Course Design

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.

In spite of the proliferation of online learning, creating online courses can still evoke a good deal of frustration, negativity, and wariness in those who need to create them. The second edition of Essentials of Online Course Design takes a fresh, thoughtfully designed, step-by-step approach to online course development. At its core is a set of standards that are based on best practices in the field of online learning and teaching. Pedagogical, organizational, and visual design principles are presented and modeled throughout the book, and users will quickly learn from the guide’s hands-on approach. The course design process begins with the elements of a classroom syllabus which, after a series of guided steps, easily evolve into an online course outline. The guide’s key features include: a practical approach informed by theory clean interior design that offers straightforward guidance from page one clear and jargon-free language examples, screenshots, and illustrations to clarify and support the text a checklist of online course design standards that readers can use to self-evaluate. a Companion Website with examples, adaptable templates, interactive learning features, and online resources: http://essentialsofonlinecoursedesign.com Essentials of Online Course Design serves as a best practice model for designing online courses. After reading this book, readers will find that preparing for online teaching is a satisfying and engaging experience. The core issue is simply good design: pedagogical, organizational, and visual. For more of Marjorie Vai in her own words, listen to this 2011 interview from the On Teaching Online podcast: http://onteachingonline.com/oto-16-essentials-of-online-course-design-with-marjorie-vai/

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

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.

Course planning and development, in the context of current theories of language learning.

Course Design for TESOL offers a unique approach of integrating curriculum with teaching activities to allow language educators to utilize the text in a variety of courses in a TESOL program. Although the authors assume readers have a basic knowledge of English grammar, this textbook/resource is designed to be comprehensible to those who have not had an SLA or Applied Linguistics course. Because each language skill is discussed in detail in terms of important theories and concepts and actual teaching activities are included, the book can also be used in a Methods course or a combined Curriculum Design-Methods (or Methods and Materials) course. Part I explores the basic language acquisition theories and their influences on current teaching practices in the field. Part II then moves on to the core elements of designing a curriculum or course: conducting the needs analysis, setting of course goals/objectives, designing the syllabus, and writing lesson plans. Part III: Instructional Activities and Assessment Techniques features chapters on the teaching of listening, speaking, reading, writing, grammar, and culture. Within each of these chapters, the authors address the fundamental issues related to the teaching of each skill and then discuss the components of a good activity for that skill (and how to design one), and then offer four sample activities (one for each type of syllabus) and guidance on assessing that skill. The activities can be adapted for use in a variety of classrooms and settings. Part IV addresses contemporary trends--curriculum issues in North America and Europe (standards and educational policy), practices in teaching in Asia (particularly China and Korea), and technology-enhanced learning.

Introducing Course Design in English for Specific Purposes is an accessible and practical introduction to the theory and practice of developing ESP courses across a range of disciplines. The book covers the development of courses from needs analysis to assessment and evaluation, and also comes with samples of authentic ESP courses provided by leading ESP practitioners from a range of subject and global contexts. Included in this book are: The basics of ESP course design The major current theoretical perspectives on ESP course design Tasks, reflections and glossary to help readers consolidate their understanding Resources for practical ESP course development Examples of authentic ESP courses in areas such as business, aviation and nursing Introducing Course Design in English for Specific Purposes is essential reading for pre-service and in-service teachers, and students studying ESP and applied linguistics.

Want a fast, fun, effective way to build an online course? Want the satisfaction of knowing your online course truly delivers the transformation it promises? If your goal is not just to sell a digital product, but to become a world-changing global teacher, the Course Design Formula that is the heart of this book will help you get there. Read this book and follow its every instruction to the letter and you will build your next online course better, faster, and more effectively than others who are not using a research-based instructional design process. In Course Design Formula, author Rebecca Frost Cuevas synthesizes best practices from cognitive psychology, instructional design, learning theory, and information processing theory with her decades of hands-on expertise into clear guidelines that can be applied quickly to any type of content geared for any target audience.