Course Design Process 101

The first step in the Backward Design framework is to create your learning objectives. These statements reflect what you want students to know or be able to do at the end of instruction. 

 Goal, Objective, Outcome? The terms goals, objectives, and outcomes are often used interchangeably which can lead to confusion.

• Goals refer to a broader view of what you want your students to achieve.  
• Objectives refer to the steps students need to reach the learning goal
• Outcomes are what students actually achieve based on assessment evidence (Barkley & Major, 2016).

You will come across different definitions for these terms. It can be confusing but our best advice is to not get caught up in semantics. Until there is a better consensus among educators, we will refer to these statements as learning objectives. 

• Learning objectives (LO) contain a measurable verb, knowledge and/or skill and additional supporting or clarifying details as needed. Creating LOs  is an iterative process and it is likely you will need to refine them as you develop your instruction. 
• Two popular frameworks used to create learning objectives are Bloom’s Taxonomy and Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant learning. 

View our Creating Learning Objectives Self-Paced Resource Guide for a step by step overview of how to create learning objectives. 

After you drafted specific and measurable learning objectives, the next step in the course development process is to develop your assessments.  These assessments should align with your course learning objectives and give students the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned. 

Consider the following two questions at this step:

1. How will I know if students have achieved the desired results?

2. What will I accept as evidence of student understanding and proficiency?

There are two types of assessments you can incorporate in your course.

• Formative Assessment:  occurs while learning is taking place. The goal is to make immediate modifications/improvements to the teaching and learning experience when warranted. Typically these tasks are not graded or points are granted for participation.
• Summative Assessment: occurs at the end of a unit, course, or program. The goal is to document student learning and use results for future modifications/improvements for the next cohort of students taking the course.

For examples of measurable verbs and aligned assessments, view our Bloom's Assessment Verbs reference sheet. 

For more information about Course Assessment, visit the Academic Assessment portion of our website. 

Now that you have determined what you want students to know or be able to do (learning objectives) and created ways for students to demonstrate what they have learned (assessments), the final step is to provide the instructional resources and activities that align with your objectives and assessments.

These resources give students opportunities  for practice and feedback so they can successfully complete the assessments. Instructional resources and activities can also be used as formative assessments.

Active Learning

Active learning strategies are a great way to help students apply what they are learning and keep them engaged.  Review our resources on Active Learning and our Active Learning Classrooms. 

Open Access Resources (OER)

• Open Educational Resources (OER)- These are free, open and adaptable resources that you can incorporate into your classes and modify based on your needs.  Find more information about finding and using OERs on the Library OER LibGuide page. 
• OER Commons and Merlot are popular repositories  you can peruse for free learning objects, lesson plans and instructional resources to possibly use for your online course module or workshop plan assignment.