6 Elements to Design & Deliver Your Own Course

Designing and delivering a course of your own is a special milestone for many educators. It is often indicative of professional autonomy in one's institution and the classroom. It's also a very fun and exciting process, especially when it relates to a subject you feel passionate about and enjoy.

If you're thinking or have an option of designing your own course, here are several course design and delivery elements that should be considered:

• ​​Are the learning outcomes related to the course?
• Are they relevant?
• Can students meet these outcomes throughout the duration of the course? 
• Do the learning outcomes cover the entire learning process? (Bloom's Taxonomy) 
• ​​What are some factors that will influence your decision in what to teach?
• What are the best possible ways to teach the material?
• Consider the following: 
  • Primary material
  • Tools
  • Timelines
  • Deadlines
  • Topics
  • Deliverables
  • Consider timing and logistics
  • Are there any situational logistics that you might encounter throughout the semester?
  • Are there any resources/individuals that you can leverage to help you with these logistics?
  • ​​Identify teaching methods/strategies
  • Do these methods help you best in delivering your learning outcomes and overall course design?
  • Are these methods inclusive? 
  • Do these methods tailor to the students' needs as learners?
  • Will others be involved in the process?
  • Can you foresee any issues arising from these decisions?
  • How do we know students learned?
  • How can students best apply knowledge gained from the learning outcomes?
  • Consider the following:
    • Timelines
    • Deadlines
    • Relevancy
    • ​How do we know the course is successful?
    • What were the right decisions? 
    • What are some decisions to reconsider next time?
    • Consider the following evaluations:
      • Administrators
      • Peers
      • Students
      • Self