What is the Course Design Institute?
The Course Design Institute is an in-person, multi-day workshop for instructors who wish to learn how to design, redesign, or revise a course.
Whether you're updating an old course or developing a new one, the Center for Teaching can guide you through the iterative, dynamic, and scholarly process of learning-focused course design. The strategies explored in this institute can also be beneficial for instructors who are developing general education course proposals. Instructors accepted into the institute will:
- Apply evidence-based frameworks and strategies to design an integrated and learner-focused course.
- Develop and align course components, including learning goals and objectives, assessments, and authentic learning activities.
- Demonstrate course structures and teaching approaches through an artifact or proposal.
Participants will receive hands-on guidance on the process of developing or revising a course or articulating a course proposal. In addition to professional development, they will also have opportunities to network with peers across disciplines. Educational developers from the Center for Teaching will be available to offer continued partnership. Faculty who are interested in developing general education course proposals or who wish to teach with particular pedagogies, such as experiential learning, will receive tailored guidance.
Please note that the Course Design Institute is open to instructors who plan to design, redesign, or revise an in-person or hybrid course. If you teach an online course, we encourage you to reach out to Distance and Online Education for course design resources. If you are a graduate teaching assistant or post-doctoral student interested in course design resources, please reach out to the Center for Integration of Research, Teaching & Learning (CIRTL).
How to Apply
- Any faculty member (clinical-track, tenure-track, instructional-track, visiting, or adjunct) at the University of Iowa is eligible to apply. Faculty who are team-teaching may apply, but each instructor must fill out a separate application, noting with whom they will be teaching.
- Applicants must have approval of their DEOs.
Application Questions
- Reflecting on your course planning goals, which of the following applies to you?
- I will design a new course.
- I will redesign or revise an existing course that I have developed.
- I will redesign or revise an existing course that someone else has developed.
- I will develop a general education course proposal.
- After reading the description and objectives of the Course Design Institute, what are your goals for attending this program? What aspect of course design would you like to focus on further?
- What challenges (if any) have you have faced or do you anticipate facing in the process of (re)designing a course?
- Provide a tentative title and brief description of the course you plan to focus on during the institute. In your response, please include the following information:
- Title of the course.
- Brief description of the course, including the level (such as first-year undergraduate or graduate), anticipated enrollment, expected support from TAs/graders, and any other relevant information, such as if the course is required or part of the general education curriculum.
- When you plan to teach the course.
2025 Course Design Institute
Apply by April 4 to be considered for the 2025 Course Design Institute, which runs from May 19 - May 23.