Course Design Basics

Explore your options

• If you have a new course to design or an existing course that you would like to redesign, we welcome you to schedule a meeting to consult with one of our educational developers. We can help you through this process by meeting with you on a regular basis to discuss your vision for the course, provide relevant resources and give feedback based on the type of course, the available timeline, your teaching philosophy and your learners.
• If multimedia development may be a component of the design process for your course, you may also be paired with a multimedia developer from the TLC.

Ask questions

Some of the questions that an educational developer would explore with you when planning or updating a course include:

• What are your own beliefs about teaching and learning?
• How does this course fit into the overall program?
• What are the course learning outcomes?
• Will it be offered online, face-to-face or in a hybrid (blended) format?
• What do you know about the students who may take this course?

Additional Resources

For more questions you might consider when planning or redesigning a course, review the Analyze Context, Content and Process handout shared with a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) through the CU Open site.

If you are interested in learning more about the various elements of course design, you might also explore the following pages: 

• Learning outcomes
• Constructive alignment
• Instructional design
• Assessment and evaluation

Help and Support

The educational developers at the Teaching and Learning Centre are available for one-on-one sessions in course design. Contact the Teaching and Learning Centre at teachingandlearning@ontariotechu.ca