Bring concepts to action
Now that you have completed the learning outcomes module, the next steps are to:
- Practice writing and reviewing your course learning outcomes
- Self-assess your learning progress
- Reflect on the effectiveness of your learning outcomes
- Book a consultation with CTL (for faculty or staff at Concordia University seeking support or a teaching excellence credential)
Step 1: Bring concepts to action
You may download the documents (MS Word) for unit planning and lesson planning. These documents will guide you through the steps to planning instruction for an entire chapter or module or for a single lesson. This is a tool to help you plan and deliver your instruction, so feel free to adapt the template to suit your own needs.
Step 2: Self-assessment
An essential component for consolidating your learning is to assess and reflect on how your knowledge has changed. Take a moment to evaluate your learning through the following five (5) statements. Decide where you would situate yourself for each.
Step 3: Reflection
Instructional planning is the third component in quality course design. Once your assessment activities have been aligned with your course learning outcomes, you can begin planning the instructional activities that will guide students to meet the end of course learning requirements. Instructional planning is two-fold, a macro-level plan at the unit level and micro planning at the lesson level. As a final activity in this module, take a moment to reflect on how your instructional planning supports your commitment to teaching excellence.
Take a moment to consider these questions:
- Are my instructional activities directly aligned with my assessment activities?
- Have I included sufficient practice and application activities that offer students the opportunity to build and deepen their conceptual understanding?
- Have I planned for explicit feedback activities to promote student learning?
- Am I able to identify supporting outcomes to help me plan lessons that incrementally build students toward the course learning outcomes?
Step 4: Book a consultation
Faculty and staff of Concordia University are invited to book a consultation with a learning expert at the Centre for Teaching and Learning to:
- Seek clarifications or support on instructional planning.
- Receive a Teaching Excellence credential evidencing your ability to effectively design lessons and units.
Pro tips
To practice inclusive teaching, Instructors should apply the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines in their instructional planning. UDL is an evidence-based pedagogical framework designed to improve the quality of teaching and learning for the diverse learners found in a classroom environment.
The UDL guidelines advocate for providing opportunities for (as much as possible):
- Multiple means of engagement – which means offering a variety of ways for your students to interact with the course content, their peers, and you, the instructor;
- Multiple means of representation – which means presenting course content and learning activities in a variety of formats and from diverse perspectives;
- Multiple means of action & expressions – which means allowing students choice in how they will demonstrate what they know.
For more information on UDL, visit the CTL page on UDL information for instructors.
