Once you have determined what it is your learners need, or are interested in, it is time to consider designing and planning the course. Following are some suggested steps in this process.

	Decide on a topic
	Determine Overarching Goal
	Identify desired results - Learning Outcomes
	Determine acceptable evidence - Assessment
	Design learning experiences and organise material - Content
	Develop evaluation mechanisms - Evaluation
	Information and marketing - Course Description

Deciding on a Topic

	Consult with your students
	What topics are of interest to your students?
	What is driving your students' interests?
	What worked/didn't work in the past and why?
	How might existing courses be developed or modified?
	Which exercises/problems/assessment assignments were most appropriate?

Planning Backwards

Begin with the end in mind - Steven Covey

When planning a course, the best place to start is at the end. Determine what students might reasonably be expected to achieve from a course and then plan how material can be organised and delivered to reach this end.

Overarching Goals

Overarching goals describe the most important understandings that students should develop during an entire course. Ask yourself:

When my students leave my class at the end of this course, what are the essential understandings that I want them to take away?

Where possible, students should have a role in determining the goals of a programme. However, in instances where goals are determined by an outside body, e.g. stage agency or funding body, it is important to ensure consultation and collaboration between all the stakeholders.

Learning Outcomes

Once the overarching goal is determined, the next step is to break this into identifiable and manageable units of achievement, i.e. learning outcomes.

Learning Outcomes: Statements of what a learner is expected to know, understand and/or be able to demonstrate after completion of a process of learning.

Students may ask, What will I learn from this course? What will I be able to do when the course is over? Sometimes the course description alone does not provide sufficient detail. Generalised learning outcomes do not supply much additional information to prospective students. More focused outcomes can identify key tasks in the learning process, or observe stages in cognitive development.

Levels of Abstraction

In the 1950's Benjamin Bloom created a taxonomy for categorising levels of thinking. The taxonomy provides a useful structure in which to categorise learning outcomes and, subsequently, assessment questions. Introductory courses, and some interest courses, may expect to have outcomes at the initial levels of abstraction, whereas accredited and certified courses would be expected to have more complex outcomes at higher levels of abstraction. The system has been used widely across a variety of educational spheres since its inception.

In the 1990's, Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) revised the taxonomy with a view to making it more relevant to the twenty-first century. The following table is listed in the order of the revised taxonomy with the original categories printed in black.

Adapted from:
http://www.coun.uvic.ca/learn/program/hndouts/bloom.html
http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/bloomrev/index.htm
http://rite.ed.qut.edu.au/oz-teachernet/index.php

Writing up Outcomes

Outcomes can be written up in the following format:

At the end of this course students should be able to:

Define...
Summarise...
Demonstrate...
Analyse...
Critique...
Integrate...

Discussion of Outcomes

At the beginning of a course, learning outcomes should be discussed with students. This ensures that you are both working towards the same goals and gives students an idea of what they can reasonably expect to achieve over the course of a module. This also provides an opportunity to amend learning outcomes in line with the wishes of particular student groups. In this way students feel more involved with the programme and feel their input influences the shape of the course. Learning outcomes should be fluid as not all learning can be prescribed or predicted. Learning opportunities can arise during courses, which were never envisaged at the planning stage, and it is important to accommodate such diversions.

Evidence of Understanding

Questions that might now be asked include:

	How do I determine if objectives/outcomes have been met?
	How will I be able to distinguish between those who really understand and those who don't?
	What would constitute sufficient and revealing evidence of understanding?
	Against what criteria do I measure achievement?
	If not formally assessing the course, how can I be sure that there is evidence of learning?

Ongoing and systematic consultation with students goes some way to ensuring outcomes are being met. Student feedback should be sought to ascertain whether content is being understood and to ensure the material is being covered at an appropriate pace for the group. Individual/group exercises and problem based learning exercises can also be used throughout the course to ensure that students are progressing through the material.

Formal evidence of understanding can be verified through a variety of assessment methods.

Assessment

Assessment should be decided upon at the outset as an integral part of design and not merely attached on at the end. For those people setting assessment exercises, assessment should be linked to the projected learning outcomes. Assessment criteria should be understandable so that students can see that the assignment is related to the overall aims of the course. Questions you might address include:

	Are the learning outcomes assessable?
	What form of assignment would best assess the learning outcomes?
	Does the assessment capture the most important elements of my course?

Assessment is reviewed in greater detail in the During the Course section.

Planning Content

Once outcomes have been established, and assessment methods (either formal or informal) decided upon, the following questions need to be considered:

	How can my material be organised best and presented so as to reach my proposed learning outcomes?
	What do I need to consider about the type of learners with whom I work?
	How do adult learning styles impact on the way I present material?
	What teaching methodologies are most suitable for adult learners?
	How do I involve the learners as much as possible?
	How can I draw on the learner's own experience and knowledge?

When planning and organising your course content, it is important to take into consideration the individual nature of adult learners who come to your course. Learners will have varied abilities and require varied levels of support. Prior experiences of learning may differ radically with some students being enthusiastic lifelong learners and others making a tentative move back into education. Motivations for attending may also range from those needing a particular course for work/personal reasons to those who just wish to take a course to get out and meet people. In between will be all degrees of commitment, interest and enthusiasm. All of these learners may have to be accommodated in the one group.

Matters for consideration

	Course overview - can you give students a succinct overview of what material is to be covered over the duration of the course?
	Blocks of learning - what amount of material can be covered in a class?
	Sequencing of materials - how can the materials be sequenced in an order that is logical /rational?
	Depth of material - what level is the course pitched at? How much detail do you need?
	Methodologies - what is the most appropriate methodology for a particular topic? Is there a mix of methodologies planned?
	Group exercises - when and how often should group work be used?
	Worksheets/ notes -what support materials need to be developed? Would the use of problems or case studies help with the overall understanding of the content?
	Resources - what books, tapes, etc. might be valuable for class use or as a resource for students outside class?
	Field-trips - are there any activities that could be related to the course (visits to museums or organisations) which would set the learning in a practical context?

Evaluation

Evaluation is the collection of feedback on a course to determine how the course content and presentation has been received. Evaluation is essential in ensuring quality control. Feedback received in this way provides information on the:

	Standards of the course
	Materials distributed
	Delivery methodologies used
	Nature of the group dynamics and tutor/learner rapport
	Ability of students to transfer/apply knowledge gained

Tutor self-evaluation and learner evaluation are both necessary to provide effective quality control. Self-evaluation requires you to reflect on your practice throughout a course, to critique your presentation style, to analyse your group and time management skills, and to consider how you might alter your practice in future.

Learner evaluation allows the learner an opportunity to evaluate both the facilitator and course content. The evaluation can provide information on whether the course met participants' needs and supply recommendations as to how a course might be modified in future. Time for course evaluation and review should be allocated at the design and planning stage.

Evaluation is covered in greater detail in the After the Course section.

Course Descriptions

Using overarching goal(s) and learning outcomes as a basis, the next step is to write up a course description. Course descriptions may be used by the learning provider for information and/or marketing purposes. Dynamic creative descriptions engage prospective students and encourage further inquiries. It is important to make as much information as possible available to students. The language used in course brochures should be clear and concise and free of jargon or terminology which might confuse or intimidate the learner.