The University of Delaware’s Center for Teaching and Assessment of Learning will hold a course design institute this summer, June 6-8. Anyone teaching at the University is welcome to attend.

Registration is capped at 25 participants and will close on May 29. Interested participants are encouraged to register as soon as possible, as both previous institutes reached full capacity before the registration deadline. Register online here.  

The institute will guide attendees through the process of backward design, which focuses on designing courses based on outcomes. Over the course of three days, the participants will work on developing assessments and activities to support student learning outcomes and create a highly engaging learning environment. Specific disciplinary challenges and opportunities will be addressed, and all instructors who teach at UD are welcome to join their colleagues in this hands-on setting. Due to the nature of this institute, all participants must be designing (or redesigning) an actual course taught here at UD, and be prepared to complete some work prior to the institute and between the sessions.

In January, CTAL hosted a similar course design workshop at the 2017 Winter Faculty Institute (WFI), as well as a second workshop the week after.

Participant Sarah Rooney described the value she found in the WFI workshop: “Through the workshop, I developed the scaffold of my course and fun, new assignments that directly related to my student learning outcomes. After those two days, I left confident. And so far, I'm happy with how my new course has been unfolding this semester!”

Based upon feedback from the two January workshops, CTAL decided to offer a longer, three-day program for course design this June. This extended time-frame will offer participants even more opportunities to develop specific activities and structures to design or improve a course.