Learning outcomes remain central to our courses. They influence course proposals, underpin accreditation documents, guide course reviews, and enable curriculum mapping across units and assessments. Institutionally, they are vital. They ensure coherence, provide reassurance, and uphold accountability. They enable us to confidently articulate what a graduate of a specific course knows and can do. And…
This piece began with a LinkedIn post. An article from Future Campus was being shared that was largely positive. But one line, drawn from Andrew Norton’s, recent analysis of undergraduate demand, gave me pause. In the Future Campus piece, it noted; “On a discipline level, all non-STEM fields attracted fewer applications in 2025 than they had in 2010,…
Photo by Mitchell Kmetz on Unsplash We often talk about course design as though it exists in parts.A class, assessment, unit, course, and policy. Each of these feels discrete, manageable, and contained. But course design isn’t just a collection of isolated parts. It’s an ecosystem. And like any ecosystem, everything is interconnected. Beyond the Individual Class An individual…
I’ve redesigned assessments, unit and entire courses that didn’t work.I’ve explained concepts that landed flat.I’ve walked out of classes knowing I could have done better. None of these moments made me less of an academic.They made me a more honest one. Somewhere along the way, academia adopted the illusion of certainty. Once you earn the…
The phrase “in the real world” is often used in higher education. Educators use it to inspire students, while industry partners critique courses with it. It’s spoken casually, as if its meaning is clear and universally accepted. In the classroom, phrases such as “in the real world……………..(fill in the blank)” may be familiar. These remarks…