Quality Course Design

Upon the successful conclusion of this tutorial you will:

1. select effective instructional strategies for your course.

One important conceptual distinction needs to be made between teaching techniques and an instructional strategy. A teaching technique is a discrete, specific teaching activity. Lecturing, leading discussions, setting up small group work all are teaching techniques. An instructional strategy, on the other hand, is a set of learning activities, arranged in a particular sequence so that the energy for learning increases and accumulates as students go through the sequence.  This usually requires, among other things, that you establish activities that

• offer a motivational introduction to a topic
• provide opportunities for practice and receive prompt feedback
• assess the quality of the student's performance
• allow for student reflection on their learning

Fink (2003) provides a diagram to help you develop a sequence of in-class and out-of-class activities.  Appropriately called the "Castle Top" diagram (shown below), the graphic prompts you to identify the learning activity for each in-class and out-of-class block of time.  The goal is to create a sequence of activities that build on each other. 

The following diagrams represent examples of instructional strategies and sequences of activities.

Diagram 1:  Team-Based Learning

Please use the diagrams in Worksheet 7:  Instructional Strategies and the information from the BUILD section "Teaching/Learning Activities" to create a sequence of instructional activities for your course. 

Instructional Strategies, General

• 150 Teaching Methods,  UNC-Charlotte
• Instructional Strategies, Illinois Online Network
• Identify Appropriate Instructional Strategies, Carnegie-Mellon University
• Teaching Strategies, Merlot Pedagogy

Team-Based Learning

• Team-Based Learning Collaborative
• Team-Based Learning, Vanderbilt University
• Team-Based Learning, Merlot Pedagogy

Problem-Based Instruction

• Project Based Learning in Higher Education, Sam Houston State University
• Problem Based Learning, Cornell University
• Problem Based Learning, Merlot Pedagogy

1. Dick, W., & Carey, L. (1996). The systematic design of instruction (4th ed.). New York, NY: HarperCollins.
2. Fink, L. D. (2003). Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing college courses. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.