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Designing Effective
Courses

Structure & Organization

Reflection of students talking inside a building, with trees in background

How a course is structured is important. Organizational clarity creates ease for students by minimizing frustration, maximizing predictability, and reducing cognitive load. This page provides instructors with resources to develop learning goals and organize the course and provide structures for students to learn and succeed in your course.

Assessment & Feedback

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Assessments, when designed effectively, provide great opportunities for students to engage in deep learning and for the instructor to gauge understanding, provide feedback, and assign grades. This page provides resources for understanding the the different types of assessments, selecting assessment strategies that align with your learning objectives, and considering academic integrity.

Active Learning

Math Grad students working together, active learning, seated at tables

This page provides instructors and TAs with resources for understanding the research background of active learning, selecting active learning strategies that align with your learning objectives in any teaching modality, and designing effective and equitable collaborative activities and group work.

Syllabus Template

This page provides several of our favorite syllabus design resources, as well as a syllabus template with sample language that you can adapt for your courses.

Need more help?

The TLC offers a number of opportunities for instructors to get support with course design, redesign, and development beyond the resources in these pages.

Last modified: Aug 31, 2023