Course Design Pedagogy
Reduce Cognitive Overload for Better Course Design
Poor instructions, confusing course navigation, and a visually cluttered layout in a Canvas course can distract and overwhelm students before they even get to learning the actual course material. Working memory has a limited capacity, so ensure that students are spending that mental effort on meaningful challenges.
Resources
- Six Strategies You May Not Be Using To Reduce Cognitive Load (article)
- Understanding Cognitive Load Theory for better online course design (article)
- Understanding the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (video)
- 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning: Part 1 (video)
- 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning: Part 2 (video)
- 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning: Part 3 (video)
Transparent Assignment Design
Transparent teaching, a pedagogical approach developed by Dr. Mary-Ann Winkelmes, Executive Director at the Center for Teaching and Learning at Brandeis University and the Principal Investigator and Founder of TILT Higher Ed, suggests that making the process of teaching and learning explicit to students can have a significant impact on their learning. When teaching is transparent, students better understand the rationale for assignments and how they're evaluated, which research shows makes students feel confident and like they belong in college, which helps predict whether they succeed and remain enrolled (Berrett, The Chronicle of Higher Ed, 2015).
Tools for Revising/Creating Your Own Transparent Assignments
- Transparent Assignment Template for instructors (PDF)
- Transparent Equitable Learning Readiness Assessment for Teachers (PDF)
- Checklist for Designing Transparent Assignments (PDF)
Tools for Gathering Feedback on Your Draft Assignments
- Transparent Assignment Template for students (PDF) - You can use this template to gather feedback from your students about how to make your assignments' purposes, tasks, and criteria even more transparent and relevant to them
- Transparent Equitable Learning Framework for Students (PDF) - You can use this template to guide a conversation with your students about how to make the purposes, tasks, and criteria for class activities transparent and relevant for them
Quality Learning & Teaching
Quality Learning and Teaching (QLT) at Humboldt is a program that includes a rubric-based guide that focuses on supporting educators in the continuous process of critical reflection of their course design and teaching. As part of the California State University Quality Assurance Program, Humboldt's QLT engages faculty, faculty developers, and designers in designing and facilitating robust online, blended, hybrid, and flipped courses. The QLT is also translatable to face-to-face courses.
The California State University Quality Learning and Teaching (QLT) instrument is informed through evidence-based practices that guide you through your course design and pedagogy in order to maximize student engagement and success. You can learn more at the CSU Quality Assurance (QA) website.
Universal Design for Learning
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can increase teaching effectiveness, improve student outcomes, and meet the needs of diverse learners. In order to implement UDL, you will need to:
- clearly identify learning goals so that you can create learning experiences that meet the needs of all of your students without compromising knowledge and skill-building,
- recognize that external barriers exist and address them by providing multiple pathways for students to reach their learning goals,
- empower students with choice and autonomy through mulitple means of engagment, multiple means of representation, and multple means of action and expression,
- offer opportunities for revision and self-reflection rather than only grading final work.