Core elements of developing as a programme and course designer

Developing as a course and programme designer is not a standalone, one-off activity, but is based on an iterative process of planning, designing, getting feedback, sharing practice, and re-designing.

What is iterative design?

Beyond working through the resources on these pages, there are lots of good ways you can continue to build your experience and understanding of course and programme design. Course and programme design are always iterative. No matter how well you create your initial design, inevitably, at least some students will experience your designs in ways that you hadn’t anticipated. There’s lots of evidence that students perceive courses differently depending on things like their background knowledge and past experiences as learners. So, it’s really important to build in opportunities for feedback to you on your design so that you can adjust in for the next year and future years.

What is iterative design - text from above diagram

Iterative design for curriculum involves continuously improving upon a course or programme. It often happens by 1) Incorporating feedback and 2) Reflecting on successes and challenges. 

The cycle of iterative design involves research, planning, implementing, evaluating, and refining, and going round through these steps in a cycle more than once. 

Feedback

Many of us have had the experience of only getting a very small number of official feedback forms returned from students, which doesn’t give you much to go on for adjusting your design. Often, it’s more successful to collect feedback data during synchronous teaching using a tool such as Wooclap (which is supported by Information Services) to ask students questions. This can be as simple as asking ‘What have you found most useful in the course so far?’ and ‘What are you finding most difficult to understand?’

You can then respond in the moment, which doesn’t necessarily need to mean lots of big, fast changes to your course. Sometimes, all that is needed is to explain to students why you made a particular design choice that was surprising for them. If you leave a bit of flexibility in your course approval documents, you can also make some simple, quick adjustments that help students feel that they are being heard. For example, you might be able to leave some topics open in the later weeks of a course to give students a choice. Or you could leave the design of some teaching slots open and let students choose between a lecture, a Q&A session or some assessment practice. It’s also fine to say that some things that students have raised can’t be changed (or changed quickly) and just explain why.

Offering early, low-stakes assessment is both a good design choice for inclusive courses and a great opportunity for you to get feedback on how well your course is running. You can find out what students are understanding well and what they are struggling with in time to adjust before some students get into difficulties with the higher-stakes assessment later in your course.

Why is it important?

These forms of listening to students and adapting are important for several reasons. Firstly, it’s impossible to get the inclusion aspects of design right for every student in advance. Whilst we celebrate the diversity of our students, we don’t have the resources to offer lots of different options for engaging with courses. So, opportunities for students to let us know early on that something is tricky for them can really help to build a more inclusive experience. We also know it’s very important for student engagement that students feel they matter to their teachers. Listening to feedback and responding promptly is a very important part of that. It’s fine for those conversations to include explaining to students the constraints on courses that mean that not everything they want is possible. A good explanation as to “why not” can be just as valuable for student engagement. 

This blog posts on ‘Student Voice in Academic Feedback’ highlights some ways students at the University of Edinburgh can engage with the University’s various resources for giving feedback, and how staff incorporate this feedback in their teaching.

Other ways to develop as a designer

Another option for developing as a course and programme designer is to take part in some of the AdvanceHE accredited provision offered by the University of Edinburgh's Institute for Academic Development. Both the Edinburgh Teaching Award and PG Cert in Academic Practice cover course and programme design. You can find out about these opportunities and also relevant workshops on the Institute for Academic Development’s accreditation, programmes and events pages.

Sharing your practice with other colleagues is a hugely valuable activity, and can happen informally, over a cup of coffee, or more formally through structured peer observation. Close colleagues can explain what’s worked for them with these students in this context and what to watch out for. Colleagues from other disciplines can give you perspectives you might never have considered. The Edinburgh Teaching Award and PG Cert in Academic Practice enable these discussions. You could also join one of our University of Edinburgh networks:

• There’s the ENGAGE network if you want to enhance student engagement with your course or programme.
• Our Board of Studies Network is really relevant to course and programme design.
• In our Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Network, you could write about course and programme design or discuss relevant literature with interested University of Edinburgh colleagues.

Finally, you could write about your experience in course and programme design or share a specific practice that other colleagues may find useful, on the University of Edinburgh’s Learning and Teaching blog: Teaching Matters.

Next steps

Learn more about embedding professional development as a designer in your practice

Read, watch and listen to a range of additional resources about developing as a programme and course designer