Adaptable Course Design
Adaptable Course Design
Adaptable Course Design is one of the projects that stemmed from Butte's Quality Focused Essay (QFE). Below is an overview of the project. The Adaptable Course Design Committee (AC🗲DC) page contains content specific to our work.
The Project details (from the QFE)
As discussed in the Introduction to the QFE, Butte College has seen many emergencies over the past few years. These emergencies are not isolated and will likely continue. California continues to face large-scale fires, and because the Main Campus and many service areas are rural, continued Public Safety Power Shutoffs will become routine. Therefore, we need to develop a strategy for course design that allows students to continue their education even in times of crisis. The anticipated impact of an Adaptable Course Design Project is increased student success and completion.
Adaptable Course Design (ACD) is a strategy for building courses that are intentionally flexible during large-scale emergencies and facilitate support for individual students (during individual emergencies, in response to their learning goals, and to meet other needs). ACD is a synthesis of numerous course design and teaching frameworks including Authentic Assessment, Universal Design for Learning, Culturally Responsive Teaching, Transparency in Learning and Teaching, Backwards Design, and Online Course Design. These frameworks can be used to design courses with built-in adaptability to student needs. Butte College faculty has expertise in many of these practices.
In addition, Butte College is uniquely poised to be a leader in this framework because of our experiences with multiple back-to-back emergencies. The goal of this project is to develop a training toolkit. The project will begin by identifying current trainings and resources developed by campus groups, including Cultural Awareness Community of Practice (CACP), Fair Classrooms, authentic assessment, and the Online Readiness Training. These trainings will be organized into a clear pathway for faculty and will identify strategies for implementing the ACD toolkit. Faculty who complete Fair Classrooms, for example, develop courses that can adapt to better support minoritized students.
Outcome Measures
- Number of faculty attending ACD workshops, completing the playlist, and completing the certificate
- Comparison of student success and completion for faculty who have implemented ACD strategies and those who have not
- Comparison of student success and completion before (2020-21) and after (2023-24) the project
Action Plan
Spring 2021 - Preparation
- Identify groups and committees on campus who should be involved [completed and ongoing]
- Identify course design strategies and effective practices to use as the framework for Adaptable Course Design [completed and ongoing]
2021-2022 Academic Year
- [added in Fall 2021 at the request of the committee] Survey faculty to identify current training needs and modality preferences
- Curate trainings and resources that are currently available which support Adaptable Course Design [completed and ongoing]
- Create a webpage that lists webinars and workshops related to adaptive course design [completed]
- Compile playlists on the Vision Resource Center [started and deferred]
- Identify Flex week offerings that support adaptive course design [completed]
- Develop a Canvas course that provides a guided experience and certificate in Adaptive Course Design [completed and ongoing]
- Survey students and conduct focus groups to determine student classroom needs [deferred]
- Use student survey results to inform certificate design [deferred]
- Identify strategies for incentivizing participation in Adaptable Course Design trainings [started]
2022-2023 Academic Year
- Update Adaptive Course Design Toolkit (Webpage, playlist, flex offerings, and Adaptive Course Design Certificate) [started]
- Implement and advertise the Adaptable Course Design Toolkit and Certificate. [started]
- Add trainings and resources to the Toolkit. [completed and ongoing]
- Assess Faculty Training Outcomes: Number of faculty attending workshops, completed the playlist, and completed the Certificate; Evaluations of toolbox components; Faculty course design surveys. [ongoing]
2023-2024 Academic Year
- Survey students and conduct focus groups to determine student classroom needs.
- Assess Faculty Training Outcomes: Number of faculty attending workshops, completed the playlist, and completed the Certificate; Evaluations of toolbox components; Faculty course design surveys. [ongoing]
- Share resources publicly via Canvas Commons and other venues.
- Assess student success outcomes: Compare student success and completion before (20/21 AY) and after (23/24 AY); compare student success and completion for faculty who have implemented adaptable course design strategies and those who have not.
Ongoing
- Update Adaptive Course Design Toolkit (Webpage, playlist, flex offerings, and Adaptive Course Design Certificate)
- Update shared resources
- Assess Faculty and Student Outcomes
Actions Taken
Fall 2023
- 40 faculty completed the Humanizing Online Teaching Academy
Spring 2023
- Continued Learning Group
- Continued building website and Canvas resources
- Spring Festival - Training on Adaptive Course Design; 4 sessions over 2 Fridays in April - 15 faculty attended the workshops with most faculty attending more than one workshop.
- Monthly "Jam Sessions" to discuss Course Design - approximately 7 faculty attended each month.
- Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Practices Grants to bring "Humanizing Online Teaching" and "Liquid Syllabus Community of Practice" to Butte
Fall 2022
- Added AC⚡DC notation to Flex calendar
- Began Group - 4 faculty are participating in the learning group.
- Continued building website and Canvas resources
Spring 2022
- Spring Festival - Training on Adaptive Course Design; 4 sessions over 2 Fridays in April - 22 faculty attended the workshops with most faculty attending more than one workshop.
- Survey sent to all faculty
- Survey results
Fall 2021
- Committee participants and collaborative partners identified
- Flex workshops developed
- Survey Designed
- Continued to develp the list of frameworks to include in the project
- Initial projects identified: Canvas course, workshop series, learning groups.
- Webpage develoment begins
Spring 2021
- Initial planning and development of the Quality Focused Essay
- Flex Workshop to present project and identify interested participants
