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How to Design a First Year Module
Ruth Pickford
UK National Teaching Fellow
Leeds Metropolitan University UK
Designing a learning experience can be a hugely satisfying and creative exercise. Done well it can enrich the lives of both learners and teachers and yet too often in higher education relatively little attention is paid to the actual experience of learning. Instead we focus on the practicalities of content, timetables and contact hours, assessment deadlines, marking schemes and plagiarism detection, lecture delivery and attendance monitoring, production of materials and scheduling of resources.
It is particularly important when considering the first year of a programme to focus on designing engaging, enriching experiences that encourage students to experiment, to fail and to learn from their mistakes. In this workshop we will discuss the factors that are really important in designing a first year module and develop a framework for engaging students in meaningful learning.
In small teams participants will play a game and will develop a first year module, specifying learning outcomes, assignments and resources. This three hour workshop takes participants on an intensive journey through designing an effective and engaging first year module.
The session outline is as follows:
- Introduction to the philosophy and the critical success factors of first year module design.
- Formation of teams, allocation of resources and team development of a fictitious first year module.
- Discussion and comparison of team outputs and findings.
- Presentation and evaluation of a range of approaches to first year design.
- Development of action plans
Participants will leave armed with a knowledge of key factors relevant to first year module design; the capability to question traditional methods of curriculum design; the skill to design first year modules effectively; and with an appreciation of how designing a first year module can be a satisfying, creative and fun exercise. |
