5. Sketch of the 10-stage Course Design and Development process

5. Sketch of the 10-stage Course Design and Development process

Table of Contents

The 10-Stage Course Design and Development process (= Course DD process) is followed in the Moodle course.

The DD process is crafted to support university educators in integrating modern pedagogical approaches into their current courses, with a focus on pedagogical IT solutions. The 10-stage Course DD process is meant to help the teacher designer in a design situation like

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  1. The teacher-designers must restructure their course due to significant issues or desires related to content and learning objectives. Alternatively, the teacher-designers have several new ideas for essential changes in the pedagogical approach, necessitating a course redesign.
  2. The main aspects of the program will change: there are no simple solutions. The teacher-designers do not yet have clear ideas about the format of the changes. The design process is more complex and requires more knowledge and creativity. The teacher-designer should invest extra time in modifying the current course.

The design process aims to create an excellent learning experience for your course, achieving well-defined learning objectives within a supportive and stimulating learning environment.

Designing a course is not about crafting objectives but developing the learning process.

Stage 1 Prepare and discuss the design brief with the design assignment and DD process.

When you start redesigning your course, you first think about how you tackle your course design task. There is no standard course design and development process that you can follow step by step. The difficulty and complexity of the design task and your experience as a teacher designer determine your course redesign and development process. The consequence is that the teacher designer should make its version of the Basic DD process.

There are two main tasks.

• 1. Prepare a ‘design brief’ to explain your course design task;
  2. Prepare the DD process you like to follow to finish the design task.

Stage 2 Collect information for the selection of the pedagogical options

Additional pedagogical and disciplinary background information is required to execute the course design process (DD process) productively. The information is necessary to gain sufficient insight into the design assignment and subsequently develop and select ideas for possible solutions.

An often forgotten source of information is the reconstruction of the old version of the course: what were the good parts and which were not? Why did it look the way it did?  

The collected information will be organised by elaborating on the intermediate products: the diamond diagram, the learning environment and possibly an initial version of the route map(s).

The main activities are:

• 1. Collect additional information needed in the design process to be able to prepare the intermediate products.
  2. Select interesting IT ideas to introduce blended learning.
  3. Analyse the pedagogical consequences of the formulated problems or wishes with the help of the design tool eight design principles for MHE.
  4. Formulate and evaluate the ideas for possible solutions. Choose the best one.

Stage 3 Formulate your ideas on IT options and what you expect

To assist you with selecting IT options, you can find an overview by clicking here.

Select the design principles and the IT options for your pedagogical concept.

You answer the following questions:

• 1. What IT options do you want to introduce in (a part of) your course?
  2. Why did you select these changes? What are the benefits?
  3. Are there other pedagogical options of modern higher education besides the IT options you would like to introduce?

Stage 4 How do you want to realise the selected ideas for using IT?

Face-to-face (F2F), Information Technology (IT), and self-study learning activities ought to be combined in a manner that is effective, efficient, well-liked, valued, and feasible.

The main activities are:

• 1. Determine how you plan to realize your selected IT ideas for implementing IT solutions.
  2. Identify the requirements necessary to achieve the redesign.
  3. Examine the different texts regarding IT options to determine if you wish to modify your list.

Stage 5 Fill in the Diamond Diagram and the Pedagogical Concept for your course. When necessary collect and study additional background information

The description of two essential elements of the learning environment required in course design will be formulated: the diamond diagram and the pedagogical concept, which explain your perspective for your course. Please click on the hyperlinks for further information about these two elements.

In this step, the main activities are:

1. Use the information already available to fill in the five elements of the diamond diagram. You can systematically describe your course with the diamond diagram: learning objectives, course content, methods/media, success criteria and test methods and constraints. An alternative is the Spider Diagram.
2. Collect any necessary additional pedagogic and discipline information.
3. Check if the five elements of the diamond diagram are logically related (constructive alignment).
4. Select the design principles and the IT options for your pedagogical concept. Describe your pedagogical concept.
5. Complete the initial draft of the description of the learning environment.

Stage 6 Make a Route Map of one of your courses.

In a Route Map, you visualise your course outline. What are the main topics and learning activities? In what sequence will the students study the topics? What learning paths will they follow?

The main tasks are:

1. 1. Develop the Route map step by step. In the Route Map, indicate where you want to introduce the IT options you selected (and, if needed, additional options of modern higher education).
   2. Prepare the sequence in which the content will be presented. This means splitting your course content into smaller or larger topics and following a specific order that supports and motivates the students to master the learning objectives.
   3. Visualise the Route map. This offers the possibility of a reality check by making your thoughts visible. This allows you to assess whether your ideas will have the desired effect and are practically feasible.
   4. Evaluate if your description will result in an effective, efficient, valued, well-liked and feasible education. Also, check if you will reach the qualities you formulated. Adjust the diamond diagram if necessary.

Stage 7 Design new learning activities, materials and tests

The Route map you design will outline your ideas for integrating IT solutions into learning materials, activities, and assessments. At this phase, you should flesh out these concepts sufficiently to determine whether they fulfil your expectations. You will finalise these concept ideas in the subsequent stages, 6 and 7.

The main tasks in this stage are:

• Prepare the learning activities that are new to you;
• Check the type of learning activity level using the list of verbs;
• Look for possibilities to use existing learning materials available on the internet.

Stage 8 Elaborate the Route map into the Blueprint

The course route map will be detailed in a comprehensive Blueprint.
The Blueprint is a detailed course description that outlines the expected execution of your course.

The Blueprint will describe each topic, outlining the required student learning activities, anticipated learning outcomes, instructional activities, ICT utilization and practical exercises, among other aspects described in the learning environment.
The Blueprint is designed to help you evaluate your satisfaction with the final lesson plan and the formulated teaching and learning outcomes.

The main activities are:

1. Assess whether the learning process is realistic and motivating for students.
2. Does the design meet the needs of diverse student groups;
3. Verify the feasibility of teaching activities for both you and the students and also for the management.

Stage 9 Deliver the (re)designed blended course

The course will be delivered as a finished product in this design activity. The teacher ensures that all activities and materials meet the expected quality standards.

The main activities are:

1. Insert the final versions of the topic titles in the Virtual Learning environment;
2. Follow the Blueprint and the Route Map and elaborate on the required learning activities and materials;
3. Not all activities and materials are ready for use. Make an analysis and a work plan necessary to complete the blended learning course for a short and longer time;
4. Prepare the teaching and learning activities and – materials in the format you want using the available checklists;
5. Discuss with your colleagues and the management regarding the effects of the course on the curriculum;
6. Prepare the students’ coursebooks, curriculum study guides, and quality assurance documents.

Stage 10 Evaluate and assess the quality of the design results

The main activities are:

• 1. Prepare a pilot project or short tryouts before you start the redesigned course
  2. Decide which evaluative information should be collected during the implementation of the new course and how this can be collected;
  3. Discuss the project plan with your colleagues and management;
  4. Make a course description for your institute and the students on your website.

To enter the Moodle course, there are two possibilities:

You can enter as a quest. You must fill in the password Design1*.

You can mail me for an account as a student. I need your first name, family name and e-mail address for this.
jannedermeijer@hotmail.com

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