simple: work in a loosely-guided course design process and conclude the day by pitching (and receiving feedback) on your designs. Be ready to both receive and give input! It might be helpful to note that In this UG-wide format, the group will be from different faculties and fields. When designing a learning process, this is an added strength; it helps us stay focused on a clear learning design, and not only on the subject content of what we teach.

To be clear of what to expect, the activities will be as follows:

1. Brief introduction of design language and a reminder of key accreditation guidelines.

2. Get started with a design framework to think through your entire course.

3. Create a visual concept map of your course design.

4. Pitch your designs and receive feedback from your peers.

Throughout the day, an educational advisor will be present to help think along or answer any questions you may have.