Educational design
As a lecturer at the Faculty of Science you will at some point probably design or redesign a course or components of that course. As an education director you might even (re)design an entire curriculum if it benefits the students.
Here you find a short roadmap and links to relevant information that you should consult when (re)designing education. During the BKO and SKO trainings you get to know frameworks, methods and tools that form the basis of sound educational design.
Remember that you do not have to go about it alone. Discuss any bigger changes you want to make to your course or materials with your supervisor and/or education director first.
Contact seeds@sience.leidenuniv.nl for didactic and technical support.
Sometimes the initiative for (re)designing education does not come from the teaching staff but from the university or faculty. If that is the case, SEEDS offers support for implementing the changes without unnecessarily increasing the workload for lecturers.
Roadmap for educational design
- Consult the vision and strategic plan to understand the bigger picture of education at our factuly.
- Keep in mind the rules and regulations. Not everything you might want to change, can be changed.
- Analyse the place of your educational component in the curriculum. Which knowledge and skills do students already gain before they come to you? Which knowledge and skills do they need in the courses that follow yours? What is the level of the course?
- Evaluate the target group. What are important characteristics of the students taking the course? How can they be addressed properly?
If you are starting an educational design from scratch, continue with step 3.
If you want to change an existing course or component, complete step 2 first.
- What is the current situation and why is it not desirable?
- What are your ideas for improving the course or educational component?
- How much time do you estimate is necessary to perform the changes?
- Which other parties do you need to consult for permission or support?
The answers to these questions help SEEDS support you during the redesign.
What do you want students to know and be able to do by the end of your course and/or educational component? Your learning objectives meet a number of requirements. For more information about learning objectives, see constructive alignment.
Constructive alignment is core principle of educational design. Your course is aligned if your learning objectives, teaching and learning activities, and feedback and assessment methods, are all on the same level and about the same content
The practical organisation of the course or educational component is just as important as a good design. Update the e-prospectus if necessary, create a Brightspace page, create exams, pay attention to scheduling, request web-lectures, etc.