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Course Design Support

Apply for a 2025 Course Design Program by April 11th, 2025 via this application form.

In 2024, the CTL expanded its support for course design to better accommodate the ways in which instructors would prefer to engage in the course design process.

In May, we will again offer our weeklong Course Design Institute (CDI). Over four days of in-person meetings, the CDI  will guide participants through the process of developing effective, aligned, and student-centered courses. In June, we will offer the same content in the Course Design Academy, a month-long, fully asynchronous program.

Regardless of which option they chose, by the end, participants will have substantial work completed towards a new or revised course design. Read on for more details about each of the programs, and find one that’s right for you. 

Course Design Institute

Course Design Institute

Course Design Academy

Course Design Academy

Learning Outcomes and Deliverables

By completing any of these Course Design programs, you will make progress towards:

  • Creating learning environments informed by your situational factors which support all learners
  • Creating a set of clear, attainable, learning-focused, measurable and specific learning outcomes which span different levels of learning
  • Designing summative assessments which allow students to demonstrate their mastery of the learning outcomes
  • Creating a variety of learning activities that support student mastery of learning outcomes

Throughout each course design program, you will generate the following evidence of your learning:

  • An analysis of your own situational factors
  • A comprehensive set of course learning outcomes
  • An authentic, transparent summative assessment aligned with one or more course learning outcomes OR a summative assessment plan for the full set of learning outcomes
  • A scaffolding plan for one of your course learning outcomes

How to earn a Course Design Certificate 

Completing one of these Course Design programs is the first step toward earning your Course Design certificate from the CTL. The work that you do in any of these programs will position you well to complete the deliverables required for the Course Design Certificate. Learn more about the requirements and process on the Course Design Certificate web page. 

Putting your course design plan into action

Did you work through the course design process? Congratulations! This guide helps you move from where you are to where you’d want to be to be ready to teach the course.