Course Outline and

Samples

GROUP 7
 What is a course outline?
• Identifies the learning and outcomes to be
accomplished in the course wherever it is
offered in the district.
• Methods of delivery, instructional strategies, or
instructor-specific assessments are not specified.
• Serves as an informational tool for faculty,
administrators, advisors, and prospective
students.
• Are intended to provide students with an overall
plan for your course, enabling them to plan their
own schedules and learn effectively.
• is a brief summary of the topics covered in a particular
course. Course outline includes course description,
number, title, topics and course requirements. It is a
document that outlines the structure of a particular
course.
• Course Outlines are critical resources that help
students understand the course.
• A Course Outline defines the course aims and learning
outcomes, course requirements, textbooks, and
assessment dates and criteria. It also contains contact
details for the Course Coordinator and tutors.
• According to the University of Lethbridge’s Teaching Center, a
course outline is a document that benefits students and
instructors as it is essential when designing any course.
• Also known as a syllabus, a course outline serves as a planning
tool. As the syllabus is written, it also guides the instructor’s
development of the course beginning from the first year to the
fourth year. Not only instructors can set course goals, develop
student learning objectives, but they can also create and align
assessment plans, as well as establish a schedule for the course.
• Course outlines give the student a brief idea on what subjects he
or she will be taking over the next couple of years by setting
course goals and student learning plans outcomes. The syllabus
also explains to students about what expectations lies ahead of
them and provides a timeline of these expectations.
• Finally, a syllabus also works as a reference for colleagues,
administrators, and accreditation agencies. It serves as a
guide to others to know what kind of subjects you are
taking and what will be expected of them. In some cases,
some may refer to the syllabus to give the students an idea
of what particular skills they would have obtained after
completing the course. Related courses that utilize your
course as a prerequisite or co-requisite will likely build on
the outcomes mapped out in your current course outline
 A good course outline performs the following
functions:
1. It is the principal means for course planning: highlights the
required components of the course.

2. It does not states the level for which students will be held
accountable.

3. It provides coherent information and skills that are needed to

prepare students in a particular subject.
4. It contains the prerequisites needed to take the course.

5. It records changes when a course is updated.

6. It contains the requirements and components of the

course and acts as an agreement between the school and the
student.
• 7. It shows that all the required components of the course
are present as specified in a school curriculum.

8. It serves to maintain academic standards: demonstrates

that the school provides consistent, high quality teaching.

9. Through the course outlines the program design is

evaluated and it helps to identify the needs of the students,
as well as to allocate resources.
 Roles and Purposes of a Course Outline
The course outline can serve many roles within your course –
it is not just a document to share on the first day and forget
about. Here are some roles your course outline could serve:
• Share Expectations- A course outline will share formal and
informal expectations of the course (student-related,
course-related, behavior-related, goals of course, etc.)
• Promises of Learning Outcomes- Learning outcomes are
really promises of student learning to be achieved by the
end of the course. The course outline should include all
outcomes to meet accreditation and accountability
requirements.
• Convey Enthusiasm -An instructor who is excited to teach
the course will have a course outline that conveys this
through the choice of topics, the design of assignments,
and the organization of the course.
• Set Tone- Students will quickly pick up the tone of the
course through reading the content of the course outline.
• Establish Contract -Some institutions will have students
sign their name to indicate they have understood course
outline and its contractual conditions regarding learning.
• Define Roles -One can quickly determine the roles of the
student and instructor after glancing over a course outline.
• Assess Readiness for Course -A good course outline will give
enough detail on course content that students can assess their
readiness for taking the course. There may be prerequisite
courses or skills and abilities students should have before
entering course.
• Outline Workload -By far the most important component of
the course outline for students is how much work there will be!
The workload should be clearly outlined.
• Explain Policies and Procedures -There will always be a
standard set of statements and references to policies and
procedures. It helps ensure everyone is exposed to the
academic expectations of taking the course and the boundaries
they must adhere to.
• Share Resource Details -Textbooks, workbooks, clickers,
specialized materials, safety equipment, and so on, are
some of the items students need for a course.
• Outline Big Picture- The course outline often will share
how the course fits within department programs or
institutional certificates, degrees or diplomas.
• Serve as a Learning Tool- Well-detailed course outlines are
excellent learning tools. They help students design study
notes and follow along from week to week.
 Components of Course Outlines
• 1. Course Prefix and Number
Identifies the course for registration and transcript purposes.
If you don’t know what prefix or number to use, you may
leave this information blank as you prepare the course
outline.
• 2. Course Description
• It is always important to give the students a brief idea of
what the course is all about. This is also the section that
informs the students on what subjects they will be taking
should they enroll. Some syllabuses also provide a small
description of the subjects to give further detail on what
they can expect for that subject.
• A brief, informative snapshot about the course. The
description is intended to tell a prospective learner about
the key content and learning focus of the course.
3. Course Goals
• As you begin encoding the syllabus, it is important to ask
these questions: What are the big ideas that you are going
to cover in your course? What are the essential
understandings that students will take away with them
after the course has finished? It is imperative to define
these course professional goals, as they will help you
determine what you expect from your students, and what
your students can expect from the course. In some cases, it
helps if you indicate what careers can they be pursuing to
provide motivation for them to do better in their
academics.
 The following are some characteristics of good
course objectives:

•Course objectives should identify a learning outcome;

•Course objectives should be consistent with course goals;
•Course objectives should be precise;
•Course objectives should be measurable and should provide a
correct mode of assessment ;
•Course objectives should be realistic; and
•Course objectives should offer a reasonable timeline for
completion of the desired learning.
4. Student Learning Objectives/Outcomes
• At the end of the day, it is pointless to have your students taken
the course if they have not learned a single thing. Which means
formulating a syllabus is easier said than done since you also
have to start designing outcomes that the students might
achieve during their time in the university, and it is a valuable
element to have in your syllabus. The outcomes are
usually statement samples that are verb oriented and directed
at the students. For example: “Students will be able to identify
key geomorphological formations on a Southern Alberta map.”
This example uses the verb identify, which is a lower level
thinking skill. A higher order thinking skill is incorporated in the
next example: “Students will be able to read and analyze
population maps interpreting any trends the data may show.”
• The learning outcomes are the primary skills, behaviors,
abilities, expertise, and proficiencies the learner will "own"
at the end of the course.
5. Assessment Overview
• The assessment overview is a grading guide that allows
students to see what weightings can apply to the different
assessment elements of a course. Assessment measures
are used to demonstrate the learner’s mastery of the
learning outcomes. An example of an assessment overview
is below.
• Quizzes: 50%
Participation: 5%
Journal Assignments: 20%
Team Assignment: 10%
Final Exam: 15%
6. Assessment Plan
• These assessment plans are built in line with student
learning objectives as these indicate what the students will
learn. While your assessment plan states how you, as an
instructor, will gather evidence for achievement of the
objectives. This will detail the type of assessments that will
occur within the course structure, how they will be marked,
and how they provide evidence of student learning. Your
assessment plan will more than likely consist of multiple
assessments ranging from online examinations to essays
and group projects. Different assessments can and should
be used to find evidence for multiple outcomes.
7. Instructional Method
• Though it is not always required, indicating on how the
course is going be taught from here on is not really such a
bad idea whether they would be lectures, seminars, video
presentations, etc. But along the way, it is important to be
evaluated by the very students you teach before the end of
the semester as it also helps you grow as a teacher to see
how your students feel on how you teach.
8 Required Course Materials
• Provide specific information about required readings, including
title, author(s), edition number and availability (from where
they can be purchased or borrowed). It is helpful to the
students to indicate how each reading relates to a particular
topic in the course.
9. Schedule of Activities
• This portion of the outline should be built once the plan has
been made. Once you understand how you want to assess your
students, you can create activities that help facilitate the
learning that needs to be done to help students achieve the
objectives. Course activities should work in parallel with the
assessment plan. If students need to provide evidence of
learning by completing a multiple choice exam, then the
activities in the schedule should prepare them for this
assessment.
Lectures, readings, small group and whole group discussions
can all be activities that help the student meet their learning
objectives.

10. Reading List

• This section will serve as a guide for the students on the
textbooks and other educational materials during the
entirety of the course.
11. Plagiarism Announcement
• Students have the tendency to be lazy and due to that,
they might end up copy-pasting someone else’s work and
making it their own. With that said, you have to inform
your students that a plagiarism detection service such as
Turnitin will be used to ensure original quality work from
the students. But should they request an alternative
method of plagiarism detection because of privacy
concerns, an alternate option must be provided for them