Designing Courses for Higher Education

• What issues need to be considered in designing a course or unit of study in higher education?
• Who should be involved in designing a course, and how can they best work together?
• What should students get out of a course?

Susan Toohey focuses not on teaching techniques but on the strategic decisions which must be made before a course begins. She provides realistic advice for university and college teachers on how to design more effective courses without underestimating the complexity of the task facing course developers. In particular, she examines fully the challenges involved in leading course design teams, getting agreement among teaching staff and managing organizational politics. She also explores the key role played by academics'' own values and beliefs (often unexamined) in shaping course design and student experience. In doing so, she offers course designers both an understanding and a framework within which to clarify their own teaching purposes.

Designing Courses for Higher Education is an accessible, jargon free text, providing practical assistance and enlivened by many examples of innovative practice and interviews with academics involved in course design. It is a key resource for college and university teachers.