This webpage provides suggestions on how to decide on a course structure, select a teaching strategy to support learning goals, and create a schedule. The guidelines present various alternatives for academics to consider, most of which are supported by references from the literature on teaching and learning. This ensures that the recommendations are authentic and will assist academics in their planning.

Ideas for CPD interventions
This resource could be used to review existing courses or develop new courses. It would be especially useful for inexperienced academics.

This resource provides guidelines on how to start planning a course. It covers the importance of planning, how to get started using course planning tools, and how to develop a draft syllabus and schedule.

Ideas for CPD interventions
The resource might assist academics in pre-planning a course, so that they can understand planning processes and how long the planning will take. Could be used as pre-workshop reading or as a resource to discuss during a short staff training session. 

A downloadable MS Word document which provides a profile for what the typical student entering their programme will be like.

Ideas for CPD interventions
Some of the ‘factors’ should be revised, added to or deleted by staff to suit their own context. This revised document could then be used to identify a new course, or revise a course, to cater to the audience.

This chapter provides guidance on developing student personas, which are fictional representations of typical students in the course being designed. The multimedia chapter explains how to create these personas and presents arguments for why they are a valuable design tool.

Ideas for CPD interventions
Ask staff to develop a student persona for existing courses and then to evaluate their course to determine if the design supplies sufficient academic, technical, and logistical support.

This is an online 'mini course' designed to help academics create outcomes and assessments for their courses. It covers instruction on outcomes, objectives, learning modalities, and assessments. The course includes activities, links to additional resources (such as revised Bloom's taxonomy and assessment plans), and examples across various subjects and topics.

Ideas for CPD interventions
It is a valuable resource for early career and intermediate academics wishing to learn more about developing outcomes and associated assessments. The pressbook chapter contains text, diagrams, and activities that can be adapted for a formal CPD workshop or can be used as reflective independent study.

Excellent guide to writing outcomes. It introduces SMART criteria, ‘action verbs’, and the need to split outcomes into ‘Knowledge’, ‘Skills’ and ‘Attitudes’. It also introduces both Bloom’s and Fink’s taxonomies to help choose a spread of good outcomes.

Ideas for CPD interventions
Ask staff to review the article and then look at their existing objectives and/or outcomes and assess their value. What could be improved? What might a rephrased outcome look like for the reviewed course.

This chapter focuses on online teaching but is relevant for all modes of instruction. Topics covered include microlearning and microcontent, text content, video content, and locating OER, along with five references. It is a valuable resource for academics to learn about ‘chunking’ content into manageable amounts, developing and presenting text, using, and hosting video content, and effectively presenting content in their courses.

Ideas for CPD Interventions
Useful for CPD where the focus is on selecting content for use in a course.

Great reading, with embedded videos, that provides a process for selecting appropriate content for your course. It is very practical with lots of tips and tricks. It also makes an argument for avoiding PowerPoint.

Ideas for CPD interventions
Encourage staff to read the article and view the videos. Then encourage them to do an analysis of an existing course. How might additional content/media support both the delivery of the content and enhance understanding of course components that traditionally are done poorly by students?

This resource distinguishes between the overarching structure of a course and the structure of individual modules, units, or weekly topics. It explains the importance of making structure explicit. Although focused on online course structure, the principles described and exemplified are common across most courses. The course models what it espouses throughout the text and provides numerous examples across several disciplines. The course is very well structured itself, with numerous visuals.

Ideas for CPD Interventions
The Pressbooks chapter acts like a mini course. It would be easy to reorganise it to be the material for a CPD workshop on course design. There are numerous examples to copy and\or use as templates for the design of a new course.

This resource consists of two consecutive web pages: ‘Online Course Module Structure’, followed by ‘Examples of Module Structures’. Although the resource is designed for online courses, many of its suggestions can be used for face-to-face or blended courses.

Ideas for CPD Interventions 
The resource includes suggestions for presenting content to keep students’ attention, such as changes of activity. It also provides three course templates (discussion-based, lecture and block-release course). A CPD activity could incorporate the ideas in the design of new set of activities to support an existing course.

The resource champions using a teaching methodology with ‘hands-on activities’ to encourage higher order thinking skills to supplement lectures.

Ideas for CPD Interventions
This Pressbooks chapter is useful when compiling CPD that attempts to encourage lecturers to embrace varied teaching methodologies over and above the lecture. The strategy is to incorporate into a series of lectures opportunities for students to engage with the content in an active fashion. This method could be offered as part of a suggested list of things to try out in class shared among the academic staff, followed by an opportunity to discuss the effectiveness of these hands-on activities.

This is a high-level introduction to course design. It covers learner-centric design, constructive alignment, Universal Instructional Design, and the development of instructional materials. The author has centred her discussion on basic instructional design around an argument for developing learner-centred courses. It is a good overview of some of the key considerations an academic should be thinking about as they develop their courses.

Ideas for CPD Interventions
This Pressbooks chapter can be used as introductory reading. There are multiple points that could lead to a deep discussion on various aspects of instructional design.

A good introduction to understand what role technology must play in supporting the common modes of delivery: asynchronous, synchronous, in person with facilitator, remote learning, blended, and hybrid. Once the modes of delivery are understood then the selection of technology is easier.

Ideas for CPD Interventions
The CPD intervention might be to develop a tool, and criteria, to determine if student or staff access to technology is sufficient to support a specific mode at an institution.

This resource provides a particularly good introduction to diverse ways of offering blended learning. It does have a specific South African contextual background but unpacks the mode effectively enough so that it can be used in other contexts.

Ideas for CPD Interventions
One application might be to use the diagram, ‘programme provision grid’, where the different modes and technologies are positioned on two continuums and discuss what is feasible for your local context.

This Pressbook chapter provides a useful overview of the different modes of delivery. The next page, ‘Which mode? Student needs’ is also particularly important as it encourages designers to consider the needs and capacities of the students when selecting a mode.

Ideas for CPD Interventions
Background or introductory reading for a larger CPD intervention on design considerations for courses.