Course Design
The LXD team works with SMEs to design both undergraduate and graduate level courses.
For undergraduates, the asynchronous course design in addition to the five-week course schedule presents a unique structure for credit hours.
Credit Hours | Minimum total required faculty-directed instruction | Minimum total student-directed instructional hours | Total minimum instructional hours | Hours per week for 5-week term |
|---|---|---|---|---|
3 | 45 | 90 | 135 | 27 |
“Graduate students are expected to perform not only additional work beyond undergraduate expectations, but to submit work that is more in-depth and of higher quality as befits a graduate-level course. Graduate students are therefore expected to perform roughly a third more work than their undergraduate counterparts. Thus, one Unity graduate credit hour in an eight-week term is equal to at least 60 hours of student work.” (Unity DE Course Catalog)
Credit Hours | Minimum total required faculty-directed instruction | Minimum total student-directed instructional hours | Total minimum instructional hours | Hours per week for 5-week term |
|---|---|---|---|---|
3 | 60 | 120 | 180 | 22.5 |
The outcomes of all Unity courses emphasize the progression from lower level thinking skills and competencies to higher level ones based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. Students in Unity courses use the knowledge and information from the curated selection of learning materials in order to complete various assignments, discussions, quizzes, labs, and Course Projects. As they progress through their courses, students move to the stages of application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Assessments should push students to these more complex thought processes.
With these thinking skills and outcomes in mind, courses are designed through the Understanding by Design (UbD) or Backwards design model (in conjunction with Universal Design): these learning goals and desired skills inform the creation of the course and its components. SMEs must determine how they will assess students’ mastery of these skills, driving them to create relevant, meaningful activities (as opposed to beginning with content or possible activities and then seeking out skill outcomes). Prioritizing outcomes and skills as opposed to content and knowledge ensures the design of the course addresses the higher order thinking in Bloom’s Taxonomy. Outcomes phrased as “Students will be able to” emphasize skills and applications over merely acquiring factual knowledge. This model promotes a more intentional approach to learning. In other words, what can students do at the end of a course?
The Course Project exemplifies the integration of the course design, learning outcomes, and assessment of student progress. By designing the Course Project first, the rest of the course can be structured around its tasks, learning outcomes, and skill development. More on the philosophy of the Course Project below.
Course design occurs in collaboration with a SME who can provide the specific content knowledge and expertise needed for determining course outcomes, assessments, and materials. However, the course could be taught by another Instructor who may have a similar background but with other areas of expertise or training. To that end, courses follow a standardized template and all necessary instructions, assignments, learning materials, and other course components must be embedded into the course so that a different Instructor could pick it up and be ready to teach it.
For further reading, consult these resources:
ADDIE
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Gagne’s 9 Events of Instruction (Under “Learning Theory”)
Quality Matters Framework
Understanding by Design Framework
Universal Design
The UDL Guidelines
Webb’s Depth of Knowledge