Designing doctoral courses

Course content

The course will address the central aspects of course design:

• How to formulate intended learning outcomes?
• How to make choices regarding content selection?
• How to choose related teaching and learning activities?
• How to select appropriate student assessment tasks? And finally
• How to evaluate a course and develop it further?

Intended learning outcomes

After the course, the participants should be able to:

• Apply an outcome-based framework to design doctoral courses aligned to regulations of ILOs for Ph.D. students.
• Justify choices made in course design, based on evidence of what facilitates student learning.
• Align course design with KI policy on doctoral courses.

Teaching and learning methods

The participants will familiarize themselves with the principles and application of active learning, such as flipped classrooms, and digital media. All participants are given the opportunity to work with and further develop their own/authentic course. As the intention is to create an inspiring and supportive community of teachers working in doctoral education, opportunities for peer learning are actively promoted. Active participation in small group learning activities is therefore essential.

Structure of the course

The course equals two weeks of full-time study (80 hours) and the course meetings will be on campus Flemingsberg.  Coursework between seminars includes reading educational literature and preparatory work for the next seminar, practical work on your doctoral course, and collaborative learning with peers.

The course consists of six course meetings where we meet and, in some parts, we meet participants from Kursdesign (Swedish course design course) for joint interactive lectures.

The course activities are based on direct, hands-on application of educational theory and methods to the design of the participants’ doctoral courses. Participants will have the opportunity to work individually and/or in groups to improve the design of a course for which they are responsible.

Target audience

If you have these questions:

• How can I use pedagogic theories, instructional methods, and information ‎technology to create a meaningful learning experience in my course?‎
• I am going to design a new course at the Ph.D. level, how can it be designed to meet the needs of doctoral students best? ‎

Then you are in the right place! The course is targeted at ‎course directors of doctoral courses at Karolinska Institutet and focuses on the ‎specific challenges and opportunities of doctoral education.

Entry requirements

This is a continuation course. To fulfill the entry requirements, you need:

1. You should have taken a minimum of three weeks of teacher training courses (i.e. courses in medical education or university pedagogy).
2. You should be a course director (“kursansvarig”) for a doctoral course.

Due to the oriented nature of this course, participants must be actively working on at least one doctoral course of their own. Teachers of doctoral courses who are not officially course directors can be admitted if the head of the department or the responsible person for the doctoral program gives a recommendation.

Language

The teaching and discussions will be in English.

Course dates 

The course opens in Canvas on January 24, 2025. Instructions on preparatory assignments and reading for the first course meeting are available in Canvas at the beginning of the course.

Course meetings (Spring 2025)

All campus meetings will be in Flemingsberg!

• Zoom meeting: Feb 4th (9-12)
• Seminar 1: Feb 18th (9-16.30)
• Seminar 2: March 4th (9-16.30)
• Seminar 3: March 5th (9-16.30)
• Seminar 4: March 26th (9-16.30)
• Oral presentation: April 23rd (9-16.30)

On March 12th, at 13:00-15:00, in addition to the course meetings, we offer an opportunity to participate in an in-depth workshop: "Maximizing Student Engagement in Canvas: Practical Design Tips"

The workshop will focus on hands-on publishing in your Canvas course. For those who have their own questions, there is an opportunity to stay until 16:00.

Examination

Examination of the intended learning outcomes of the course takes place by the participant:

• Write a course design and justify the choices made based on pedagogical theories and principles
• Make a peer review of another participant's examination assignment and give feedback

To pass the course, the following is required:

• Active participation in all parts of the course
• Approved examination assignment showing that the intended learning outcomes have been achieved

Instructions and assessment criteria for the examination assignment are provided at the start of the course.

Qualifications

The course is considered a merit and is approved when applying for docentship or employment as a lecturer/senior lecturer at KI. However, the course does not give higher education credits but corresponds to two weeks of higher education studies.

After completing the studies, an approved participant receives a course certificate. 

Registration

The course is free of charge for employees at Karolinska Institutet and regional employees who teach/supervise Karolinska Institutets' students. The course can also be applied for by employees at KTH and SU (Stockholm Trio) subject to availability.

Sign up for the spring 2025 course: Please register her

The registration form is open from September 13th till November 18, 2024.

The maximum number of participants is twenty. The minimum number of participants should be ten people to run the course. The next iteration (after spring 2025) of the course will be in Autumn 2026.

Contact

The course is given by the Unit for Teaching and Learning.