Where To Begin Course Design (or Redesign)

Course Design Frameworks

When CTI staff are working with instructors who are new to SSU or new to teaching college courses, we often discuss the following topics:

"Hidden curriculum" contexts: Consider how to make your course aims and expectations clear, accessible, and relevant to all students in syllabi, assignment prompts, Canvas course site design, and other course design elements. CTI also encourages instructors to use pre-semester and mid-semester surveys to provide students with a clear space to share previous course experiences and lingering questions or concerns.
Course Objectives and Alignment: Your syllabus typically outlines or documents the stated objectives of the course. How do your course materials and course activities align with these aims? How do you demonstrate this alignment to students through course communication and efforts that make your motives clear and transparent to them?
Course Interactions: CTI frequently asks instructors to think about three core types of interactions in their courses: Student-Instructor, Student-Course Materials, Student-Student. We use this framework to ask instructors to identify challenges and to consider how instructors guide and assess interactions that help keep students engaged and on track with course objectives.
Scaffolding: Scaffolding often involves designing modules or course activities that help students meet course objectives, receive feedback, and reflect on coursework incrementally. A scaffolding framework often helps us think about what support and resources we provide to students (and when and how that support is provided).
Assessment: We ask instructors to think about forms of assessment activities and the motives behind assignment aims, formats, and outputs. Assessment also frequently involves considerations of how students receive feedback and evaluation, whether that work happens through formal rubrics and grading standards, informal / conversational guidance, peer review activities, or investments in "ungrading" or alternate forms of assessment.

Course Design Frameworks After AI

If you've been teaching here at SSU or elsewhere, then you've likely done some important work thinking about these course contexts. I'm (re)introducing them in the context of AI because I believe these foundational aspects of course design can help instructors who feel anxious or overwhelmed about AI to view this new technology through frameworks that are already familiar to them.

"Hidden curriculum" contexts: AI course policies are designed in large part to demystify course expectations related to relevant AI usage. But you should also consider where and how you are assessing student AI literacy perceptions, how you learn about student perceptions of AI based on personal feelings, professional experiences, or other course contexts.
Course Objectives and Alignment: Sharing your own emerging AI literacy and the motivations informing your course policy and assignment policies can be effectively done by aligning those experiences and decisions to course objectives. For example, while you may acknowledge the value that AI provides professionals in your field with relevant expertise, your course may be designed to emphasize professional foundations and core concepts that students may need to acquire without relying on AI to do that work.
Course Interactions and Forms of Engagement: The concern many instructors and students have is that the outsourcing of AI work may result in course interactions looking more like: Student-AI, Instructor-AI, AI-AI. You don't necessarily need to abandon course activities that could potentially be outsourced to AI. There may be types of interactions that you revise or remove with good reason, but you should also reflect on how you communicate the value and importance of particular course interactions and activities if they seem particular essential to your course objectives.
Scaffolding: Iterative work does not necessarily circumvent all AI use-cases that you hope to avoid, but a course that clearly outlines mechanisms of support, provides discrete tasks and activities, and creates conditions for students to share and receive feedback from instructors and one another (among other areas) can also help students understand why you value and model certain methods of working and thinking in this course.
Assessment: "I can tell AI wrote this"; unreliable AI detection tools; student self-disclosures and citations; searching for "AI-proof" assessment activities

Your list of bullet points may have other keywords or topics in it, depending on your course. While CTI provides the ADAPT Checklist to offer guidance and language on how to reflect on and assess course contexts that AI usage may impact, you may find it helpful to begin this process by drawing on the language and teaching approaches you have spent your career considering and refining over time.

Where To Begin Course Design (or Redesign)

Course Design Frameworks

Course Design Frameworks After AI

Select "Next" to go to the next page.