Digital Teaching Toolbox

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Instructional Design / Learning Design

Planning and Designing Courses - A Five-Step Approach

What is Instructional Design / Learning Design about?

Digital teaching always takes place in the overall context of didactic planning. Didactics is the science of teaching and learning. This means that the subject of didactics “are the goals, content and methods of teaching, its prerequisites and its institutional framework” (Hericks, 2008, p. 62). It is easy to explain what media didactics deals with: “It is about learning with media - from a didactic perspective.” (Kerres 2013, 39).

Reinmann (2015) sees didactics as a creative discipline. Didactic design deals with questions of planning learning opportunities, their conception and design. Since we can hardly imagine our everyday lives without computers, mobile devices and the internet for information and communication purposes, the (justified) use of digital teaching and learning formats and elements should also be a matter of course in didactic design.

Your course is unique! There is therefore no universal “recipe” for planning, design and implementation. We would like to give you a few pointers in this area to guide you. The departments of Higher Education Didactics, E-Learning and the Media Center (UB) offer you in-depth university and media didactic advice, training and support.

1. Parameters

Identify the parameters.

When designing your course, use the existing framework conditions as a guide. As a rule, these are set and - at least in the short term - cannot be significantly modified. When planning a completely new teaching and learning program, you may have more freedom. Clarify the following questions with the help of the relevant study and examination regulations and the module description in the module handbook:

Target group:

Who is the course aimed at?
What previous knowledge, experience and skills are the students likely to have?
For what reason and with what expectations will they attend your course?
How motivated are they?
What prerequisites do they need to fulfill to take the course?

Intended Learning Outcomes

What should students be able to do at the end of the course?
What skills should they have acquired or expanded?
Which learning objective dimensions are involved?
If not already available, formulate teaching/learning objectives which, in addition to building up knowledge, also take into account levels of knowledge transformation and the generation of new knowledge.
How can you prepare your students for future professional challenges?

Contents

Which topics or contents - e.g. based on the module description - are part of your course offer?

Scope and timing

How many ECTS points are awarded for successfully completing your course?
How much study time should you spend on your course? How is the teaching time required for your course defined? Is there a set time frame for the course, or are alternative models possible (e.g. bi-weekly courses, block courses, etc.)?

Assessment

What types of assessment are prescribed for your course?
What alternatives are available?
To what extent do the study and examination regulations allow the inclusion of digital formats and methods for teaching and learning activities or examinations?
To what extent are there any restrictions?

Resources

What resources (skills, time, money) are available to you for the initial implementation of your teaching project and for its long-term implementation (e.g. tutors, quality management)?
Find out about incentives and funding opportunities as well as support services offered by the departments of E-learning and Higher Education Didactics and the Media Center (UB).

2. Methodical approach

Take a methodical approach to designing your course!

Your aim should be to select and arrange the teaching and learning content and activities in such a way that students can achieve the Intended Learning Outcomes, i.e. you should design your course to be as conducive to learning as possible. It is also important that the relevance of these objectives and their embedding in the overall context of the course (or beyond) is transparent for the students and is made transparent, as this often has a major impact on the students' motivation later on.

How to proceed?

It is best to choose an approach that you are already familiar with and that you consider useful. At the University of Freiburg, the principle of Constructive Alignment has been a proven method for aligning teaching and learning objectives, teaching and learning activities and assessment. Alternatively, or in conjunction with this, the ABC Learning Design method can help you to identify learner activities that you would like to integrate into your course:

Decide which teaching and learning strategies and methods you would like to use in your course and to what extent (instructional, self-directed, active, experiential, collaborative, narrative, ...) and which methods from Higher Education didactics you would like to use.
Are learning approaches such as gamification, simulation, scenario-based learning, virtual/augmented reality, learning with social media and case studies useful for your teaching scenario?
In this context, also consider what (possibly changed) role you will take on in your course and what this entails.

3. Your teaching and learning setting

Plan the setting and sequence of your course!

When planning your course, you would probably like to integrate digital teaching and learning formats or elements, either as an accompanying support to your face-to-face teaching (enrichment), in the form of an individually definable mix of online and face-to-face teaching and learning activities (Blended Learning) or you are planning to hold your course exclusively online (virtualization). The following key questions can help you to make decisions about the setting and course of your course:

Make decisions!

How high should the degree of virtualization be? Are you more interested in enriching a weekly face-to-face course with digital components, a mixture of online and face-to-face teaching and learning activities, or a completely virtual course?
Find out about the advantages of the “flipped classroom” approach. Which teaching and learning activities are better suited to asynchronous, i.e. flexible and independent in terms of time (and location), and which teaching and learning activities should take place synchronously (online or face-to-face)?
How can you sensibly time and dovetail online/offline phases or asynchronous and synchronous teaching/learning activities?
How are students encouraged to engage in their learning activities and how are they supported and accompanied? What opportunities for communication and, if applicable, cooperation/collaboration are provided?

Develop a course schedule!

Now start drawing up a course plan. This will give you a clear idea of how the course will run and how the various phases and components can best be linked together.

4. Digital tools and media

Choose suitable tools and media for the design and implementation of your digitally enhanced course!

The choice of tools and media for the design and delivery of your course will ultimately determine whether your students get the learning experience they want. Make sure that the tools you choose (e.g. suitable ILIAS objects or web conference system) and learning media (e.g. videos, e-lectures, learning modules, texts) support your teaching and learning strategies and methods. Bear in mind that students should receive an introduction to the selected tools and that you should explicitly include this in the didactic planning and course schedule.

Use the digital options for designing course components!

Produce and design digital learning media in the form of videos, e-lectures or learning modules. Prepare the media didactically so that they are conducive to learning.
Design the virtual learning environment: Create an ILIAS course room and structure the course interface in a clear and motivating way.
Design digital learning activities using suitable tools.
Arrange learning media or learning activities in learning sequences if necessary.

5. Course delivery

Plan how you will deliver your course digitally (enhanced)!

The information on various course formats will help you with your planning:

Student motivation and active participation also depend on your active role in the course. Interact with the students, initiate student interaction and cooperation. Make sure that your teaching time remains within the intended framework. Drawing up a supervision plan can be helpful here. If possible, also make use of student tutors for support.

Help and Support

If you have any questions about ILIAS, you can reach us ...

via our Forum, where you will find many already answered questions about ILIAS, and where you also have the possibility to ask questions yourself.
via the e-mail address ilias@rz.uni-freiburg.de.

In all other cases, please contact us via e-mail to elearning@rz.uni-freiburg.de.