The Importance of Intentional Course Design
My journey in higher education began with struggle. As a first-generation university student, I was listless for the first few years as I bounced between majors, starting in physics before realizing it wasn't the right fit. I was socially engaged but academically adrift, until a pivotal moment changed everything: retaking an introductory sociology course with a different professor. I failed this course the first time around and needed to get that grade off of my transcript. My previous instructor was dry and disengaged with their work and disengaged with the class. But when I retook the course with a different instructor, one my academic coach suggested (I was on academic probation at the time), the rest, they say, is history.
Rather than read a textbook and listen to an uninspired lecture, this instructor designed the course around a simple premise: in order to learn sociology, you have to do sociology. In doing so, I read Orwell's Animal Farm and applied fundamental concepts to the text. I also completed a participant observation project that became my first of many applied projects in my academic career.
That class also transformed my academic life. Within a year, I became a straight-A student and discovered my passion for sociology. More importantly, I witnessed firsthand the profound impact that effective instruction could have on a student's trajectory. This revelation eventually led me to become a social worker who focused on policy and assessment of programs, then to a PhD in sociology.
Despite some raised eyebrows from my dissertation advisor and peers, when weighing my options I chose to join the faculty at an institution with a mission focused on teaching - I was shaped as an academic through the power of instruction.
Previously, as director of our Faculty Development and Innovation Center (FDIC), I had the opportunity to put these beliefs into action. Just over a year ago, our president and provost approached me with a challenge: address the high DWF rates (D grades, withdrawals, and fails) in our general education courses – the very gateway courses that can make or break a student's college journey, just as sociology did for me.
We recently completed our first implementation of this DWF initiative, working with eight departments across diverse disciplines – from human services to chemistry, speech to public health. The redesign process was intentional and comprehensive, including training and support from an instructional designer, using the backward design methodology, financial support for curriculum updates, and incentives for departments that reduced their DWF levels by 7.50 percentage points or more.
The results? They're promising. Across 65 sections serving 1,623 students, we saw the overall DWF percentage drop from a three-year average of 26.40% to 22.86%. Even more encouraging, 60% of sections reduced their DWF rates, and of those, three-quarters achieved reductions exceeding 7.50 percentage points. Sections that implemented the redesigns consistently outperformed those that didn't.
Sure, we heard skepticism. Concerns about grade inflation and academic freedom surfaced. But what made the difference was the courage of faculty members to step outside their comfort zones and rethink how they taught these foundational courses. They found innovative ways to raise the floor, meeting students where they are, like restructuring a music history course to work backward from the present to the past, or integrating practical certifications into a public health curriculum.
What I've learned through this initiative reinforces what hooked me into higher education decades ago: instruction matters. It is most impactful when it is student-focused and has the permission to be innovative; bonus points if you can connect it with practical applications and transferable skills. Even now as Acting Dean of Student Success, I am still coordinating this initiative and infusing these ideas to better design and deliver an academic support infrastructure that is also student-focused and innovative.
Effective instruction requires a holistic approach that combines quality course design with permission to innovate, backed with robust support for faculty and comprehensive support systems like peer tutoring and coaching for students. This ecological validation approach is how we truly raise the floor and lift students to meet our expectations.
Instruction, intentional design, supporting innovation, and empowerment through validation. These are the building blocks of transformative instruction. That's how we raise the floor. That's how we change lives; I don't just believe in it, I am proof of it.