Using Reflection During Course Design

As educators, we are always looking for ways to improve our courses, whether to improve student success rates, involve new technologies, or better align course objectives and assessments. Whatever the reason, a continual revisitation of courses and course design takes a significant investment of time and effort. Regardless of the approach, you may take, integrating reflection in your design or re-design process can help you more effectively consider past experiences and help you establish better habits for future changes. Outlined below are some tips to consider integrating into your design and re-design process.  

Before:

• Consider what made your last design or re-design effective. Perhaps you had better focus during a break, or maybe you took notes on revising the course during delivery itself.
• Identify barriers to committing the necessary time and effort to complete the design process.
• Think about what went well the last time you delivered the course. Also, consider what did not go well.

During:

• Engage in peer conversations to ascertain thoughts from other professionals. Ask your peers to also reflect on their courses. This may help identify common areas that warrant revisitation during the design process.
• Reflect during the process itself. This process is called reflection-in-action. While conducting your design or re-design, think about the following:
  • How can I continue to make this course better?
  • Are there any gaps in my design process?
  • Is the design going in the direction I want it to go?
  • How can I make this process more efficient?

After:

• Reflect on the process and its result. Evaluate again what did and did not work.
• Take notes to establish what made this process efficient and effective.
• Note your greatest change and what you are most proud of.

These suggestions can help you maximize a productive course design. From personal experience, the more I utilize purposeful reflection, the better my results become. I encourage you to give these techniques a try and even consider having some of these questions by your side as you navigate your next course design process.