Providing Critical Course Design Feedback
As an instructional designer, I start my process with faculty by helping them to articulate what their course should look and feel like. I may ask the faculty to describe the key components of their course that make it “theirs”. Following that discussion, I will review their course learning outcomes and provide feedback. Many times instructors know what they want their students to get out of their course but they need a someone to tackle the composition of outcomes with them. I will review the learning objectives to ensure that they are both measurable and written from a learner’s perspective. Once we finalize the learning outcomes for a course, I work through the backwards design process of identifying assignments that will demonstrate student achievement of the learning outcomes.
OUTCOME FEEDBACK
Below you can view examples of my initial feedback on course outcomes for PHARM 8170 followed by the final edits by the course instructor.
ALIGNMENT MAP
Below, you can review a completed alignment map for PHARM 8170. I worked with the course instructor to develop the learning outcomes for each week and mapped on the course assignments and learning activities to support student completion of assessments.
COURSE REVISION INITIAL FINDINGS
For course revisions, I review already existing and running online courses utilizing the ODEE Online Course Quality Rubric. I focus my initial review on areas:
- University Rigor and Integrity
- Program-Specific Requirements
- Course Design & Teaching Methods, and
- Online Course Set-Up.
By carefully reviewing the course, I can identify existing areas of strength and potential avenues for improvement. I utilize this review to generate possible ideas for revision for course instructors so that our time spent together and focus on value-adds for the course rather than “fixing problems”.
You can review a sample initial findings review from PHR 7580, below: