Course Design Strategy

This book is packed with strategies and insights that will help you design better training courses. It focuses on how people learn as the key factor in making design decisions. The book shows you how to design a good course for any field, no matter what medium you use to deliver it. Learn how the brain works, how people forget, how to gain and maintain attention and how to make a subject interesting. Then use the easy-to-follow guidelines to design strategically by increasing curiosity, making content emotional, making learners practise what they have learned and using failure as a teaching tool. The art of designing a course and making people learn is mastered through practical experience of running courses; the science is gained by evidence-based research on how people learn. The book combines the two, offering many examples and studies in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, instructional design and training the trainer. You will find lots of examples and studies in the book that provide insights that may not be obvious but that lead to important design decisions. They will change forever how you think about training design and delivery and help you design courses that your learners will love. In Course Design Strategy, you will learn: · How to make content memorable · What learners expect from a course · How people learn and forget, and why this should be the cornerstone of any course design · How to use eureka moments and eureka concepts as the building blocks of course design · How to make content easy to learn · Why the presence of a feedback loop is crucial to learning · How to use exercises and tests to enhance learning

What is understanding and how does it differ from knowledge? How can we determine the big ideas worth understanding? Why is understanding an important teaching goal, and how do we know when students have attained it? How can we create a rigorous and engaging curriculum that focuses on understanding and leads to improved student performance in today's high-stakes, standards-based environment? Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have greatly revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K-16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum. Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, this new edition of Understanding by Design offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.

Course Design and Assessment offers design strategies, educator-in-action perspectives, and real-world suggestions for engaged educators, creating inclusive and meaningful learning opportunities and developmental student growth. With a brief history situating engaged learning among educational models, the book shows the vital and practical connections between an educator's overall learning philosophy and their pedagogical choices. The authors unpack the definitions and practices common to engaged learning, exploring the assumptions educators make about students, teaching, learning, and instructional contexts that underlie engaged educators' pedagogical decisions. Ultimately a vehicle for inclusive learning and transparent design, the book outlines pre-course planning steps, suggestions for adjusting the course mid-stream, and a thorough discussion of assessment activities with planning and implementation steps. For beginning and advanced instructors worldwide, this book serves as a real-world workbook and resource for engaged course design and assessment practices.

A Guide to Online Course Design offers faculty and professional staff a practical and easy-to-follow model for creating exceptional online courses that focuses on quality standards in instructional design, transparency in learning outcomes, and learner persistence. A comprehensive resource, the book includes effective, research-based instructional strategies to motivate online learners and help them become more self-directed. A Guide to Online Course Design emphasizes quality standards and removing barriers to learners’ persistence, which ensures online courses meet the needs of online learners as well as distance education initiatives. “All faculty members and course designers, regardless of experience level, content background, or technology skills, can benefit from applying the approaches defined in this book. The authors have imparted a wealth of knowledge that can improve the quality of any online class and I highly recommend this book for all those involved with online learning.” - Anton G. Camarota, faculty, University of Denver “Anyone involved in developing online courses should read this book! Packed with great insights and the research to back them up, Stavredes and Herder guide readers with practical information that will support online course development.” - Brenda Boyd, director of professional development and consulting, Quality Matters Program “The blend of theory and application makes A Guide to Online Course Design and indispensable resource for any professional seeking to create high quality, outcomes-based learning experiences. I loved the action steps that close each chapter, as they lead the reader through the entire process of course design from analysis to implementation.” - Kathe Kacheroski, dean of curriculum and instruction, Rasmussen College

Online learning has gained popularity as a preferred option for higher education institutions globally, particularly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has created a need for educators and practitioners to understand the strategies and techniques required for designing and delivering effective online courses that can engage students and provide them with the necessary skills and knowledge for success. The book Dynamic Curriculum Development and Design Strategies for Effective Online Learning in Higher Education offers a practical guide and insights into the latest trends and best practices for curriculum development and design in the context of online learning. Organized into three main sections, the book begins with an overview of the current landscape of online learning and the challenges and opportunities it presents for curriculum development. It then delves into the design and development of online courses, followed by the implementation and delivery of those courses. The book is relevant to both novice and experienced educators and practitioners who are involved in designing, developing, and delivering online courses in higher education. It provides a comprehensive understanding of the strategies and techniques required to design and deliver effective online courses, while examining the challenges and opportunities presented by online learning in higher education. As such, this book is an essential resource for anyone involved in online learning in higher education who seeks to develop and deliver dynamic and engaging courses that cater to the needs of online learners.

Models and Strategies for Training Design is a practical guide and reference book for instructional design professionals and students. Defining instructional design broadly, this volume describes 16 different models and strategies that can be used to create diverse learning experiences. The models and strategies represent behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, social, and affective theoretical perspectives. Each chapter supplies the origins, principles, research support, best uses, implementation steps, and the sample application of a model or strategy. A job aid guides readers in selecting appropriate models and strategies, given project requirements. Through careful selection, designers can make their instruction more effective and more appealing. A final chapter addresses special design considerations for technology-based multimedia instruction.

The current learning environment is substantially different than what existed for most of the 20th century. Learners and teachers today must navigate in perpetually changing contexts where education is influenced by technological advancement and obsolescence, economic barriers, a changing employment landscape, and even international politics. Studies indicate that employers seek to hire graduates with strong skills in areas coalescing around international awareness, creativity, communication, leadership, and teamwork. Skills and experiences in these areas are necessary preparation for the current economy and to pursue jobs that do not exist yet, while providing some insulation against the obsolescence of industries that lack these characteristics. These interpersonal skills are not often the subject of students’ degrees, yet there are opportunities in online education to cultivate them. With increased interest in new career options comes the need to reconsider how to teach subjects in the increasingly online environment. Advancing Online Course Design and Pedagogy for the 21st Century Learning Environment is a critical reference book that navigates today’s dynamic education requirements and provides examples of how online learning can foster growth in skill areas necessary for career advancement through effective course design. Moreover, it helps educators gain insight into online pedagogy and course design for the 21st century learner and prepares them to convert traditional courses and enhance existing online courses, thereby supporting students’ growth and development in the highly dynamic online learning environment. Focusing on specific learning activities, assessments, engagement, communication techniques, and more, this book provides a valuable resource for those seeking to upgrade teaching and learning into the online environment, those that seek better employment outcomes for their students, and those seeking to explore contemporary online course design strategies or examples. This includes teachers, instructional designers, curriculum developers, academicians, researchers, and students.