Positive psychology defines meaning as the “sense of purpose, fulfillment, and significance derived from living in alignment with one’s values and using one’s strengths in the service of something larger than oneself.” (Ackerman, 2018) What if your course could bring this greater sense to students? Backwards design with meaning threads purpose and significance into your course, connecting course content to students’ lives – relevance to their future careers, their personal development, or their ability to make the world a better place.

During this half-day workshop, participants will use a backwards design template to re(design) their course then use Learning Experience Design Cards (LXD) and other classroom assessment techniques to identify active learning approaches that align with course goals. The activities on LXD Cards are intended to help design courses that engage students, foster critical thinking, and show clear alignment to course outcomes. The variety of learning activities aligned with different types of learning will inspire creativity and engagement for you as an instructor as well as your students. Please bring your syllabus and course outcomes to the workshop. You will leave this all-hands-on workshop with an outline for a new or existing course.

Outcomes:
-Design a course that is meaningful to students
-Align course outcomes with higher-order learning from Bloom’s Taxonomy and meaningful outcomes from Fink’s Taxonomies
-Choose active learning strategies that align with course outcomes

TEF Alignment: Curriculum/Curricular Alignment, Instructional Strategies