Course Development Best Practices
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Create a welcoming home page for the course.
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Reduce the number of navigation menu items to those you’re using.
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Create a “Getting Started” module.
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Course organized in modules (by theme, chapter, topic, week).
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Minimize the number of items in a module by grouping resources in the assignment/discussion prompt.
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Ensure due dates for assignments and exams are updated so they populate into the course calendar.
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Hide the syllabus button if you’re regularly adding content and assignments during the semester—load your syllabus as a file in a module.
Structure and Flexibility in Course Design
The principles of a trauma-aware class are safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, and empowerment. A practical way to satisfy these principles is to provide a balance of structure and flexibility. Structure (Tanner, 2013) is meant to minimize assumptions about students and provide transparency. Flexibility expresses trust for learners and prioritizes student agency. Like roots, structure provides a scaffold onto which all students can grow and gives them a path to navigate the course journey.
STRUCTURE
A clear, consistent structure from the beginning of the semester is a learner-centered trauma-aware practice.
Learning Management System (LMS) Structure and Organization
Examples
- Course chunked into modules with a clear pattern
- Predictable deadlines
Suggested Strategies
- Video course tour to navigate course structure
- Regular due dates with a reasonable time of day (not midnight) entered into the course calendar
Faculty-Student Communication
Examples
- Communication plan
- Make efforts to get to know your students
- Solicit anonymous student feedback or mid-semester feedback
- Structure office/student hours
Suggested Strategies
- Clearly state the medium and time frame students can expect a response
- Use an online form to ask students about themselves
- Be explicit about what happens in office hours
Assessments and Activities
Examples
- Clear instructions and expectations
- Prompt and timely feedback
- Discussion of academic integrity
Suggested Strategies
- Rubrics, authentic models
- Staged and structured group work
- Video feedback, virtual drop-in sessions
FLEXIBILITY
Building in flexibility from the beginning of the semester signals to students that you trust them and that you value choice. As an added bonus, it will help you minimize the number of case-by-case decisions you have to make during the semester, thus resulting in more opportunity for all students (not all students will feel comfortable or know they can ask for flexibility).
Course Policies
Examples
- Assignment deadlines
- Examination policies
- Attendance policies
Suggested Strategies
- Two-day guilt-free extension; past that date, devise a plan for submission
- Drop lowest exam grade
- Flexible engagement strategies in lieu of mandatory attendance
Student Choice with Content
Examples
- Design activities once for multiple modalities
- Give students a choice of format with the same content
- Students show learning through various means
Suggested Strategies
- Students complete discussion on-ground, on Zoom, or asynchronously
- Video or text to achieve the same learning objective
- ePortfolio (podcast, artwork, written work, etc.)
Connection
Examples
- Informal means for student-student connection
- Informal means for faculty-student connection
Suggested Strategies
- Facilitate the formation of a WhatsApp peer group or encourage finding a critical buddy
- Informal videos that highlight faculty as human beings
