Course Design

Course design/redesign is an ongo­ing and iter­a­tive process. In this sec­tion, we explore ‘back­ward design’. Back­ward design is an edu­ca­tion­al frame­work that starts with iden­ti­fy­ing desired learn­ing out­comes before plan­ning instruc­tion­al meth­ods and assess­ments.

First, clar­i­fy what stu­dents should mean­ing­ful­ly know or be able to do by the end of the course. Con­tent serves the learning—not the oth­er way around. This means design­ing learn­ing out­comes. The pre­vi­ous sec­tion out­lines learn­ing out­comes: what they are, why they mat­ter, and how to write them.

Ask your­self:

  • What should stu­dents still under­stand months or years lat­er?
  • What ideas or skills trans­fer beyond this course?
  • What knowl­edge, skills, and attrib­ut­es do you want stu­dents to learn?
  • How will the above be artic­u­lat­ed in the course learn­ing out­comes?

Pri­or­i­tize depth over breadth.

Well-writ­ten out­comes:

  • Use clear action verbs (e.g., ana­lyze, design, jus­ti­fy)
  • Are observ­able and assess­able
  • Reflect the lev­el of think­ing appro­pri­ate to the course (intro­duc­to­ry → advanced)

Before plan­ning lec­tures or assign­ments, ask: What would count as con­vinc­ing evi­dence that stu­dents achieved the out­come? Assess­ments should direct­ly align with outcomes—not just be con­ve­nient to grade.

Avoid rely­ing on a sin­gle high-stakes assess­ment to sup­port diverse learn­ers.

Con­sid­er a mix of:

  • Low-stakes prac­tice
  • Applied tasks
  • Reflec­tion
  • Col­lab­o­ra­tion

Every major activ­i­ty should clear­ly answer:

  • How does this help stu­dents suc­ceed on the assess­ment?
  • Which learn­ing out­come does this sup­port?

If the con­nec­tion isn’t obvi­ous, stu­dents will struggle—and dis­en­gage.

Choose teach­ing strate­gies based on what stu­dents need to prac­tice, not what feels famil­iar to teach.

Ask:

  • What kind of think­ing do stu­dents need to rehearse?
  • Where do they typ­i­cal­ly strug­gle?

Active learn­ing, guid­ed prac­tice, and feed­back mat­ter more than pol­ished deliv­ery.

Back­ward design sup­ports clar­i­ty. Shar­ing the fol­low­ing with stu­dents through the course out­line sup­ports equi­ty and builds trans­paren­cy and trust.

  • Learn­ing out­comes
  • How assess­ments con­nect to those out­comes
  • What “good work” looks like

Learn­ing improves when stu­dents can:

  • Prac­tice
  • Receive feed­back
  • Try again

Design space for iter­a­tion, espe­cial­ly of com­plex or high-impact tasks.

When revis­ing an exist­ing course:

  • Iden­ti­fy out­comes that no longer fit
  • Remove or sim­pli­fy activ­i­ties that don’t align
  • Adjust assess­ments before adding new con­tent

Back­ward design is often about let­ting go, not adding more.

Back­ward design works best when paired with inclu­sive think­ing:

  • Are out­comes cul­tur­al­ly respon­sive?
  • Do assess­ments allow mul­ti­ple ways to demon­strate learn­ing?
  • Are bar­ri­ers antic­i­pat­ed and min­i­mized?

Back­ward design is iter­a­tive. Each time we teach a course, we need to reflect on the expe­ri­ence, ask­ing our­selves:  

  • What evi­dence showed real learn­ing?
  • Where did stu­dents strug­gle unex­pect­ed­ly?
  • What could align more clear­ly next time?

For more infor­ma­tion, click on Foun­da­tions of Course Design