{"id":129,"date":"2022-07-18T10:15:39","date_gmt":"2022-07-18T14:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/edvice\/?p=129"},"modified":"2023-08-28T14:17:57","modified_gmt":"2023-08-28T18:17:57","slug":"houston-we-have-liftoff-successfully-implementing-your-course-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/edvice\/2022\/07\/18\/houston-we-have-liftoff-successfully-implementing-your-course-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston, We Have Liftoff! Successfully Implementing Your Course Design"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Cliff Rouder<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/edvice\/files\/2023\/08\/summer-course-design.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-462\" style=\"width:692px;height:389px\" width=\"692\" height=\"389\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/edvice\/files\/2023\/08\/summer-course-design.png 512w, https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/edvice\/files\/2023\/08\/summer-course-design-300x169.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 692px) 100vw, 692px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Congratulations! You\u2019ve put in the time and hard work to think meaningfully about&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2014\/03\/www.deefinkandassociates.com_GuidetoCourseDesignAug05.pdf\">course design for significant learning.<\/a>&nbsp;You\u2019ve considered your course\u2019s unique&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/teaching.temple.edu\/edvice-exchange\/2022\/06\/context-matters-considering-situational-factors-course-design\">situational factors<\/a>&nbsp;and then developed&nbsp;meaningful learning goals,&nbsp;authentic assessments that measure students\u2019 achievement of those goals, and&nbsp;learning activities&nbsp;that enable them to get practice and feedback to prepare them for your assessments. Everything is in perfect alignment. You\u2019re totally psyched to begin the semester now that you\u2019re armed with, if you do say so yourself, a course designed to help learning take off. Nothing much left to do except hit autopilot and watch the magic unfold. Well\u2026not so fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this last blog post of the Course Design Summer Series, we now look at how to implement the design for maximum impact. To keep your course humming smoothly, here are four key ways to successfully implement your course design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>1. COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We&nbsp;want students to be excited about the course, realize its value, and feel like they can meet your high expectations. One way we can do this is by making transparent why you\u2019ve selected the learning activities and assessments, and how both align to the learning goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Communication is key. When and how should we do this? Early and often is the mantra, and here are some ways to do it:<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Send a pre-semester welcome email or video. Start piquing students\u2019 interest by telling them why you\u2019re passionate about the course, your hopes and goals for them, and how you\u2019ll support their learning.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Include messaging throughout the syllabus. Take that (usually) boring course description that is required on the syllabus and give it a face-lift. Whet your students\u2019 appetite by telling them what big and meaningful questions this course will answer, what important ideas or issues they\u2019ll grapple with, and what valuable skills they\u2019ll be equipped with for future courses (and for life)! Explain their role as active learners in the course and why that\u2019s of value. Be transparent with your high expectations as well as the things you will do to support their learning.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Include messaging throughout the semester. At every class period, you can articulate the value of what they\u2019re learning and the purpose of the activities they\u2019re doing in and out of class to aid their learning. Better yet, ask them to articulate the value! Same goes for why you\u2019ve chosen the types of assessments you\u2019re giving them. Keep connecting the activities and assessments to the course goals so students can see the big picture.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>2. KEEP A LOG.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Take a moment right after class (or as soon as possible) to reflect on how the day\u2019s activity or assessment went. \u201cWas it a hero or a zero?\u201d as Laurie Grenier from the TV show Shark Tank asks. If it was a zero, don\u2019t let that dissuade you from trying again next semester. See if you can determine what went awry and find ways to tweak it. Were students adequately prepared for the activity? Were the directions and prompts clear and did they hit that sweet spot of being challenging without being too far above your students ability? Was there a tech fail? If you do notice something not working in the moment and aren\u2019t sure why, remember that you could always ask your students.<strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>3. SOLICIT COURSE FEEDBACK.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>After students get their grades on the first major assessment, think about getting formative course feedback from them. What elements of the course are working or not working for them? What can you be doing differently to help support their learning? What could they be doing differently to support their learning? Be sure to address the feedback in your next class session. Tell them what you\u2019re going to keep doing and what you\u2019re going to change (and why!) and be sure to follow through. If you\u2019d prefer to call in an educational developer from the CAT, we can do a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/teaching.temple.edu\/classroom-observation-and-mid-semester-instructional-diagnosis\">mid-semester instructional diagnosis.<\/a>&nbsp;We would meet with your class without you present to get consensus feedback and then prepare a report to review with you and discuss strategies for implementing any changes you\u2019d like to make to the course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>4. TAKE A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>At semester\u2019s end, incorporate an activity that asks students to review their body of work and let them self-assess whether they believe they\u2019ve met the course goals (and why or why not). You could also ask them to write a letter to future students about the design of the course and what advice they might have for maximizing their success in the course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>* * *<\/strong><br>So, take pride in the work you\u2019ve done to design (or redesign) your course, make the design elements transparent for your students from the start, be open to self-reflection and student feedback on the design, and have the best fall semester ever! And remember that you are not alone. As always,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/catbooking.temple.edu\/\">the CAT<\/a>&nbsp;is here to help you design and implement your course via 1-1 consultations, teaching observations, and mid-semester instructional diagnoses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Cliff Rouder, Ed.D., is Pedagogy and Design Specialist at Temple&#8217;s Center for the Advancement of Teaching.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cliff Rouder Congratulations! You\u2019ve put in the time and hard work to think meaningfully about&nbsp;course design for significant learning.&nbsp;You\u2019ve considered your course\u2019s unique&nbsp;situational factors&nbsp;and then developed&nbsp;meaningful learning goals,&nbsp;authentic assessments that measure students\u2019 achievement of those goals, and&nbsp;learning activities&nbsp;that enable them to get practice and feedback to prepare them for your assessments. Everything is in perfect &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/edvice\/2022\/07\/18\/houston-we-have-liftoff-successfully-implementing-your-course-design\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Houston, We Have Liftoff! Successfully Implementing Your Course Design<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29430,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-course-design"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/edvice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/edvice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/edvice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/edvice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29430"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/edvice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/edvice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":464,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/edvice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129\/revisions\/464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/edvice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/edvice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/edvice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}