Sponsored by the Center for Teaching and Learning with support from the Division of Undergraduate Education at IU Indianapolis, the Course (Re)Design Institute for Student Success is intended to provide structured support and pedagogical guidance for faculty and academic units who are seeking to enhance student success, retention, and learning.
Offered over four half-days in early August, the Institute seeks to equip instructors with knowledge and practical skills to refine their existing courses to promote student success. Interactive working sessions will offer tools and dedicated work time for participating instructors to enhance effectiveness based on learning-centered, equitable, and inclusive design principles, with a focus on writing and discussion assignments, problem solving tasks, and reflection-based activities.
Schedule and Format
The Course (Re)Design Institute will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on August 7, 8, 9, and 12 at the Center for Teaching and Learning (University Library). During this time, Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) instructional design staff will offer punctuated lectures and resources to empower your exploration of learning-centered course design principles, strategies for dismantling barriers to learning, and approaches to activities and assessments that promote authentic engagement.
While not required, all participants are invited to engage in smaller disciplinary or topic-based groups each afternoon between 1 and 4 p.m. when instructional designers and learning technology consultants from the CTL will be on hand to provide personalized support and assistance. Breakfast, lunch, and snacks will be provided each day.
Why Now?
Indiana University's (IU) 2030 strategic plan aims to reduce DFW rates at all campuses to improve student success. Final course grades of C- or greater – especially in 100- and 200- level courses – are leading indicators of increased persistence and retention, increased completion, and decreased time to completed degrees for students.
In the fall, President Pamela Whitten noted in her State of the University Address, “Under the IU 2030 strategic plan, all campuses are focused on lowering DFW rates to enhance student success. The approach being taken on the Indianapolis campus is to employ active learning techniques such as brief writing and discussion assignments, problem solving tasks and reflection-based activities.”
Benefits of Participation
Instructors who participate in the Course (Re)Design Institute for Student Success can expect to gain the following:
- Insights and an evidence-based framework for enhancing student success: Gain awareness about the 2025 demographic cliff, barriers to college student success, and a model for enhancing your teaching through a relationship-rich approach.
- Tools for strengthening course design: Apply background design principles, a proven method for course design, to prioritize student learning outcomes and ensure course components connect to what learners should be able to know and do by the end of the course.
- Strategies for cultivating an inclusive and equitable learning environment: Explore ways to think about and work towards a classroom environment that is welcoming, equitable, and supportive for all. Foster belongingness by exploring active learning strategies and learning-centered activities.
- Ideas for leveraging Generative AI in teaching: Explore how Generative AI can support curricular design efforts (e.g., writing assignments, developing rubrics, and incorporating problem solving and reflection-based activities).
- Collaborate and share ideas and strategies with fellow instructors: Network and share ideas and strategies with peers from across the disciplines who are also committed to improving student learning and success.
Eligibility
The Course (Re)Design Institute is open to all instructors who are looking to update and enhance their courses for student success. Instructors of record of all ranks (tenured, tenure-track, lecturers, clinical, and adjunct) teaching any course type (in-person, hybrid, or online) are welcome to apply.
Selection
Space is limited and an application is required. Priority will be given to individual instructors and small groups of instructors who are teaching 100- and 200-level courses with one or more of the following attributes: high total annual enrollments, multiple sections offered in a term, courses that are supported by a single course coordinator or unified curriculum, and/or where the most recent DFW rate is 25% or more.
