NTLSN · Crash Course · Curriculum

Designing your course — a crash course

A good course is designed, not assembled. Four short lessons on building a subject that holds together — then a self-check.

The one thing to remember: design backwards: from what students should be able to do, to how you'll know they can, to how you'll teach it. Content comes last, not first.
4 lessons~11 min read1 self-checkGrounded in Biggs, Wiggins & McTighe, course-design practice

The lessons

1
Start with outcomesBackward design
›

Decide what students should be able to do by the end, in observable terms. Everything else serves those outcomes.

  • Write 4–6 outcomes using verbs you can assess (analyse, design, evaluate).
  • Pitch them at the right level for the year and the program.
  • Check they add up to something a graduate of the program needs.
2
Align everythingConstructive alignment
›

Alignment means teaching, activities and assessment all target the same outcomes. Misalignment is the most common — and most fixable — course fault.

  • Map each outcome to where it's taught, practised and assessed.
  • Cut content and tasks that don't serve an outcome.
  • Make the links visible to students — they learn what's assessed.
Grounded in
  • Constructive alignment (Biggs & Tang)
  • Understanding by Design (Wiggins & McTighe)
3
Sequence for learningCognitive load & scaffolding
›

Order matters. Build from foundations, manage cognitive load, and scaffold complex skills.

  • Sequence from concrete to abstract, simple to complex.
  • Space and revisit key ideas rather than covering once.
  • Scaffold hard skills, then fade the support.
4
Design for activityStudents do the work of learning
›

Students learn by doing, not by watching you do. Use class time for the hard parts, not just delivery.

  • Replace some delivery with retrieval, problems and discussion.
  • Use class time for what students can't do alone.
  • Build in low-stakes practice with feedback before it counts.
Grounded in
  • Active learning & flipped practice
  • Cognitive load & scaffolding research
◇ Bring it together — from the NTLSN commons
Browse “Curriculum” resourcesProgramme curriculum map (I-D-A)Frameworks & policy369 sector videos

Before you build or refresh a subject — a quick self-check

✓
My outcomes are observable and assessable.
✓
Teaching, activities and assessment all target those outcomes.
✓
I've cut content that doesn't serve an outcome.
✓
The sequence builds and scaffolds rather than dumps.
✓
Students spend class time doing, not just watching.
✓
There's low-stakes practice with feedback before high-stakes tasks.
Source & attribution. Curated from backward design (Wiggins & McTighe) and constructive alignment (Biggs & Tang), plus sector course-design good practice indexed by the NTLSN commons. Practitioner synthesis, not original research.
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