Course Planning Service, CLEAR, CUHK

Course Outline Template

Introduction
The course outline template is provided as a checklist and form for you to use in preparing course outlines for
undergraduate and/or postgraduate courses. It gives a road map or rationale to students about the purpose and structure
of the course, and it explains to them how their learning performance in the course will be assessed and graded. It is
important that course outlines are consistent with the niversitys teaching and learning policy. The !" sections in a
course outline are below. #ections !$!% are re&uired for course approval' these sections will be stored in the
niversitys (ourse )utline *arehouse in a text format with possible links to a course website. Information in sections
!!$!" should be provided each time a course is offered. +lease feel free to adapt this current template format, especially
sections !!$!", to suit the needs of your course,s-.
!. (ourse code
.. /nglish title
0. (hinese title
". (ourse overview
1. 2earning outcomes
3. 2ist of topics
4. 2earning activities
5. 6ssessment scheme ,including rationale-
7. 8ecommended learning resources
!%. 9eedback for evaluation
!!. (ourse schedule
!.. (ontact details for teacher,s- or T6,s-
!0. :etails of course website
!". 6cademic honesty and plagiarism
$!" Course code, Englis# title and C#inese title
Ke$ points% This is a straightforward section. +rovide the basic information about the course code and name of your
course at the beginning of the course outline. 6 (hinese title is optional.
Course Code%
Title in Englis#%
Title in C#inese &optional'%
(" Course overvie)
Ke$ points% /xplain concisely in your statement,s- what the course is about and how the overall course will support
student learning in the discipline,s- of the programme. The purpose of a course description is to provide a holistic view
of your course with coherent information for your students. It is useful to give details of the background of the sub;ect<
the prior knowledge the students should have, the overall aims of the course, and/or how the course relates to the other
courses in the programme. 6lso, please take note of point ! in the 6ppendix on p. 3.
Course overvie)%
*" Learning outcomes
6lthough the term learning outcome is often used interchangeably with terms such as learning ob;ectives,
educational ob;ectives, and instructional ob;ectives, there are some differences that are worth mentioning.
2earning outcomes are student=oriented, referring specifically to what students are expected to achieve or learn
at the end of the course. )b;ectives are usually used to describe course design in terms of what teachers want
to teach or how they view the course as contributing to the content areas covered by the entire programme.
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Course Planning Service, CLEAR, CUHK
Ke$ point< #tate clearly )#at you expect/ intend students to achieve. This is usually more helpful than stating what the
teacher is planning to teach. Teachers can indicate different levels of students expected learning outcomes. The model
below may be helpful in distinguishing basic and higher=order desired learning outcomes ,after >iggs, .%%0-.
>iggs, ?. >. ,.%%0-. Teaching for quality learning at university ,.nd ed.-. >uckingham< #ociety for 8esearch into @igher /ducation A )pen
niversity +ress.
Quantitative phase Qualitative phase
Missing the point Single point Multiple
unrelated points
Logically related
answer
Unanticipated
extension
Misses point
State
Recognise
Recall
Tell
Enumerate
Describe
List
lari!y
Do algorithms
ompare"
contrast
Explain causes
#nalyse
Relate
#pply
$redict
Theorise
%eneralise
&ypothesise
Re!lect
reate
Design
Learning outcomes%
+" List o, topics
Ke$ point% @ighlight the fundamental concepts involved in each topic in order to help students better understand what
is and what is not covered in the course.
Topic Contents- ,undamental concepts
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Course Planning Service, CLEAR, CUHK
." Learning activities
Ke$ point% The purpose in distinguishing between time in terms of number of hours in class and out of class is to
note that considering student workload is an important part of course design. @ere are some examples of
rough calculations one might make for a 0=credit=point course.
6 student might do five 0=credit=point courses in a semester. *orking on approximately 3% hours of actual study per
week, this implies that students might be expected to spend about !.=!0 hours a week on work associated with a 0=
credit=point course. )nly a small number of these hours might be in class.
@ow do you anticipate students will apportion the remaining hoursB
*ill this vary significantly throughout the termB
6nswers to these &uestions should assist students in planning their work and also assist the programme as a whole in
assessing likely variation in student workload.
Types of activity should be customised to suit the nature of teaching in a department.
Lecture Interactive
tutorial
La/ 0iscussion o,
case
1ield2trip Pro3ects 4e/2/ased
teac#ing
Ot#er
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C< Candatory activity in the course
)< )ptional activity
D6<Dot applicable
#ee 6ppendix for further explanation.
5" Assessment sc#eme &including rationale'
Ke$ point% If we consider assessment to be part of the learning activities in the course, then it is clear that assessment
must be matched to the desired learning outcomes. Eou need to consider what and how the assessment task,s- are able
to help students achieve the desired learning outcomes.
Tas6 nature 0escription 4eig#t
7" Recommended learning resources
Ke$ points: 6 well structured set of learning resources should be provided to students. These are usually in the form of
reading lists and references. They may also include sets of links to online resources and e>ooks. It is often helpful to
separate these resources into ones which are central to the content and desired learning outcomes of the course, and
those which are relate to extensions of areas of the course. )ne needs to be realistic about the amount of reading
material students are likely to delve into. )verly long reading lists can be counter=productive and discourage students.
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Course Planning Service, CLEAR, CUHK
Recommended learning resources%
8" 1eed/ac6 ,or evaluation
Ke$ point% There are many forms of evaluation that you can use to generate the feedback from students such as
&uestionnaires, and &ualitative feedback from students through focus=group meetings or email exchanges. +lanning to
have a variety of evaluation strategies is more likely to ensure that valid, rich and diagnostic information is received.
1eed/ac6 ,or evaluation%
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" Course sc#edule
Ke$ point% 6 matrix is suggested as a good way to represent a course schedule including class, date, topic and
re&uirements so that students can prepare their own learning before classes. It is useful to highlight important dates for
students, including holidays, dates when assessments are due and/or dates of tests and examinations.
Class- )ee6 0ate Topic Re9uirements
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Course Planning Service, CLEAR, CUHK
:" Contact details ,or teac#er&s' or TA&s'
Ke$ point% @elp students to easily locate your contact information. The information allows students to arrange for any
consultation after classes or receive support in terms of learning and teaching from teacher, tutors and/or teaching
assistants. It is better to put both the teachers and T6s contact details such as name, office location, phone number and
email address.
Pro,essor-Lecturer-Instructor%
Dame<
)ffice 2ocation<
Telephone<
/mail<
Teaching Genue<
*ebsite<
)ther information<
Teac#ing Assistant-Tutor%
Dame<
)ffice 2ocation<
Telephone<
/mail<
Teaching Genue<
*ebsite<
)ther information<
!" 0etails o, course )e/site
Ke$ point% Information concerning the accessibility of the course website ,if it exists-. This might be an open website
or any of the platforms such as Coodle, *eb(T, (9orum and i@ome hosted by the niversity. Teachers should also
demonstrate the site in class so as to familiariHe the students with the key functionalities. Core information on setting
up course websites can be found at< http<//www.cuhk.edu.hk/e2earning
(" Academic #onest$ and plagiarism
Ke$ point% 8elevant information can be allocated via< http<//www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/ 6 course
outline may also include sub;ect=specific re&uirements on plagiarism. 6 statement to be included in a course outline can
be constructed from the following paragraphs, depending on the nature of the assessment tasks.
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Course Planning Service, CLEAR, CUHK
Academic #onest$ and plagiarism
6ttention is drawn to niversity policy and regulations on honesty in academic work, and to the disciplinary guidelines
and procedures applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations. :etails may be found at
http<//www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/ .
*ith each assignment, students will be re&uired to submit a signed declaration that they are aware of these policies,
regulations, guidelines and procedures. 9or group pro;ects, all students of the same group should be asked to sign the
declaration.
9or assignments in the form of a computer=generated document that is principally text=based and submitted via
GeriIuide, the statement, in the form of a receipt, will be issued by the system upon students uploading of the soft copy
of the assignment. 6ssignments without the receipt will not be graded by teachers. )nly the final version of the
assignment should be submitted via GeriIuide.
Appendi;
!. If a course is designed for one or more Ca;or/Cinor programmes, please specify in respect of each programme
whether it is a re&uired ,compulsory for students in the programme- or elective ,to be freely chosen by
students- course. #uch specifications may be concentration=dependent, i.e., a course may be specified as
re&uired for one concentration ,be it specialism, stream or area- but as elective for another.
.. ,a- 9or the Jin/out classK cells in J2ectureK, please fill in the number of hours that students spend in class on
lecture material, and the number of hours that students are expected to spend out of class studying lecture
material. The same applies to all other Jin/out classK cells of other learning activities.
,b- The following example illustrates how a three=unit course with two hours of in=class lecture plus four hours
of out=of=class activities, and one hour of in=class tutorial plus three hours of out=of=class activities per
week should be presented in the 2earning activities section of the form in the following manner<
Lecture Interactive tutorial
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C' )' D6 C' )' D6 C' )' D6 C' )' D6
@owever, if the two kinds of meetings are held at different intervals ,e.g., two hours of lecture plus four
hours of out class activities per week, and one hour of laboratory plus four hours of out=of=class activities
every two weeks-, or if the kind of meeting is D)T held on a per=week basis ,e.g., three hours of field trip
every month plus two hours of further work-, please specify their respective intervals separately in the
relevant boxes as follows<
Lecture La/ 1ield2trip
&#r'
in- out class
&#r'
in- out class
&#r'
in- out class
./week "/week !/two weeks "/two weeks
0/month
L . hr further work
C' )' D6 C' )' D6 C' )' D6 C' )' D6 C' )' D6 C' )' D6
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