how to develop a college undergrad course

Write an effective course description that provides a basic overview of the course material that will be covered in one semester. Submit your proposal to the appropriate faculty members. Write a list of course objectives and outcomes that students should be able to meet by taking the course.

Full Answer

How to design a college level curriculum?

Part 1 Part 1 of 3: Seeing the Big Picture

1. Define the purpose of the curriculum. Your curriculum should have clear topic and purpose. ...
2. Choose an appropriate title. Depending on the learning objective, titling the curriculum may be a straightforward process or one that requires greater thought.
3. Establish a timeline. ...
4. Figure out how much you can cover in the time allotted. ...

More items...

How to create a college course?

— Dallas School District is expanding its "Young Scholars" program down to the junior year in the High School, meaning participating students could earn 24 college credits before graduation, double the previous amount when only seniors could take advantage of it.

How to create an online course?

How to Create an Online Course and Share Your Expertise

1. Choose the right subject matter. The topic you choose is entirely in your hands, and can be pretty much anything -...
2. Test your idea. Creating an online course requires a lot of hard work and effort on your part, so running a test...
3. Research the topic extensively. Whether you’re already an expert in...

Who should inform curriculum development?

Some of these challenges include:

• Institutional requirements. You may need to conform to standards set by your state's board of education or by institutional administration. ...
• Long waits for development experts. Your institution may have trained curriculum experts on staff to help professors with course development. ...
• Gathering relevant required materials. ...

How do you develop an undergraduate course?

To design an effective course, you need to:Consider timing and logistics.Recognize who your students are.Identify the situational constraints.Articulate your learning objectives.Identify potential assessments.Identify appropriate instructional strategies.Plan your course content and schedule.

Can you create a college course?

Creating a course requires extensive planning and a high level of organization. Create a course proposal to be reviewed by the department head or committee in charge of curriculum decisions at your school.

How much does it cost to create a class in college?

At public 4-year institutions, in-state students pay an average of $313 per credit hour. Out-of-state students pay $1,005 per credit hour. Private 4-year universities charge $785 per credit hour. At public, 2-year institutions or community colleges, in-state students pay $122 per credit hour.

How do I create a college curriculum?

Learning to Build Your CurriculumDescribe your vision, focus, objectives, and student needs.Identify resources.Develop experiences that meet your objectives.Collect and devise materials.Lock down the specifics of your task.Develop plans, methods, and processes.Create your students' experience.Go!

How long does it take to create a college course?

Think Months Versus Weeks In the study, 29% of respondents said it took them over 100 hours, while 87% take up to 16 weeks to develop their course. A good rule of thumb is to allow 2-3 months to account for research, designing the course, testing with students and finalizing.

How do you create a course?

We've been there, done that....How to Create an Online CourseIdentify the Opportunity. Creating an online class is just like starting a startup. ... Validate Your Course Idea. ... Outline Your Course. ... Build Your Online Course. ... Find Your First Batch of Students. ... Launch Your Online Course. ... Build Your Community.

How much does it cost to build a collage?

College Dormitory (2-3 Story) Square Foot Cost Assuming Decorative Concrete Block / R/Conc. FrameCost Estimate (Union Labor)% of TotalCostTotal$3,576,500Contractor Fees (GC,Overhead,Profit)25%$894,100Architectural Fees7%$312,900Total Building Cost$4,783,600

How do you calculate cost per class?

How to calculate tuition per credit hourCollege tuition isn't one flat rate, there are also taxes and additional fees rolled into that sum.$600 per credit hour x 15 total credit hours (for 5 classes) = $9,000 tuition for the credit hours.Cost per credit hour x total credit hours = estimated tuition cost.

How do you set a price for an online course?

How to choose a price for your online course:Do not price your course based on its length. ... Take a look at your competition. ... Quantify the value of the outcome your students can achieve. ... Test different price points. ... Consider your credibility/authority in your market. ... Consider the cost of your customer's alternatives.More items...•

What are the 7 stages of curriculum development?

PHASE I: PLANNING(1) Identify Issue/Problem/Need. ... (2) Form Curriculum Development Team. ... (3) Conduct Needs Assessment and Analysis. ... (4) State Intended Outcomes. ... (5) Select Content. ... (6) Design Experiential Methods. ... (7) Produce Curriculum Product. ... (8) Test and Revise Curriculum.More items...

Can I create my own curriculum?

Creating your own curriculum is doable for any interested parent, and it doesn't require you to have a degree in education or know how to teach every single subject. You just need to know your child, do your homework, and not be afraid to try things and ask for help. You can do that, right?

What makes a great college course?

Good courses make sure to appeal to visual, kinesthetic, and other learning styles by providing a variety of multimedia content and carefully designed assignments that help students learn in the way that works best for them.

What is early declaration?

The early “declaration” is usually so an advisor from the field and/or some introductory courses in the named field can be scheduled. Sometimes the student is unable to formally set up an individualized major until this time (though that doesn’t mean you can’t start planning earlier!).

What is an individualized major?

An individualized major is typically highly interdisciplinary and combines at least two distinct areas of knowledge. Generalizing here, an individualized major usually goes one of three directions: 1. A wide variety of courses across many disciplines; 2. A very specific set of courses going more in depth in a particular field than what is available in a broader major or when the major is not offered; or 3. A combination of two fields of study without actually trying to double-major (full course completion in two majors, usually resulting in the need for many more than the minimal number of credits to graduate).

Why do you need an advising office for individualized majors?

If courses have been a struggle (i.e., bad grades), then it seldom works for that student to propose an individualized major—there would need to be an advising office to help convince the academic powers that the struggle is because of the need for an individualized major.

How many credit hours are there in a bachelors degree?

For the most part, an academic curriculum for a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BS) totals around 124 credit hours (though it varies) and consists of credit hours spread out with one-third general education courses, one-third major courses, and one-third elective courses.

What is self designed major?

Self-designed majors hinge on a theme, such as women’s health, international relations, or environmental sustainability. Students then pick classes to support their topic. Advisors may suggest (or require) a certain foundation of classes, but students generally have plenty of freedom in their selection.”.

What is double major?

A combination of two fields of study without actually trying to double-major (full course completion in two majors, usually resulting in the need for many more than the minimal number of credits to graduate).

Do you have to have an individualized major to go to college?

Most times, students don’t enter college having arranged an individualized major. They generally enter as “undeclared” and, like most first-year students not in pre-professional programs (Education, BFA , etc.), they take mostly general education courses and maybe a course or two in their “major” field.

What should be included in a college syllabus?

The syllabus should include a comprehensive course schedule, the course objectives, information regarding the types of assessments that will be required ( exams, quizzes, papers, etc.), your contact information and any required institutional statements that your college may require in all of its syllabi. Write your course lectures.

What can a history professor teach?

For instance, history professors may teach a course in sports history or women's history in addition to teaching U.S. history survey courses. Creating a course requires extensive planning and a high level of organization. Create a course proposal to be reviewed by the department head or committee in charge of curriculum decisions at your school.

How to prepare for a new course?

Begin the process early , giving yourself as much time as you can to plan a new course. Successful courses require careful planning and continual revision. Consult with colleagues who have taught the same or similar courses to learn from their strategies and their general impressions of the students who typically take the course.

How to define course goals?

When you define the course goals, focus on student learning. One way to formulate these goals is to determine what students should be learning in terms of content, cognitive development, and personal development. Be as specific as you can and make sure that the goals define learning in ways that can be measured.

How to teach more material than you can cover in the allotted time?

Instructors often plan initially to teach more material than they can cover in the allotted time. Determine the structure of the course; arrange the topics in a logical order. Developing a rationale that guides the structure of the course can help you explain the material more clearly to the students.

What is course planning?

Course planning is a continual process, as illustrated by the diagram below. Each of the steps is necessarily undertaken with the others in mind, and each will necessarily undergo revision each time you teach a particular course. As you plan and revise courses, remember the importance of teaching core concepts and critical-thinking skills.

How to teach chemistry?

Teach students problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. Demonstrate how chemistry is used in other fields and in everyday situations. Teach students the beauty of chemistry. Determine course content. Select the major topics and determine the order in which you will teach them. Select the main topics to be covered.

What do you want students to learn and be able to accomplish?

What do you want the students to learn and be able to accomplish? With your goals clearly defined, decisions to include certain content, the teaching methods to employ, and the types of assignments and exams to utilize can be more readily determined. To help with curriculum planning primarily in defining goals to maximize student learning (opposed to course content, it is called Backward Design ), check out G. Wiggins and J. McTighe’s Understanding by Design (1998). Basically, according to Backward Design, instructors should clearly define what they expect their students to have learned by the end of the course or section.

How to grade work?

Decide how to grade the work: papers, assignments, exams, and if appropriate, class participation. Determine how you will deal with issues of student tardiness, attendance, late work, and any extensions/rescheduling of assignments/exams.

Why is it important to allow time for active learning?

It is essential to allow time for active learning as well as to block out sufficient work/study time for students to complete major assignments and to prepare for exams.

What should instructors know about backward design?

Basically, according to Backward Design, instructors should clearly define what they expect their students to have learned by the end of the course or section. See also: ADDIE Model. During the process of determining course goals, it is important to think about student learning.

What should the exam focus on?

For example, if a course goal is to sharpen problem-solving skills, then the exam should focus on a question that uses problem-solving, not mainly recalling facts. Similarly, both homework and class activities prior to the exam should involve questions and exercises that deal with problem-solving skills.

Is planning a course fluid?

Remember that planning a course is a fluid process. The diagram shows this below. Each step is made with the other steps in mind and, likewise, each step will be refined every time you teach the course.

Learner-Centered Design

What are the essential features of a course? How can you translate the things that you, as the instructor, wish to teach into a syllabus that is transparent, engaging, and wholly focused on your students' learning?

Putting Evidence at the Center

Can you really say that you have taught something if you can't show that your students have learned it? What kinds of evidence can you collect about your instruction, and what your students still need to learn?

What Should Students Learn?

How should you set goals for your students? How can you draw upon the literature on teaching and learning, your disciplinary identity, your research interests, and your sense of what students need for the future to set the agenda for your teaching?

Start with the Capstone

How will students make sense of the full arc of your course? Are your goals and students' experiences aligned? How can starting the design process with your final assignment (s) help you to bring your goals into greater focus, and guarantee that they permeate the rest of the semester?

How to Write an Effective Assignment Prompt

Are your students' assignments giving you good evidence about what they are (or are not) learning—and, for that matter, about how effectively you are teaching? How can you draft assignment prompts that stand the best chance of eliciting the evidence and feedback that you seek?

Scaffolding: Using Frequency and Sequencing Intentionally

How can escape from the tyranny of the academic calendar, and create the most sensible sequence of assignments that prepare students to undertake their capstone projects or final exams? Will they learn the skills necessary to succeed sequentially, or practice them all repeatedly? When, and how often, should your students receive feedback on their progress?.

Grading and Responding to Student Work

What kind of feedback is most helpful to students as they progress towards mastery of your course material? How can you use rubrics effectively to norm the grading across your teaching staff? If you think a creative assignment is the best way for your students to demonstrate their learning, how can you make sure they are the occasion for substantive feedback? How can you grade them fairly?.

How to design a curriculum?

1. Define the purpose of the curriculum. Your curriculum should have clear topic and purpose. The topic should be appropriate for the age of the students and the environment in which the curriculum will be taught. If you are asked to design a course, ask yourself questions about the general purpose of the course.

What is curriculum in education?

This article has been viewed 566,414 times. A curriculum often consists of a guide for educators to teach content and skills. Some curricula are general road maps, while others are quite detailed and give instructions for day to day learning. Developing a curriculum can be quite challenging, especially when expectations have such a large range.

What are unit topics?

Organize your brainstorm or state standards into unified sections that follow a logical sequence. Units can cover big ideas like love, planets, or equations, and important topics like multiplication or chemical reactions.