COURSE DESIGN

Imagine that you have just been asked to develop and teach a course on Fashion Design in the 19th Century (or substitute your own area of interest)

• Where do you begin?
• What elements of course development do you have to consider?
• What order do you consider those elements?
• What resources might you access to assist you?

The following section will examine some of these questions and propose some ideas about how to approach this task. It is not meant to be all inclusive. It is meant to address some models for course design. You decide which, if any, would be most helpful to you. It is assumed that prior to beginning course development a needs assessment will have taken place.

A needs assessment may be defined as a tool for identifying the problem and then selecting an appropriate intervention (Kaufman and English, 1979, cited in Kemp et al, 1994 p.27). In this case, the needs assessment will have determined that a course in Fashion Design in the 19th Century is required to satisfy a learning need.

Model 1

Stage 1 - Gathering Data Through Consultation

Start at the End and Work Backward

. Whether you are on a team or the sole project coordinator, you may want to consider the following:

• If this course is part of a larger program, spend some time considering the program outcomes and where this course might fit into the larger scheme of things.
• Consult with colleagues, program advisory committees, past student evaluations of a similar course or program, potential employers for program graduates etc., to determine what learning outcomes would be appropriate for the course. Depending on what you are planning and how much time that you have, you might want to hold focus groups for ideas related to the course from various stakeholders such as students, or employees if it is a work related course; that is, what would be the significant and essential learning that the learner should be able to demonstrate? It may be feasible to establish a course advisory committee consisting of various stakeholders such as faculty, students, people from the field
• Once you have developed some draft learning outcomes, again seek the feedback from field experts, colleagues etc. regarding their appropriateness.

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Stage 2 - Planning

Then you might want to ask:

How might a timeline be structured?

• Start from the end and work backward
• Consider what task has to be accomplished by a specific time and date.

Or, you might find it easier to engage in mindmapping which, for some, increases their creative thinking.

Look here to see what a possible concept map might look like.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

• Who might this course be directed toward? What knowledge and experience might they bring to the course?
• Are they likely to be students from high school with little experience in the field, or are they third year students with extensive knowledge of fashion design?
• How would you describe this course in a few sentences in a course outline? Can you answer the question, "Why should I take this course anyway?"
• What kinds of learning experiences should occur in order for the learner to achieve the outcomes?

This stage can be the fun part. Allow yourself to brainstorm whatever comes to mind. The zanier the ideas the better. Too often we start projects with the attitude "We had better get serious here. We only have a short time to accomplish this big task!"

(As an aside, you can be far more creative by brainstorming with others. I recall a workshop I once attended in which the presenter suggested that creativity in meetings might best be enhanced by the statement: "Let’s get silly!" Sometimes the most outlandish suggestions contain the kernel of a good idea that can be built upon by others.
Acknowledgement is given to Michael Simon for his hilarious ideas in the Workshop: Having Fun; not just for Fun, December, 1996, Centennial College, Toronto, Ontario.)

In any event, some of the brainstorming ideas might relate to:

• Learning experiences
• Topic Areas
• What is essential learning for now and into the future; nice to know; not really necessary? At some point you will need to make decisions about including or eliminating learning experiences, and topic areas.
• What resources might be accessed?
• What materials might be required?
• When will the course take place?
• Over how long a time period?
• How should I sequence events? That is, in order for the learners to do activity A, they will need to know something about content B.
• What assessment and evaluation processes would match the learning outcomes? (What performance demonstrations would suggest that the outcome has been achieved?)
• What should the course be called? Any catchy phrases to better market the course?
• How will the course, or workshop be marketed?
• How will information about the course be communicated, circulated?
• What could go wrong with this course development? (Try to anticipate and troubleshoot various unhappy scenarios.)

Stage 3 Implementing the course

Stage 4 Evaluating the course

Revising the plan.

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Model 2

Kemp (et al, 1994) describes 9 stages in the instructional design process. These include the following:

1. Instructional Problems
   * Identify instructional problems, and specify goals for designing an instructional program
   
2. Learner Characteristics
   * Examine learner characteristics that should receive attention during planning
   
3. Identify Subject Content and Analyze Task Components
   * Determine essential content and sequence for learning
   
4. Develop Instructional Objectives for the Learner
   * Determine what the learner will know or be able to do at the end of the course
   
5. Sequence Content
   
6. Design Instructional Strategies
   * What type of learning will occur? i.e. facts, concepts, principles, procedures?
   
7. Plan Instructional Delivery
   * How learning will be facilitated i.e. lecture, small group, self-paced etc.
   
8. Develop Evaluation Instruments to Assess Objectives
   * Decide what strategy to use to determine how well the learners learned
   * Obtain feedback from the learners regarding how well the course went for them
   
9. Designating Resources
   * Identify resources required for the course such as equipment, facilities, handouts etc.
   

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Model 3

Look here to view the Dick and Carey Systems Approach Model for Designing Instruction commonly used by those involved in the training field.

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Model 4

Analysis

• Needs assessment - Identify learner characteristics
• Know the audience in terms of level of knowledge, learning styles, learning needs, learning context

Design

• Construct Learning Outcomes, Learning Objectives
• Identify Tasks
• Specify topics
  

Build

• Create topics
• Course structure
• Test

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(Source: Adapted from Horton, William, 1994. Designing and Writing Online Documentation. 2nd ed. Toronto: 1994)

Model 5

This model is mentioned briefly to illustrate variety in course design. Bevis and Watson (1989) define a curriculum as:

those interactions between students and teachers in which learning takes place

Design Model

The design model involves the development of criteria to describe effective student-teacher interactions and experiences for learning. Some of the parameters for the interactions include:

• student teacher alliances based on mutual respect
• learning as a form of active participation and inquiry

Self Assessment Would you like to test your knowledge of course design?