The Power of Course Design

Goodson and Ahn reviewed the threads of design elements that make a variety of support technologies effective for learning, including instructional television, audio, computer applications, and particularly online learning. Russell after a review of over 355 studies about online vs. classroom, concluded that the power was in the design. Recent research suggests the same (Zhao, Let, Yan, & Tan, 2005) where advantages of online seemed due to differences in design, not in technology. Fink's recent work (2007) also shows the power of design in several studies that produced improved learning through a design process that aligns goals with activities and assessments and feedback for "significant learning" outcomes.



In this session, the case study of the design of an aesthetics course was analyzed to show the progression of decisions and the evolving architecture for the course content, the learning activities (including quizzes), and the assessments. The first stage was the question of what constitutes significant learning? The former course design focused on fashion for body types in restrictive stereotypes; the new course design focused on authentic design processes that lead to fashion design (not just choosing fashion), beginning with sources of inspiration and leading to analysis of fashion elements such as line, balance, rhythm, complexity, and color. In this process of deciding on "significant learning," the human dimension was deepened, and a sense of caring was embedded in the images and language structure of the course.

Shifting to meaningful "significant learning" was beginning with the "why" of what we teach. This then triggered decisions about the course goals, leading to the major modules in the course. Quizzes, discussions, and assessments were designed to match each other and required responses from students that often did not have a "yes" or "no" or distinctively correct answer, but required the application of knowledge and principles.

Feedback was staged to allow students to take the quizzes with automated feedback, in the form of correct answers for multiple choice questions, and in the form of "Did you cover...? If not, you may need to..." for more "open" questions.

Discussion questions asked for examples of concepts and reasoning; the process was to allow discussion without response from the instructor until near the end of the week, who would then summarize the main ideas from the discussion. The instructor also would intervene if a concept was not being addressed correctly so that students would not go down a dead end.

In this session, the group reviewed several module structures to follow the design and architecture of the "information and question pages" and they listed and viewed a Camtasia component of instruction, noting the explicit character of the steps and the use of audio to give directions.

Goodson and Ahn returned to the simplicity of the concepts of design, and the power they possess in transforming the learning - first, determining what is significant learning, then aligning all components of the course with this decision.

Results in this case study as compared with the older edition of the course included: significant learning and insights expressed by students in discussions about "the aesthetics of fashion design" rather than "body type," a "world of fashion" rather than restricted stereotypes or parochial fashions, authentic images inclusive of multiple cultures and both male and female gender rather than females only, a larger distribution of higher grades, and no failures.

Presenters: Ludwika A. Goodson, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, InSook Ahn, Georgia Southern University