Yale Center for Teaching and Learning

Course Planning

Using teaching and learning frameworks like Backward Design, instructors can develop courses aligned with student learning outcomes. Instructors can next consider and integrate any course activities and assessments that support student attainment of these outcomes, informed by the abilities charted in Bloom’s Taxonomy. This information, in addition to general course items and expectations, can be clearly communicated on the syllabus.

Organizing Your Course to Facilitate Student Learning

When instructors give students time to apply their learning while ensuring that learning goals align with activities and assessments, students develop conceptual awareness, learn to synthesize ideas, and begin constructing their own knowledge. Instructors have many rich opportunities to facilitate learning through design and immediate practices.

Syllabus Design

As the first form of interaction betweeen students and instructor, the syllabus is a critical piece of communication that warrants thoughtful design. Research indicates that more engaging, visually stimulating, student-centered syllabi have a positive impact on student perceptions of a course and motivation to engage with the instructor.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Bloom’s Taxonomy categorizes skills that students are expected to attain as learning progresses. Originally published in 1956, the tool is named after Benjamin Bloom, who was the Associate Director of the Board of Examinations at the University of Chicago. Now a classic arrangement of intellectual skills, the taxonomy and its revisions can be used to develop effective learning outcomes.

Teaching and Learning Frameworks

Teaching and learning frameworks are research-informed models for course design that help instructors align learning goals with classroom activities, create motivating and inclusive environments, and integrate assessment into learning. Frameworks like Backward Design serve as conceptual maps for planning or revising any course, syllabus, or lesson, and can be easily adapted and mixed.

Writing Intended Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes can be defined as the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities that an instructor intends for students to learn or develop. Outcomes are more specific than learning goals, which take a 10,000-foot view of what an instructor desires for students to gain from a course. Research suggests that when they are well written, clear, and measurable, learning outcomes can improve learning and motivate student engagement.