Program design – workshop focus areas

I argue here that the imperative of considered and measured program design has never been so urgent for Australian Universities. The exhortation of the Universities Accord interim report to significantly increase the number of intakes from non-traditional pathways means that attention needs to be prioritised to how such learners will be positioned to cope with the rigours of learning in the higher education context, so that their inherent disadvantage is not perpetuated.

Over a series of posts, I will outline an approach to designing a new program, the process for which can be adapted to redesigning an existing one.

The value of program design 

University programs are structured and organized curricula that a student follows to pursue a particular academic field or degree. They are comprehensive plans that outline carefully curated courses, requirements, and academic activities that students must complete to earn a specific degree or certificate. Each program of study is designed to provide students with a well-rounded education in their chosen field, ensuring they acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and expertise.

The holistic vision of the program serves as an important focus point for which all of the courses must align. The holistic vision also promotes greater consistency across courses and encourages deeper learning as it optimises the development of key concepts, ideas and graduate attributes. It creates a more efficient learning context as each course is designed to build from and/or complement another, facilitating the acquisition of schema. It is also essential if a program requires specific accreditation standards.  

Here are the high-level topics that constitute the major focus areas in the design strategy.

New program	Existing program
Business case and program purpose audit	Reconsider the relevancy of the business case
PLO design	Reconsider the PLOs
Capstone design	Reconsider the Capstone
High-level course titles and overviews
Initial horizontal alignment – checking for redundances and a need for consolidation	Audit current horizontal alignment – checking for redundances and a need for consolidation
Design of major assessment of learning for each course and Graduate Attribute audit	Design of major assessment of learning audit and redesign if necessary – Graduate Attribute audit
Horizontal alignment evaluation	Horizontal alignment check
CLO design for each course	CLO audit and redesign if necessary
Map CLOs to PLOs and audit of weighting	Map CLOs to PLOs and audit of weighting
Formative assessment strategy	Formative assessment strategy
Feedback strategy	Feedback strategy audit
LMS strategy	LMS strategy audit
Evaluation strategy	Evaluation strategy audit

‌In the next post, I will outline how fleshing out the business case and program purpose through both financial and educational frameworks helps to enhance the development of the Program Learning Outcomes and the overall design process.

I’m Paul Moss. I’m a learning designer at the University of Adelaide. Follow me on Twitter @edmerger