Course Design Checklist

• State why this course is important and where it fits in the curriculum.
• Consider how to invite students to learn.
• Ask: why are you excited about this course?

If you were to run into a student in this course in five years, what would you want them to

• Still know?
• Be able to do?
• Find value in?

• Consider using language like “Students will be able to ...” Use verbs like synthesize, compare, or identify, avoid general words like “understand”.
• Answer: students will be able to ___________ at the end of the course.

Summative assessments evaluate student learning usually at the middle or end of a course. They are often higher stakes and have a higher grade value.

• Create a final assessment such as a major project, paper, performance, or test in which students demonstrate their capacity in relation to the learning goals.

Formative assessments inform your understanding of student progress, how to adapt the instruction, and create opportunities for feedback to students on their learning throughout the course rather than waiting until the end. (e.g., quizzes, papers, lab reports, presentations). Students should practice and receive feedback on the cognitive tasks required for their final (summative) assessment(s) through these assignments.

• How will students learn the information (e.g., readings, lesson notes, mini-lectures, videos, and guidance/support you will provide such as study guides, lectures, videos, example papers, etc.)?
• How will students practice what they learn (e.g., non-graded quizzes, discussions, worksheets, activities, etc.)?

• Which learning outcome does this assessment support?
• How will the assessment guide learning?
• How will the assessment guide teaching?

• Delineate what students do on a weekly basis, both on their own and in synchronous class sessions.
• Decide which tools/technology to use for weekly asynchronous and synchronous aspects of your class (Discussion board, video submission etc.).
• Show the progression or order in each module.

Include:

• A brief introduction answering the questions: What? and So what?
• Description of learning activities: what to read, watch, do (maybe with guiding questions)
• Assignments

• Evaluate materials to ensure positive value and return on investment for learning.
• Review available course materials to ensure that the cost of materials is a good value to students and doesn’t cause any barriers in the educational experience. Consider open education resources (OERs) as an alternative to expensive textbooks.

• A six-minute video, may take18 minutes to watch maybe twice and take notes.

• Workload Estimator: - Course Workload Estimator, Rice University 

Do the videos you use in your class have captions or a written transcript in case students need to watch the video with no sound on?

Captions can be auto-generated in Panopto and then edited.

Request assistance with adding or editing captions.

• Images have descriptive alt-text in the Canvas rich text editor
• Images in Word and Powerpoint include descriptive alt text
• Images have good resolution and good contrast
• Any text in an image has the text in the rich content editor as well.

• Does the syllabus include a course design that follows a consistent format?
• Do you provide a “Module at a Glance” page with an introduction, including an alignment of module objectives and
• tasks?
• Is it clear how students communicate with you and with each other? 


• Are the learning goals explicit, measurable, and, connected to the assessments?
• Is each module introduced and linked to its learning goal(s)?
• Are assignments clearly defined with rubrics or grading criteria?
• How accessible is the Canvas course site and the course materials?