Chapter 3. Conceptualizing Your Course

This chapter offers strategies for approaching course design, with particular attention to constructing and using learning goals to select readings, shape assignments, and plan activities. We offer suggestions for logistical preparation, guidance for designing a syllabus, and suggestions for selecting readings.

Chapter Outline

Before You Conceptualize

Creating a Course

Adapting a Course

Receiving a Course

Assisting in a Course

Who’s Taking Your Class, and Why?

Course Design

Learning Goals and Outcomes

The Syllabus

Course Policies

Accessibility Statements

Sample Syllabi Statements (CUNY GC and BCC)

Course Calendar or Schedule

Selecting Readings

Before You Conceptualize

Creating a Course

When designing a course, you’ll need to budget time to consider how you will organize readings and assignments to satisfy learning outcomes, either those mandated by the department or that you create yourself. Planning a course from scratch is time-consuming, but also rewarding, as it offers you an opportunity to integrate elements of your own scholarly interests and research .

Adapting a Course

You may be assigned a course that has certain required components—including textbooks, particular lessons or units, or assignments—but that also may allow you space to teach topics of your choosing. Any requirements should be clearly communicated to you by your departmental contact. If not, ask whomever assigned you the course for clarification about what kinds of flexibility you have.

If you are adapting the course from one previously taught in your department, it’s important to try to get a copy of the existing syllabus and reach out to any colleagues who taught it in its previous iteration. What worked, and what didn’t? Consider asking those who’ve taught it before about what they might change, if they had the chance to teach the course again.

Receiving a Course

Some departments will require you to teach a syllabus using course materials that are already set in stone, or that allow very little space for modification. Ask other faculty in the department why the course is organized the way it is, and when the syllabus was last revised. Read through the assigned readings and see if the logic aligns with your understanding of the discipline, or whether your approach departs from the one currently represented by the course.

If you are receiving your course rather than creating or adapting it yourself, it’s important that you understand the implicit assumptions the course is making about how knowledge is constructed in your field. If you disagree with the argument—say, for instance, if you are teaching a literature course where diverse voices are underrepresented, or a psychology course where students are expected to uncritically engage with theories you find problematic—you might raise your concerns with a trusted colleague at the Graduate Center, or on the campus where you’re teaching, or with TLC staff.

Assisting in a Course

If you have been appointed as a teaching assistant or a lab instructor for a course, you may have little say in determining its structure or contents, but you can (and should) engage with the instructor about their choices, and how you might best support the instructor and the students in the class and perhaps take a lead on designing the structure of your discussion section.

Who’s Taking Your Class, and Why?

It’s important to think about the “audience” for your course. Why are students taking your class? Is your course a requirement? Are there prerequisites students need to complete prior to taking your course? Many courses build upon prior knowledge and being aware of what courses your students may have already taken in your field before enrolling in your course will be helpful. Remember, though, that while a course may presuppose that students will have a certain skill set, it’s not always the case that they do. For this reason, it’s a good idea to consider prerequisites as you plan, but also to anticipate how you’ll support students with different levels of preparedness for your course. You should also consider how your department is situated within the college to develop a sense of what students may expect to get from their time in your course and/or in your discipline.

• Does the department where you are teaching offer a major, and if so, how many students are in the major?
• Is your department referred to as a “service department,” a program that primarily offers introductory or skills-based courses to students who will then major in other disciplines?
• Will the majority of students in your course pursue careers in fields disconnected from the discipline in which you’re teaching?

Another other reason that students may find themselves in your class is because of when it’s scheduled. CUNY students are busy. Many work at least part-time, and squeeze coursework in between jobs and responsibilities at home. As such, CUNY’s classrooms tend to look different at different times of day: if you teach early in the morning or after 5 p.m. you may have more older students who work full-time. If you teach during the day, your class may consist mainly of younger students who recently graduated from high school.

You’ll be able to glean a lot of this information from looking at your class roster on CUNYFirst, but this is also a great thing to ask students about directly during the first week of class. As part of class introductions, it’s often revealing to ask students why they chose the class, what they’re interested in learning, or other casual questions connected to their goals for the semester. This helps you get to know the class and also provides an opportunity to make some adjustments to what you cover based on student interest. Consider creating an anonymous survey using a tool like Google Forms or PollEverywhere to collect this information.

In order to best prepare to support your students, you might ask yourself the following questions:

• If yours is the one foreign language or political science course students will take on the path to becoming an accountant or a physical therapist, how might that affect the design of the course?
• If you are teaching a composition or writing-intensive course, how might the likely majors and career paths of your students influence the types of writing assignments you design?
• If you are teaching in a STEM field, is this a required course that students will need to apply to graduate programs and will they need to earn a certain grade to get accepted?

Course Design

There are a number of ways to approach the process of designing a course; regardless of which approach(es) you use, it is helpful to keep in mind the core aspects and work back and forth across them. These should each be included on your syllabus:

• learning goals and objectives,
• course narrative or argument,
• calendar/schedule, and
• course policies.

If you are teaching a course, such as a language or math course, where certain units need to be completed by certain points in the semester, you might start your planning by plotting those dates on a course schedule. Doing so may help you get a sense of the pacing that will be required, and help you begin to identify where you may have some flexibility in assignment design or instructional method.

Examining and considering your learning goals and working back from those goals to make decisions about content and assignments is known as backwards planning (or design). Backwards planning can help you sequence and scaffold the class, as it invites you to think not only about what you want to cover in the course but also how you will know that students have engaged with or learned the material being covered.

Some questions to consider in backwards planning:  

• How will students demonstrate their progress? In other words, what kind of assignments or activities will they be asked to accomplish and how will that work help students satisfy each learning objective?
• How will you evaluate whether or not students reach the objectives? What assessment criteria will you use?
• How can you create space for students to set and pursue their own goals within the context of your class?

Learning Goals and Outcomes

A learning goal is a statement of what an instructor or program aims to do in a class, during a particular class session, or by completing an assignment. Learning outcomes are expectations of what students will be able to do after they’ve completed a learning sequence. Think of learning outcomes as the skills or set of competencies that students will take away from your course. These can be tied to big conceptual understandings and skills that are important to students who are taking required courses as well students majoring in the discipline alike: outside of the content and information of the course, what skills, processes, methodologies, etc. will students learn that can be applied across fields?

The following guidelines can help you create strong learning goals:

• Goals should be formulated to be as specific to your course and discipline as possible.
• If you are going to assess student learning goals separately, then list them separately on your syllabus.
• Use active verbs that represent a student’s ability to do something related to the course.

The verbs “understand” and “know” may be too broad. “Define,” “develop,” “build,” “explain,” “compare,” and “utilize” are examples of more active verbs that place the student in the role of the producer of knowledge.  

When you clearly communicate learning goals to students, not only do you make assessment and course design easier, but you also give students a map and a clear sense of what’s expected of them, and introduce multiple ways and motivations to engage activities and material.  

The Syllabus

A syllabus is both a practical document and a pedagogical one. Practically, the syllabus communicates key information and course expectations. It should let students know what will be expected of them, what policies they need to be aware of, and how they will be evaluated and supported. Pedagogically, your syllabus makes explicit the structure of the course, offers your students an arc for the semester, and highlights guideposts to help your students navigate along the way.

In general, your syllabus should include:

• basic information (course name and number, where and when the course meets, campus, semester, and year);
• your name and contact information (how and when to contact you);
• course description (your own and/or the department’s);
• learning goals;
• course materials;
• grading breakdown;
• course policies (attendance, late assignments, technology, etc.);
• required campus policies (plagiarism, accessibility accommodations, sexual misconduct, etc.); and
• course schedule (a calendar with readings and assignment due dates).

Below are two model syllabi which represent different approaches to crafting this document. One is a straightforward, text-based document which lays out of the structure and expectations for a class. This approach will be familiar to most readers. The second model is what is called a “visual syllabus,” an approach to syllabus design which some students may find more inviting, absorbing, and accessible than familiar blocks of text. No matter which approach you choose, ensuring that your syllabus is clearly organized and readable is crucial to making sure that all students have a chance to begin the semester with an understanding of how the work of the course will proceed.  

Figure 3. Sample Syllabus Template

Image created by The Teaching and Learning Center and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To download this syllabus, click the green box above.

Figure 4. Syllabus for Introduction to Language

Created by Instructor Inés Vañó García using Piktochart. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To download this syllabus, click the green box above.

Beyond covering the essential components and logistical information about your course, your syllabus should also articulate your course’s narrative or argument. This argument may be presented directly in the syllabus in a “course description” paragraph or may be communicated through structural elements like unit titles, thematic or conceptual considerations, the reading list, etc. The more specific and explicit you can be about the rationale behind your choices and intentions, the better. The course description can also give students a sense of what your values are and what makes your course distinct, as well as introduce elements of your teaching philosophy. Thinking through the syllabus as an argument for and of your course can be especially helpful when selecting readings. A syllabus with a strong narrative skeleton can also form the basis of a study guide for your students.

You might also consider inviting students to help shape or contribute to the trajectory of the course by soliciting their input. For instance, you might offer choices for when students complete an assignment, or offer students the opportunity to select topics or readings for a unit. Some faculty engage students in collaborative design of the entire syllabus, from course and grading policies to assignments and readings covered. The more students feel connected to the course’s narrative, the more likely they are to actively participate and learn. Welcoming student input on class content and policies can cultivate for students a sense of ownership over the course that enhances the experience for everybody, and makes a transformative learning experience more possible.

Make your syllabus as accessible as possible, in as many ways as possible. Hand it out in class, and post it to your course website or learning management system. If you make any changes during the semester, be sure you distribute and upload the revised version. Consider keeping parts of the syllabus as a “live document” or creating a system where students might write notes or make other annotations to it—built-in exercises or invitations to return to the syllabus can help keep both course policies and the course narrative fresh in everyone’s mind. To help make your syllabus more readable, carefully consider what information you want to include and be mindful of its length. Use headings to break up a long document. It’s also important to ensure that your syllabus is accessible to students who use screen readers or other assistive technologies. Both Microsoft Word and Adobe have accessibility review tools you can use to review your document. Further information and resources on making sure your course materials are fully accessible are available through CUNY Assistive Technology Services (CATS).

Designing a course is often as much a process of taking away or cutting down material as it is adding readings and assignments. Being specific and intentional in what you select and why can help you decide what to pare down. When looking at the assigned readings for a given day, ask yourself, “What does each of these readings accomplish? Why am I assigning it? What would happen if I omitted this reading?" There are other workarounds like assigning different readings to different subgroups; or enfolding material into a lecture rather than assigning it to the students to read. Keep in mind that it is not the job of the syllabus to teach the course, but rather to provide a guide.

Course Policies

Course policies help establish the tone and expectations for your class. As you begin to think about the course policies, be sure to consider your (or your department’s) expectations about the following:

• Will you accept late assignments? If so, is there a penalty for submitting material late?
• What are your goals for students’ use of technology in your course? How will you balance the need for technology in the class and protection of your students’ privacy?

• In-class Policy Example: Laptops and cell phones can be used to take notes and participate in class activities. Personal use of devices in class is discouraged and will decrease participation grade.  
• Online Policy Example: Cameras are not required for online class meetings*, but you are encouraged to turn your camera on to participate in class discussions and breakout rooms.

• What does a student need to do to be marked as "present” in your class?
• What counts as “participation”? Will that be graded separately and, if so, using what criteria?
• Do you have specific policies for exam days or paper submissions?
• Do you have any classroom etiquette policies?
• Is there space for inviting students into the process of determining policies and expectations for your class?

These policies should be clearly stated on your syllabus so that students know what to expect. Policies should also be uniformly implemented as they are written. Avoid stating one thing on your syllabus and doing another, as this is unfair to students and can cause anxiety and confusion.

Attendance Policies

If you teach in-person or online synchronously, there are many different ways you can choose to handle student attendance. Most campuses have statements on their websites about their attendance policies; some defer these policies to the school or department level, others affirm it is the right and responsibility of the instructor to establish their own policies. Check with your department to determine local norms and expectations, while also looking for leeway and considering how attendance, timeliness, and presence are important components of what success looks like in your course.  

Here are a few options to consider, though they each come with their own set of benefits and disadvantages.

• Mandate attendance: A common version of this approach is to allow students a grace period of a certain number of missed classes (perhaps one or two weeks’ worth of classes), after which each additional missed class lowers the student’s grade by a certain number of points. Some instructors with this policy permit extra “excused” absences with no penalty (e.g. absences that the instructor deems are for a good reason, with required proof, such as a doctor’s note). This policy can be implemented, for example, by calling out names at the start of each class, by passing a sheet of paper around on which students write their names, or by using entrance/exit tickets (students complete a short assignment or written activity at the beginning or end of class, and turn it in in order to be marked as present for that day).

• Incentivize attendance: For example, you might offer students extra credit for perfect or near-perfect attendance, or give students points for each class attended, which can or cannot be made up in other ways. Alternatively, this article titled, "Time to Make Your Mandatory-Attendance Policy Optional?" suggests allowing each student to choose at the beginning of the semester whether they would like to follow an incentivized attendance policy or a mandatory attendance policy, and then holding that student to the policy they chose for the rest of the semester.
• Don’t take attendance: This approach does not reward students for coming to class, nor does it penalize students for missing class. You may still choose to discuss class attendance with students, explaining when and why it is or is not important to come to class. You may even ask students to agree to come to class as often as they can, using an honor system like a class contract or agreement. Make clear to students ways that they can “show up” to class besides their physical presence, such as participation and engagement in online activities or discussions.

Plagiarism and Artificial Intelligence Policies

When building your course, it is important that you consider types of academic dishonesty and how you will define and deal with them. It is important that you make the consequences of these offenses clear. Here are a few things to consider:

• Compassion: Many students resort to plagiarism and AI use because they are worried that they aren’t ready or skilled enough. Often, it’s a product of fear or insecurity. Consider offering an alternative assignment or redo in this case.

• Enforceability: You should make sure there is a clear and broadly applicable way to approach handling academic dishonesty as most cases will differ.

• Discussion: It’s always a good idea to have a conversation with your class about what plagiarism and inappropriate AI use looks like. Often, signaling to students that you understand where they are coming from can go a long way.  

• Support: Most campuses have a Dean of Student Affairs or Academic Dishonesty office where you can report instances of academic dishonesty. However, once a report is made, it cannot be revoked, so make sure you have made this possibility clear in your policies.

Accessibility Statements

Most campuses and departments require instructors to include accessibility statements on their syllabi, with standard language provided by the Disability Services Office. The statement, like many other syllabi sections on supportive services, provides the DSO contact information and additional services they provide.

The TLC recommends that you either include this required language and add your own statement, or adjust this required statement into language that reflects your personal pedagogical style and how you intend to support students with different abilities. Here you can inform students about and encourage them to use campus services if they feel comfortable, as this might benefit them more by having access to other resources besides assistive technologies, including counseling and access to programs at CUNY and beyond. You can clarify specific steps you’ve taken to address different learners, bodies and experiences. We also recommend that you read your accessibility statement aloud as you review the syllabus during the initial days of your course so that all students are aware of the policies and resources, as well as the ways you intentionally designed your course with different students in mind. This helps to normalize different needs and the process by which students may utilize available resources.

Sample Syllabi Statements (CUNY GC and BCC)

• It is Graduate Center and CUNY policy to provide appropriate accommodations to students with disabilities. Any student with a temporary health condition or permanent disability who may need accommodations in this class is advised to contact Student Disability Services as early in the semester as possible, by email at disabilityservices@gc.cuny.edu or visit the SDS website, cuny.is/gcdisabilityservices. SDS is located in Student Affairs, room 7301, or call 212-817-7400. All discussions will remain confidential.
• We all learn differently and may need help or support in different forms. I do my best to make sure course materials are available in accessible digital formats that can be printed or read on computer or smartphone before we meet as a class. If anything about this course prevents you from learning or participating, please let me know. Your input helps me to develop a plan to make sure everyone succeeds. I also encourage you to contact Student Disability Services (cuny.is/gcdisabilityservices, disabilityservices@gc.cuny.edu, 212-817-7400) to request other accommodations or academic adjustments.

Accommodations/Disabilities

Bronx Community College respects and welcomes students of all backgrounds and abilities. In the event you encounter any barrier(s) to full participation in this course due to the impact of a disability, please contact Disability Services as soon as possible this semester. A Disability Services specialist can meet with you to discuss the barriers you are experiencing and explain the eligibility process for establishing academic accommodations for this course. You can reach Disability Services by email at disabilityservices@bcc.cuny.edu or phone at (718) 289-5874. For more information please visit our page http://www.bcc.cuny.edu/Disability-Services/

Course Calendar or Schedule

Write down the dates that your course meets during the semester. Refer to the campus’s academic calendar to make sure you note when you won’t meet (holidays, breaks, a Wednesday that becomes a CUNY Tuesday, etc.) From this calendar, you can begin to plug in your major assignments (and any scaffolded steps and due dates) and readings.

Here is a Generic Syllabus Maker that can get you started (courtesy of W. Caleb McDaniel of Rice University).

Using the calendar as a guideline, begin to think about how you want to divide material, taking note of how the experience of the class flows through the calendar:

• Are you teaching in units or modules? (Sometimes dividing the semester into smaller, discrete chunks can help with your planning.) If so, pencil them in.
• Are there any extended breaks as the result of holidays? If so, how could you plan your course to make best use of that time? How can you include flexibility for holidays some students but not all students observe, like Rosh Hashanah, Eid, or Lunar New Year?
• What are the likely times your students will have major due dates in other classes, or may need a break from high stakes assignments?
• How might you distribute feedback and graded work throughout the semester so that you remain in varied and regular communication with your students?
• What are key times during the semester to check in with students who are struggling or haven't been present often or at all?

Once you have the dates penciled in, return to the goals you have for the course: what do you want students to walk away with, and how will you incorporate it into your class?

Some things to keep in mind as you fill out your calendar:

• Be aware of your own deadlines, and stagger due dates when you can. Staggering due dates is especially important when teaching multiple classes.
• Think about how long it takes to respond to student work (and how heavy it makes your bag if you are using paper submissions/exams).
• Keep in mind the requirements of the assignment and how much time you want to offer students to complete it. If you introduced the material on a Tuesday, do students have enough time to understand and implement that material for an assignment due on Thursday, or would they benefit from the weekend?

• Build in time (and due dates) for the scaffolded steps leading up to your big assignments (see next section).

Selecting Readings

As an instructor, you may have the opportunity to choose both what your students read, how much they read, and what they do with that reading. Steve Volk, director of the Center for Teaching, Innovation and Excellence at Oberlin College, offers some questions to guide your selection process:

• What do you want the reading to do?
• Where does the reading come in the course, and will this affect your students’ ability to complete it?
• Can less reading be more useful?
• If students are novices in our field, how should that impact our expectations for their reading?
• How will students access the reading? Is there a free and/or digital version of the reading?

There’s no magical number of pages that’s perfect for each and every course or class meeting. As you consider how many pages of reading to assign, make sure you’re clear–both in your planning and when you communicate with your students– about what kind of reading you expect students to do. If you’re assigning a brief reading, you might ask students to engage in close reading—carefully examining the language and rhetoric of a text—and annotating carefully.

When selecting readings, make sure that students have the access and time necessary to fully engage with them—though also be prepared for some of your students not to have completed the readings before class. You should also consider:

• the type of text (theory, novel, textbook chapter, philosophy, poetry, etc.);
• whether the readings you’ve selected are inclusive of a diverse array of voices.
• what you want students to do with that text before, during, and after engaging with it;
• what you want the text to do (provide background context, be the basis for class discussion, supplement the lecture, etc.);
• what types of assignments might grow out of the readings
• whether the texts offers opportunities for place-based or problem-based assignments that would allow students to take a more active role in their learning;
• the cost of and access to the texts.

• High-cost textbooks can present access issues for students. Open Educational Resources are freely available, re-mixable, and reusable teaching and learning materials that teachers may choose to use in place of textbooks, which in some fields can cost students significant amounts of money.
• Read more about using open educational resources in Chapter 2.