Planning Your Course: A Decision Guide

APPENDIX A
~~
PLANNING YOUR COURSE:

A DECISION GUIDE
henever teachers plan or design their courses, they are in essence making a
series of decisions aimed at creating a design, which in this case consists of
a plan of activities for what the teacher and students will do in a course. This
guide identifies the several decisions involved in designing a course, places these
decisions in an appropriate sequence, and suggests ways to make good decisions.
I have grouped these decisions into three phases of the design process:
Initial Phase:
Building Strong Primary Components of the Course
Intermediate Phase:
Assembling the Components into a Dynamic,

Coherent Whole
Final Phase:
Taking Care of Important Details
Initial Phase: Building Strong Primary Components

1. WHERE ARE YOU?
Size up the situational factors.

Spec@ context: Number of students, kind of classroom, and so on.
General context: Place in the curriculum, professional preparation, and so on.
257
258
Creating Significant Learning Experiences
Nature of the subject: convergent or divergent, stable or rapidly changing?

Student characteristics: Prior knowledge, attitudes, maturity, and so on.
Zacher charactoistics:Knowledge of and feelings toward subject and students;
teaching philosophy, experience, and so on.
Special pedagogical challenge: What is the special challenge to teaching this
subject well?
2. WHERE D O YOU WANT TO GO?

What are your learning goals for the course? Ideally, what would you like
students to get out of this course? Some possibilities:
Foundational knowledge: Understanding of key content: facts, principles,
concepts, and so on.
Application: Thinking skills, other physical and intellectual skills, managing
complex projects.
Integration: Connecting ideas, information, realms of life, and so on.
Human dimension: Knowing how to interact with oneself and with others.
Caring: Making changes in ones feelings, interests, and values.
Learning how to learn: Learning how to keep on learning after the course is
over.
3. HOW WILL THE STUDENTS AND

YOU KNOW IF THEY GET THERE?
How will you know if the students have achieved these goals? What kinds
of feedback and assessment would be appropriate?
See Exhibit A. 1 at the end of this appendix for one way of developing
appropriate kinds of feedback and assessment for different kinds of goals.
For each general goal specified here, what information can you gather
that will tell you and each student about individual progress toward that
goal? About how well the whole class is learning?
For which goals are paper-and-pencil evaluations sufficient? Which need
reflective writing? Performance assessment?
What kind of feedback and assessment can you provide that will go beyond just providing a basis for the grade and will actually enhance the
learning process?
4.HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GET THERE?

Select or develop learning activities that reflect the principles of active
learning.
How will students acquire the content, that is, the necessary information
and ideas?
What kinds of doing and observing experiences do the students
need? Can you create rich learning experiences that allow students to
pursue several learning goals simultaneously?
What kinds of reflective dialogue will help them make sense of the
content and connect it to their own lives? Can you develop multiple
forms of such dialogue-one-minute papers, weekly journals, end-ofterm learning portfolios?
5. WHO AND WHAT CAN HELP?

Find resources.
See Exhibit A. 1 at the end of this appendix, as it can help identify the
resources needed for each learning goal.
What resources will the students need (and can you get) to support each
of the learning activities listed in Decision #4? These may be people,
places, or things, including media.
Intermediate Phase: Assembling the

Components into a Dynamic, Coherent Whole
The next three decisions create the basic plan of learning activities. Sometimes
Decision #6 (creating a course structure) will be done first, sometimes #7 (building an instructional strategy). I am presenting #6 first because it often-but not
always-makes more sense to start there.
6. WHAT ARE THE MAJOR TOPICS IN THIS COURSE?

Create a thematic structure for the course.
Identify the four to seven major ideas, topics, or themes in the course.
Place them in an appropriate sequence.
If possible, make sure the ideas build on one another and result in a
culminating project that integrates the ideas, topics, or themes.
7. WHAT WILL THE STUDENTS NEED TO DO?

Identifjr the specific learning activities necessary for the desired kinds of
learning and put them into an effective instructional strategy.
260
An instructional strategy is a combination of specific learning activities

in a particular sequence, usually laid out over a one- to three-week span
of time.
Each individual activity should build synergistically on students past
learning activities and prepare them for future activities.
Examples of instructional strategies:
Continuous series of lectures and reading assignments, interrupted

once or twice by a midterm exam. Sequence of student activities: hearread-test.
Series of reading, reflective writing, and whole-class discussion
assignments (sequence repeated for each topic). Sequence of student
activities: read-write-talk. (A variation of this would be readtalk-write.)
Start with some field or lab work observations, followed by readings
and whole-class discussions. Sequence of student activities: do (or 1ook)read-talk. (Write-ups of lab or field work are sometimes included.)
Lectures followed by field work or lab observations. Sequence of student
activities: hear-see or do
Have students do assigned readings followed by mini-tests done individually and in small groups, then move on to group-based application projects. Sequence of student activities: read-individual and group
tests-practice doing with feedback.
Work through a series of developmental stages lasting four to six
weeks apiece: build some knowledge and skills, work on small application projects, and then work on larger, more complex projects.
Sequence of student activities: know-build know-how4o-DO.
Contract for a grade-that is, set up an agreement along the lines
of read text and pass exams to get a C, add a research paper to get
a B, do extended project as well as a research paper to get an A.
It can be useful to create a diagram that illustrates the desired sequence of learning activities. A diagram of one possible sequence might look like the one in Figure A. 1.
8. WHAT IS THE OVERALL SCHEME OF LEARNING ACTIVITIES?
At this time you need to dynamically integrate the course structure and the
instructional strategy for the whole course.
Planning Your Course
261
It can be helpful to create a diagram of the course structure and the instructional strategy, and then find ways to enhance the way these two components work together. An example of such a diagram might look like the
one in Figure A.2. The diagram in the figure is just an example of one
possibility It would obviously need to be adjusted to fit the circumstances
of any given teaching situation.
Good course designs and plans provide for both daj%zntiation and integration of learning.
FIGURE A.1. SAMPLE CASTLE TOP DIAGRAM.
In-class
activities
Out-of-class
activities
In-class
problem
solving
Test on
readings
Lecture
Problemsolving
homework
Reading
homework
Exam
Review
FIGURE A.2. STRATEGY AND STRUCTURE LAYOUT.

Instructional Strategy
Major Topics
in Course:
1.
2.
In-class
Out-of-class
In-class
Out-of-class
- - -
4.
- - - -
In-class
Out-of-class
In-class
Out-of-class
blocks of time)
- - - - I
3.
-.
(for whole
semester or term)
- - - - - - - - -
Course
Structure
262
The differentiation can be reflected in variety in the type of learning

activities from day to day, within each topical block of time, and in
development in the complexity and challenge of the learning, from
topical unit 1 through 4.
The integration should be reflected both within each topical unit
of time and in the progression through each of the topical units.
At the conclusion of this process, you should be ready to lay out a weekby-week schedule of activities for the whole term. Exhibit A.2 at the
end of this handout can be useful in laying out the entire schedule or
sequence of activities for the whole course. The form assumes three
class sessions per week. You can adjust it as needed for courses with
different time formats. As you do this, there is a helpful sequence of
questions to ask:
What activities need to come fist, that is, how should the course begin?
What activities do you want to conclude with, that is, how should the
course end?
What should the sequence of activities be in the middle of the course?
Developing the design or plan for the course is very important. It is also
important, though, to remember that it is only a plan. Like all plans, it
needs to be flexible and subject to change as it is implemented.
Final Phase: Taking Care of Important Details

9. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GRADE?
Develop your grading system.
It should reflect the full range of learning goals and activities. (Remember: You do not have to grade everything, but make sure you do grade
some instances of every kind of learning you want students to retain.)
The relative weight of each item on the course grade should reflect the
relative importance of that activity.
10. WHAT COULD G O WRONG?
Debug the design by analyzing and assessing this first draft of the course.
General criteria for a good course design:
Is it based on an in-depth analysis of the situational factors?

Does it include higher-level learning goals?
263
Do the feedback and assessment activities reflect the principles of

educative assessment?
Do the teaching and learning activities include active learning?
Are the four components well integrated?
Possible mechanical problems:
Will the students have time to do their out-of-class assignments?
Will they be able to obtain the necessary resources? (For instance,
how many students will be trying to obtain reading material in the
library reserve at the same time? Are there enough copies for all
of them?)
1 1. LET STUDENTS KNOW WHAT YOU ARE PLANNING.
Now write the syllabus. Include at least the following points:
General management information-instructor, office hours, phone, and
so on
Goals for the course
Structure and sequence of class activities, including due dates for major
assignments, tests, and projects
Text and other required reading material
Grading procedures
Course policies: attendance, work turned in late, make-up exams, and
so on
12. HOW WILL YOU KNOW HOW THE COURSE IS GOING?

HOW IT WENT?
Plan an evaluation of the course itself and of your teaching performance.
What kinds of midterm and end-of-term feedback will you need?
What specific questions do you have about
The degree to which your goals for the course were achieved?
The effectiveness of particular learning activities?
Your ability to interact effectively with students?
What sources can give you the information you need to answer these questions?
Videotape or audiotape of the class sessions
Student interviews or questionnaires
Outside observers
Test results
265
EXHIBIT A.2. SEQUENCE OF LEARNING ACTIVITIES.

Sessions per Week
Week
Session
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
::
10
Classes

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APPENDIX A

PLANNING YOUR COURSE:

Building Strong Primary Components of the Course

Assembling the Components into a Dynamic,

Taking Care of Important Details

Initial Phase: Building Strong Primary Components

Size up the situational factors.

Creating Significant Learning Experiences

Nature of the subject: convergent or divergent, stable or rapidly changing?

2. WHERE D O YOU WANT TO GO?

3. HOW WILL THE STUDENTS AND

4.HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GET THERE?

5. WHO AND WHAT CAN HELP?

Intermediate Phase: Assembling the

6. WHAT ARE THE MAJOR TOPICS IN THIS COURSE?

7. WHAT WILL THE STUDENTS NEED TO DO?

Creating Significant Learning Experiences

An instructional strategy is a combination of specific learning activities

Continuous series of lectures and reading assignments, interrupted

Planning Your Course

FIGURE A.2. STRATEGY AND STRUCTURE LAYOUT.

Creating Significant Learning Experiences

The differentiation can be reflected in variety in the type of learning

Final Phase: Taking Care of Important Details

Is it based on an in-depth analysis of the situational factors?

Planning Your Course

Do the feedback and assessment activities reflect the principles of

12. HOW WILL YOU KNOW HOW THE COURSE IS GOING?

Planning Your Course

EXHIBIT A.2. SEQUENCE OF LEARNING ACTIVITIES.

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