Course (Re)Design Institute: May 20-22, 2025
The Course (Re)Design Institute is a 3-day intensive teaching program that is held the Tuesday to Thursday after graduation each year, meant to support instructors designing or redesigning a course. Through the institute, participants will:
- Join a community of Yale instructors and Poorvu Center staff for interactive workshops and structured work time
- Explore pedagogical approaches aligned with teaching values and course goals
- Become aware of Poorvu Center and university resources to support instructors and students
How to Register
Any Yale instructor of record is welcome to join. For new Yale College faculty, this counts toward the Faculty Teaching Academy.
- Registration is open until April 18, 2025.
- Pre-program consultations to meet facilitators and set goals for the institute will happen early to mid-May.
- Course (Re)Design Institute will be held May 20-22, 2025.
Course (Re)Design Program
Through the Poorvu Center’s Course (Re)Design Institute, participants will:
- Join a vibrant and supportive teaching and learning community of Yale instructors and Poorvu Center staff
- Explore pedagogical approaches through interactive workshops on equity-focused teaching, student-centered learning, assessment, active learning, and community and belonging
- Apply knowledge gained from workshops to make progress on the design and planning of your course during structured work time
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Become aware of Poorvu Center and university resources available to support you and your students throughout your course
More than 300 faculty members have completed the Yale Course (Re)Design Institute. The institute works best when we build a community dedicated to examining the principles of excellent pedagogy and when participants are able to be present throughout the in-person, multi-day institute.
The Course (Re)Design Institute supports faculty to design or redesign a course through first principles, giving time to engage with overarching concepts of course design in the Core Sessions as well as the time to work on course materials during the Community Work Times. Elective Sessions give space for faculty to get a deeper understanding of Yale resources, specifically Teaching with Yale’s Collections and Student Support Resources at Yale. See below for more information about the schedule of the institute and the goals of the individual core sessions.
Faculty will work closely within a cohort, sorted by disciplinary preference, to share challenges and practices with each other throughout the institute. Facilitators of those cohorts will reach out ahead of the institute to offer a consultation to learn more about and help to shape faculty goals for the institute.
Schedule for the 2025 Course (Re)Design Institute
| Tuesday, May 20 | Wednesday, May 21 | Thursday, May 22 |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00am Breakfast | 9:00am Breakfast | 9:00am Breakfast |
| Core Session #1: Leading with Pedagogical Values | Core Session #3: Assessing What Matters | Core Session #5: Communicating and Reflecting on our Values |
| Course Design Work Time | Course Design Work Time | Course Design Work Time and Sharing |
| Lunch | Lunch | Lunch- Instructor Supports |
| Core Session #2: Centering Our Students | Core Session #4: Building an Equitable & Engaging Course Structure | 1:30pm end of day 3 |
| Course Design Work Time | Course Design Work Time | |
| Student Supports and Resources | Teaching with Yale’s Collections | |
| 4:30pm end of day 1 | 4:30pm end of day 2 |
Core Sessions Goals:
Core Session #1: Leading with Pedagogical Values
- Critically self-reflect on our pedagogical values and how our positionalities influence them.
- Reexamine our pedagogical values using an equity-minded teaching framework.
- Develop a self-reflection plan to ensure these values consistently guide our course design process.
Core Session #2: Centering Our Students
- Understand the pedagogical benefits of student-centered teaching practices
- Identify teaching strategies to activate and build on students’ prior knowledge
- Apply “backward design” to a course’s unit/module to develop student-centered goals & practices
Core Session #3: Assessing What Matters
- Identify the multiple purposes of assessment in your course
- Consider new approaches and options to common assessments, particularly in the age of AI
- Generate and share ideas for how to integrate meaningful assessment into the educational experience
Core Session #4: Building an Equitable & Engaging Course Structure
- Instructors will be able to develop instructional activities into their course structure that
- integrate principles of engagement and equity
- answer the question of “How do you want your students to be different by the end of this course?”
- align with their assessments
- develop students’ mental models in the discipline
Core Session #5: Communicating and Reflecting on our Values
- Connect the pieces of backward design and equity-focused pedagogies to envision a rhythm for your class that supports course goals and promotes belonging
- Determine how to communicate course design and values to students
Can’t make it?
Consider registering for our August events to support course design:
- August 13: Syllabus (Re)Design. This one-day interactive workshop provides an opportunity to consider the overall course design process through the lens of the syllabus. Details and registration.
- August 14, 2025: Blank Canvas: Create Your Course Site. This one-day workshop will demonstrate instructional design, provide templates, and leave time for building course sites. Details and registration.
