Coursetune, a first-of-its-kind curriculum blueprinting and learning design collaboration tool, today announced the release of their new CoursePlan application for individual instructor use.
CoursePlan helps educators plan courses by identifying course bloat and alignment gaps at-a-glance early on in the process. The software provides a comprehensive view of course objectives, learning objectives, learning activities, and assessments with design capabilities for a multitude of formats; online, remote, face-to-face, Hyflex, and blended.
“Instructors are often surprised when students don’t meet the learning outcomes in a course and they wonder what went wrong, but not anymore,” said Maria Andersen, Coursetune CEO. “Our visualizations help instructors to see the alignment gaps between objectives, learning, and assessment, allowing them to create engaging, flexible, quality curriculum that works.”
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has forced educators, learners, and their families into an education experiment, one in which they must navigate fluctuating schedules, new methods of delivering teaching and training, and confronting technological challenges.
As pointed out recently in a Harvard Business Review article titled A Post-Pandemic Strategy for U.S. Higher Ed, while many focus on the economic impact that has shocked them, “the current experiment with online teaching is providing universities with real-time data about which aspects of their courses can be substituted, which can be complemented or augmented, and which can’t be replaced by the digital medium.”
The article went on to say, “They must start determining the varying degrees of face-to-face, real-time virtual, and asynchronous-virtual experiences required for each course.”
This is forcing these institutions to quickly shift their models in many cases to a hybrid, co-op, or fully-online course plan. Whichever new model they adapt, schools will be required to implement near-instant adjustments to their curriculum.
A big piece of the challenge facing instructors has always been finding a way to craft a course curriculum that works to meet the desired outcomes. The pandemic has greatly raised the bar on this hurdle.
With educators and institutions being forced to pivot and completely create new designs for multiple courses, it can be near impossible to quickly assess the effectiveness of the new plans. “Every educator has had their course plans upended. CoursePlan is here to support them and help them feel confident in their new curriculum design process,” Andersen explained. “CoursePlan gives the powerful visualizations from our enterprise product, CourseTune, to any instructor who wants to engage in quality course planning in preparation for the fall term.”
Coursetune’s patented visual interface intuitively guides instructors through instructional design best practices. A disruptive departure from the spreadsheets and word docs that are typically used in this detailed work, instructors express enjoyment as they build in the zen-like environment Coursetune provides.
Instructors gain a deeper understanding of their course structure and spot alignment gaps early in the design process. With CoursePlan, they can see course goals, module organization, learning objectives, learning activities, and assessments in an at-a-glance view, showing them how these impact everything in planning for student success.
“I see that my courses have improved, exponentially, from where I’ve started,” confirmed Michele Pistone, of the Charles Widger School of Law.
To learn more about Coursetune and CoursePlan, visit https://coursetune.com/.
About Coursetune
Coursetune’s tools help institutions measurably improve the process of quality course and program design. Focusing on outcomes mapping and assessment alignment, the robust suite of tools and reports enables diverse teams of educators to collaborate as they design, align, and communicate complex curriculum. It greatly enhances the efficiency of the design process and the ease at which it can be communicated to all stakeholders and across systems. Ultimately, these improvements result in a clear definition of student outcomes. The resulting insights and analytics deepen understanding of how courses align with standards and accreditation requirements. This clarity and understanding are systemic issues at the heart of improving the student learning experience.