Course Structure and Design

Are we planning with clear, measurable, meaningful learning goals in to guide us, or are we just keeping students busy?

Stage 1: Planning learning outcomes, assessment, learning activities & course materials.

Note on GenAI Use in This Class: Unless otherwise noted during class activities, you may only use ChatGPT or any other GenAI technologies to aid or nuance your thinking, communication, and learning; but not to replace or subvert it. See the table below for some examples of allowable and non-allow...

I understand this on a visceral level, but let's try to parse this out

Over ten years ago, my wife came across a book that changed our lives. We were preparing to start a family and were reading, discussing, and exploring different ideas about the kind of home and family we hoped to create. During that season, my wife read Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living by […]

A principles-based approach in deciding if and how to incorporate artificial intelligence tools into course development, research and other work projects.

Discover how compassionate online course design can help you put flexibility, peer support, and motivation at the heart of the online learning experience.

Explore 4 templates and learn about the theories that support visual organizers as a learning tool. 🧰

Learn a simple, easy-to-use active learning teaching technique that promotes student independence and peer teaching 🧩

During these late summer episodes of the podcast, I’m sharing some interviews I conducted in much cooler times. Back in February as part of a slow read of my book Intentional Tech, I talked with Justin Shaffer, teaching professor in chemical and biological engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. Chapter three of the book deals with using technology to make visible “thin slices” of student learning. I reached out to Justin, who is also associate dean of undergraduate studies at Mines, to learn about some of the ways he uses technology both in and out of the classroom to learn more about his students’ learning.That topic quite naturally led to discussions of Justin’s high-structure approach to course design. Justin has a book coming later this year (or maybe early 2025) from Macmillan Learning “High Structure Course Design for STEM” that will incredibly useful to STEM instructors of all experience levels. Justin is now officially the first repeat guest on Intentional Teaching. He was part of a panel way back in episode 9 on studio-style biology courses!Episode Resources·       Justin Shaffer’s website, https://www.recombinanteducation.com/·       Sign-up for updates about Justin’s forthcoming book on high-structure course design, https://forms.gle/PEew6AsgFpijopm96·       High Structure Course Design on the UVA Teaching Hub, https://teaching.virginia.edu/collections/high-structure-course-design·       Getting Started with Discipline-Based Education Research on the UVA Teaching Hub, https://teaching.virginia.edu/collections/getting-started-with-discipline-based-education-research·       Intentional Teaching Episode 9 on Studio-Style Biology Courses, https://intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com/2069949/12409419-studio-biology-with-scott-chirhart-robbie-bear-and-justin-shaffer

High structure course design improves student outcomes via scaffolding students through the learning process with pre-class content acquisition and formative assessment, in-class active learning and problem solving, after-class review and formative assessment, and frequent summative assessment.

Justin Shaffer shares how to use high structure course design to heighten student learning on episode 506 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast

The Educationalist. By Alexandra Mihai

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Toward Cruelty-Free Syllabi Note: This presentation began with ideas I wrote about in a blog post here. For folks who are reading these slides now and were not at the actual presentation, that post may give some helpful context. The actual presentation was improvised and involved a lot of talk wi...

Taking steps to ensure students stay on track with assigned course work and being a student success-supporting instructor.

For Middlebury College professor, Greg Pask, a graphic syllabus is a chance to establish the tone he wants for a course. Instead of treating the syllabus as a list of rules, penalties, and a code of conduct, the graphic syllabus communicates a “welcome to learning” invitation. And although a graphic

Making a syllabus that reflects your interests can make that hard work more enjoyable for you and offer many benefits to your students. Happy creating!