Designing Courses & Subjects
"The curriculum for any university programme needs to be developed around the idea that students are being prepared for a future which is largely unknown (Bowden and Marton, 1998, p.94)."
Course and subject design strongly influence what and how students learn at university. Designing courses or subjects begins with considering what you want students to learn. Learning aims and objectives, course and subject structures, learning activities and forms of assessment can then be developed with desired student learning outcomes in mind.
In designing course programs, it's important to consider the overall aims for student learning in the course and how the structure of the course and its component subjects enable students to achieve these aims. As Bowden and Marton (1998, p.94) note, university courses need to prepare students "for a future which is largely unknown". Courses need to be designed so that students experience a broad variety of opportunities for developing the professional, personal and intellectual attributes that we expect of graduates, so that they can continue to learn in the future. The UTS Graduate Profile Frameworkdescribes the UTS approach to developing graduate profiles to reflect the attributes students will develop in specific courses. The report on Generic Capabilities of ATN University Graduates is a useful starting point for considering how you might design courses to develop students' graduate attributes in ways which relate to their disciplinary or professional understandings.
If you're responsible for designing a new course or reviewing an existing one, the new UTS course development site provides a range of useful resources.
Designing a subject also starts with considering what and how students are intended to learn, then designing the learning objectives, subject structure learning activities and forms of assessment with this in mind. On this site you'll find some suggestions and resources for improving subject design, considering student diversity and introducing flexible learning. You may also be interested in the sections of this website on assessment, groupwork and e-learning.
If you're a subject co-ordinator you might also find the information on subject outlines [Word Doc] and the subject outline template [Word Doc] useful. The UTS Coursework assessment policy and procedures manual contains a list of information which must be included in subject outlines for students.
If you're designing and preparing to teach a subject for the first time, Teaching Matters: A handbook for UTS academic staff has some information and questions to consider in your planning.
Find out more about subject & course design
Do the Course Design and Assessment subjects from the GCHETL. You can participate in learning activities and then choose whether or not to complete the assessment and gain credit for the module.
Further reading.
Two books which have very good chapters on aspects of course design, in particular aims and objectives and how they relate to student learning are:
- Biggs, J. (1999) Teaching for Quality Learning at University. Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press.
- Ramsden, P. (2003) Learning to teach in higher education. London: Routledge.
For a good overview of different course design philosophies, structures and practices:
- Toohey, S. (1999) Designing courses in Higher Education. Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press.
Two short and practical starting points from the IML resources shelf are:
- Gibbs, G. (1992) Teaching more students: Problems and course design strategies. Oxford: Oxonion Rewley Press.
- Foster, G. (1995) Design of university courses and subjects: A strategic approach. HERDSA Green Guide No 15.