Creating a Student-Centered Course Outline

As an initial and important document, a course outline clarifies mutual responsibilities, helps set the tone of the course, and describes the instructor’s beliefs about the value and educational purposes of the course as well as measurements of accomplishments (Gruner, 1997). To a student, a course outline is often the first impression of you and your course. It can also be an opportunity to communicate who you are as an instructor, provide a place to share your vision for student learning and illustrate some of the journey students may need to take to get there.

Research shows that a student-centered outline has a positive impact on student engagement and motivation as well as contributes to enhancing student learning (Richmond et. al., 2016).

The question is, what kind of course outline is considered student-centered? How does the student-centered outline differ from a conventional or teacher-centered outline? Is there a measurement for the degree of learner-centeredness?

The purpose of this handout is for you to explore the impact of a student-centered outline on student learning and how to intentionally develop one to reflect the learning happening in your course.

Learn more about:

• What is student-centered learning?

• What is a student-centered course outline?

• Why construct a student-centered course outline?

• Key components of a student-centered course outline

• How to construct a student-centered course outline: Strategies and examples

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