Designing Political Science Courses

Some faculty are handed a pre-made course; the rest of us get to do some design work. After reviewing the basic considerations for designing a course such as class size, modality, level, and constraints, this chapter asks faculty to reconsider the topics-first approach to course design that most instructors use. Instead, it offers up Backwards Design as a model, where instructors first identify learning outcomes, then choose evaluations and assignments, and finish by designing learning experiences. After exploring the learning outcomes step of this model, the chapter concludes with advice on picking readings, diversifying the student experience, scheduling events, and writing the course syllabus.