Course Design

Course Design

The principles guiding our work include Backward Course Design and the Decoding the Disciplines model. We offer multiple resources which play important roles in the design process, such as developing learning outcomes and syllabus construction.The CITL also offers a variety of workshops and institutes on course design and development which utilize processes that instructors find particularly beneficial in helping them think through the goals and design of a course. These workshops can be found on our Events page.

Finding a home for your course proposal is one important step in getting your course started. Here are some local opportunities for designing a course as a graduate student or post-doc at IUB. 

  • The Future Faculty Teaching Fellows program invites doctoral candidates and advanced M.F.A students to enhance their career preparation by teaching and experiencing faculty life in different academic settings. Applicants must submit a teaching portfolio, among other professional documents, to be considered. Deadlines are typically in October, with interviews in mid-December and offers sent in mid-January. 
  • Collins Living-Learning Center Courses are opportunities for graduate students to teach a multidisciplinary course of their own design. Deadlines for course proposals are in March and October. 
  • Departmental opportunities may be an option! All three cases below are dependent on departmental availability; start a discussion with your department or with your faculty advisor today!
    • Taking over a course in a department sometimes occurs when the intended instructor cannot teach the course, like in the case of a sabbatical. Though the name and general topic of the course remains the same, graduate instructors often design their own readings and lessons.
    • Some departments have special topic courses that consistently have the same course numbers, but have different titles/topics. Reach out to current faculty in your department to initiate a conversation about this opportunity. 
    • Occasionally, graduate students and post-docs have the chance to teach a new course of their own design in a department.