Page 143 - International Journal of Process Educaiton (Special Issue)

Course Design Process (1998)
The Course Design Methodology (CDM) is a set of steps used to produce a course, including
the target/goals, means of achieving them, and a system for measuring performance so that the
course’s intended learning and growth outcomes are achieved.
Shifting Focus: From Technology to Course Design
As a software company in the 1980s, one of Pacific Crest’s
primary goals was to help faculty enhance classroom
learning with the use of technology; “…to help schools
improve educational outcomes by improving the process
by which students learn” (Pacific Crest Software, 1992).
To justify the use of technology we needed to provide
evidence that more significant learning occurred in a
course that incorporated the technology compared with a
course that did not. It was clear that technology could be
used to improve student problem solving skills (see article
section, Role of Technology); but justifying its inclusion in scholarship focused on a variety of topics which led to the
a course required us to answer the question, “What are the
components of a course that produce not only significant
learning, but also evidence of that learning?” In short,
technology was only part of the answer; if the overarching
goal was to improve educational outcomes by improving
the process by which students learn, then a far larger and
more critical issue was to determine what comprised an
optimally designed course.
Figure 1 Course Design Methodology
ANALYSIS
Learning-Outcome Driven Instructional Design
1 Construct professional behaviors.
2 Identify course intentions.
3 Construct measurable learning outcomes.
4 Construct a knowledge table.
DESIGN
Activities/Knowledge to Support Learning Outcomes
5 Choose themes.
6 Create the appropriate methodologies.
7 Identify a set of activities.
8 Identify a set of specific learning skills for the course.
DEVELOPMENT
Construction and Selection
9 Identify activity preference types.
10 Match the activity types with the chosen activities.
11 Choose the in-class and out-of-class activities.
International Journal of Process Education (February 2016, Volume 8 Issue 1)
CD
In the process of designing the structure and content of a
course that not only produces significant learning but also
evidence of that learning, the Course Design Methodology
was developed (see Figure 1).
Origin and Refinement of Steps in the Course
Design Methodology
Many steps in the development or refinement of the CDM
evolved the design process to its current state. As will
become obvious, the course design process was heavily
influenced by other research areas of Process Education;
addition of new steps, the revision of existing steps, or the
connection of steps within the methodology.
In 1993, Beyerlein, Ford, and Apple outlined the course
design process in their paper, Using a Learning Process
Model to Enhance Learning with Technology. They
noted that the Learning Process Model contains steps for
identifying prerequisites (pre-assessment), selecting key
DEVELOPMENT
Construction and Selection (con’t)
12 Allocate time across the themes.
13 Sequence the activities across the term.
14 Create individual activities from a prioritized list.
15 Enhance activities by using technology.
16 Ask peers to review the activities you create.
17 Produce key performance criteria.
18 Locate or build key performance measures.
19 Design a course assessment system.
20 Design a course evaluation system.
21 Design a course syllabus.
IMPLEMENTATION
Facilitating Learning
EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT
Instruction that Learns from Itself
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