{"id":1332,"date":"2023-05-19T01:33:47","date_gmt":"2023-05-18T20:03:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.professorservices.com\/blog\/?p=1332"},"modified":"2023-05-19T01:33:47","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T20:03:47","slug":"course-planners-tips-to-increase-efficiency-and-student-engagement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.professorservices.com\/blog\/imgcourse-planners-tips-to-increase-efficiency-and-student-engagement\/","title":{"rendered":"Course Planners: Tips to Increase Efficiency and Student Engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You\u2019ve been asked to teach a new course or be a subject matter expert (SME) developing a new program. Where do you start? Designing and developing an online or blended learning course can be challenging for a college professor or instructional designer. SMEs, faculty, and instructional designers are often tasked with course development under tight deadlines. A <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facultyfocus.com\/articles\/online-education\/importance-course-planning-online-learning\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">course planner<\/span><\/a> can help<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0you can streamline the course development and instructional design processes and ensure that your course is effective and engaging.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is a Course Planner?<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A course planner is a tool that helps you plan and organize your course content, activities, assessments, and timeline. It can be a physical planner, a digital spreadsheet, a document, or a wall of sticky notes. A course planner allows you to see the big picture of your course and break it down into manageable tasks. It helps you align your learning objectives with your assessments and activities and ensures your course is coherent and consistent.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Benefits of Using a Course Planner<\/span><\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1347\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1347\" style=\"width: 335px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1347\" src=\"https:\/\/www.professorservices.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Copy-of-230512-Infographic-PS-Course-planner--120x300.png\" alt=\"Text: Course Planners: Tips to Increase Efficiency and Student Engagement Saves Time and Effort: Plan and organize your course content and activities efficiently. Image: a clock or calendar? Promotes Consistency and Coherence: Align learning objectives with assessments and ensure each course component contributes to the overall goal. Image: a map Facilitates Collaboration: Instructors, instructional designers, and subject matter experts work together within the planner. Image: people working together\" width=\"335\" height=\"838\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.professorservices.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Copy-of-230512-Infographic-PS-Course-planner--120x300.png 120w, https:\/\/www.professorservices.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Copy-of-230512-Infographic-PS-Course-planner--410x1024.png 410w, https:\/\/www.professorservices.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Copy-of-230512-Infographic-PS-Course-planner--768x1920.png 768w, https:\/\/www.professorservices.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Copy-of-230512-Infographic-PS-Course-planner--614x1536.png 614w, https:\/\/www.professorservices.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Copy-of-230512-Infographic-PS-Course-planner-.png 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 335px) 100vw, 335px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1347\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artwork by Malvika Shah<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a course planner has several benefits for both professors and instructional designers, including:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Saves Time and Effort:<\/strong> A course planner allows you to plan and organize your course content and activities efficiently. You can develop an engaging and effective course without wasting time and effort.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Promotes Consistency and Coherence:<\/strong> A course planner ensures that your course is consistent and coherent. You can align your learning objectives with your assessments and activities and ensure each course component contributes to the overall goal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Facilitates Collaboration:<\/strong> A course planner can facilitate collaboration among instructors, instructional designers, and subject matter experts. It allows everyone to contribute to the course development process and ensures that all perspectives are considered.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebabbgroup.com\/university-services\/curriculum-development-and-instructional-design\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Need an agile collaborator for your next course development project?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Backward Design and Course Planning<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One practical approach to course planning is\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.edutopia.org\/article\/backward-design-starting-end-mind\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">backward design<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Backward design is a process that starts with the end goal in mind and works backward to design the course content and activities. Use these steps for planning:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identify the learning objectives: Define what you want your students to learn and be able to do at the end of the course.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Develop assessments:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0Develop assessments that measure whether students have achieved the learning objectives. Assessments can include quizzes, exams, essays, or projects.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Design activities:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0Design learning activities that help students achieve the learning objectives and prepare them for the assessments. Activities can include readings, discussions, group work, or simulations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Design supporting media and content and identify resources:<\/strong> Once clear on how students will demonstrate they met the learning objectives, you can start developing content, media, and resources to support their learning. This content might include videos, audio, slides, textbooks, case studies, articles, and other relevant examples.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By starting with the end goal and working backward, you ensure that each course component is aligned with your learning objectives and assessments. Backward design is an effective approach to course planning that can save time and effort and promote consistency and coherence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using a course planner can help you develop an engaging online or blended learning course. It can save time and effort, promote consistency and coherence, and facilitate collaboration among instructors and instructional designers. So, consider using a course planner for your next course development project! Backward design is an effective approach to course planning that can ensure that each component of your course is aligned with your learning objectives and assessments.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You\u2019ve been asked to teach a new course or be a subject matter expert (SME) developing a new program. Where do you start? Designing and developing an online or blended learning course can be challenging for a college professor or instructional designer. SMEs, faculty, and instructional designers are often tasked with course development under tight&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.professorservices.com\/blog\/imgcourse-planners-tips-to-increase-efficiency-and-student-engagement\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Course Planners: Tips to Increase Efficiency and Student Engagement<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1351,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,12],"class_list":["post-1332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-online-teaching","post_format-post-format-aside","entry"],"acf":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.professorservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.professorservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.professorservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.professorservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.professorservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.professorservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.professorservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.professorservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.professorservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}