Course
Design
The Big Five Principles
Core
Principle #1: Most short courses need to define themselves as teaching three
main things. What three main things will your course teach?
Core Principle #2:
Students come with many different levels of prior experience. You must do a
quick "needs and experience" assessment before you begin your lecture
to see if your lesson plan is on the mark. This can take the form of a verbal
questionnaire, a case study followed by a quick quiz, a "rank from most
important to least important" written survey, or some other instrument.
What do you plan to do in the first 10 minutes of class to perform this
assessment?
Core Principle #3: Most
teachers of adults make the mistake of starting with very elementary background
information and working toward the "good stuff." This often bores many
students who already have experience in the field. How can you "start in
the middle" with some terrific material and then backfill the introductory
stuff?
Core Principle #4: The
CFU catalog course description is an "implied contract" between
teacher and student concerning what the course will teach, how it will be
taught, and what the student will leave with in the way of class projects. The
best course descriptions are specific about what, when, and how the skills will
be taught. To the best of your ability list in 15 minute segments your whats,
and hows in the order that they will occur in a typical class session. (Look at
some descriptions of very successful classes to guide you.)
Core Principle #5:
Materials fees are sometimes needed to provide essential supplies for class
projects or pay for admission tickets for class outings, etc. Yet CFU seeks to
keep these fees as low as possible. Rarely do we want books to be a mandatory
student expense unless they are workbooks for class participation. We need an
accurate statement of what your fees will cover--what supplies in what
quantities. Please itemize your materials fees request and prepare to have them
inspected and approved.