Overview
The "Process for Design and Development Meetings and Documents" provide a detailed explanation of the various steps, the stakeholders involved in each step, and the stakeholders' responsibilities. The resource also outlines which components should be edited in each document and when they should be edited.
For example, according to the process document, the following components should be edited in the CDSD and CPD:
Terminology
Course Design Strategy Document (CDSD): This is the first of the design documents to be created and is generated by the design team. This document includes the course description, evidence statements, and competencies.
Course Publication Document (CPD): This is the second of the design documents to be created. It is based on the information in the CDSD and is used by the publications team to create a prepublished course shell in PAMS. This document includes the course description, evidence statements, competencies, and learning objectives.
Course Build Document (CBD): This document is given to the vendors to instruct them on how to create the course. It pulls information from the CPD.
Course Design Document (CDD): This term describes older design documents and is not used for new projects. CDDs were discontinued in spring 2022.
General Guidelines
Abbreviations: Abbreviations in competencies, objectives, evidence statements, and skills should be spelled out the first time they appear within each component, with the abbreviation appearing in parentheses after the spelled-out term. For example, if an abbreviation appears in two separate evidence statements, spell the abbreviation out the first time it appears in each evidence statement since the evidence statements may not appear together and in the same order in the course. If an abbreviation is used in a competency title, spell it out in the title, with the acronym in parentheses, and use only the acronym in the competency text.
Example:
Competency 732.05.1: Evaluates Guidelines for Health Information Management (HIM)
The learner evaluates ethical guidelines within HIM research.
Articles: Be careful when using articles such as a and the. The may indicate that there is a specific correct answer (e.g., Identify the appropriate uses of technology in the classroom) when that is not the case. Often, it may be clearer to avoid articles altogether (e.g., Identify appropriate uses of technology in the classroom).
Modifiers: Avoid modifiers in competencies, objectives, and evidence statements. There may be, however, instances where modifiers are useful.
Examples of Appropriate Modifiers:
Identify appropriate uses of technology in the classroom.
Determine the correct data structure to use with a tree problem.
Examples of Unnecessary Modifiers:
Describe the different types of computer complexity problems in algorithms.
Outline the basic philosophical foundations of middle schools.
Identify specific examples of an observed teacher using best practices for creating a community of learners within a science classroom.
Numbers: Avoid numbers within the text of the objective or competency. Using numbers in a competency, evidence statement, skill, or learning objective often restricts the content that we expect students to know. Design statements such as competencies and learning objectives should be general enough to the subject that students are not given unfair hints or clues as to what exactly they will be tested on. Delete numbers when you see them, leaving a comment for why you are doing so.
Example:
Identify three ways technology can be used to promote cognitive development.
An exception to this rule may be if there is a universally accepted number of something, and the SMEs want to include that in the objective or competency (e.g., Identify the three states of matter.). Use of the article the is appropriate in this case.
Explanatory information: Information that explains how to measure an objective or evidence statement by providing topics, examples, or other background information should be included in the notes rather than in the statement itself. Examples of this include lengthy parentheticals and lists.
Essential Course Information Section
Course Name: Course names should not use ampersands. Ampersands are only appropriate in the short name of a course and in the domain name. The short name of the course may abbreviate words or eliminate spaces to save characters.
Course Description: The course description is a brief introduction to the course that includes the course’s themes, scope, and relevance to the students’ program. The description is provided to students prior to enrolling in the program and course. It is also used to inform the course design and to understand how the course fits into the larger program. Therefore, a course description should briefly explain what the student is expected to learn and why they are taking the course.
Structure: Course descriptions should, in general, be one paragraph. The description should be short and simple. Avoid questions and bullet points.
Content: Course descriptions should avoid the following content:
competency titles
references to technologies or learning activities
CU count
assessment types
complicated or industry-specific vocabulary or jargon
information more appropriate for the course introduction (e.g., how the student will engage in the course, LR platforms)
Subject: Keep the course as the subject whenever possible, not the student (e.g., "This course will prepare students to analyze graphs," not "Students will become proficient in analyzing graphs.").
Tense and point of view: Use present or future tense in the course description, but be consistent within the paragraph. Use third-person point of view. Do not use pronouns such as you, us, your, or I.
Student/candidate/learner: Refer to WGU students in the course description as student, and use learner for students of WGU students (e.g., in Teachers College).
First sentence: Begin each course description with the course title followed by an active verb and compelling statement.
Example:
Algebra for Secondary Mathematics Teaching explores important conceptual underpinnings, common misconceptions and students' ways of thinking, appropriate use of technology, and instructional practices to support and assess the learning of algebra.
Last sentence: The last sentence of the paragraph should refer to prerequisites for the course. (e.g., "The following courses are prerequisites:" or "Introduction to Interpretive Dance is a prerequisite to this course.") If there are no prerequisites, say so. Do not include the course code in this sentence, only the course title. This is because course codes can change in future developments whereas course titles often do not. (There may be rare exceptions that necessitate the use of a course code for clarity.)
Primary Learning Resources: These sources should generally be in APA 7 format unless the source indicates a different reference format. If an ISBN is included, it should be at the end of the source, similar to how a URL is treated. Do not include dashes or a period at the end. Sources in the notes for evidence statements and learning objectives need not be formatted.
Example:
Van de Walle, J. A., Karp, K. S., & Bay-Williams, J. M. (2018). Elementary and middle school mathematics: Teaching developmentally (10th ed.). Pearson. ISBN: 9780134802084
Design and Development Components
Competencies
If the competency does not include all three parts, leave a comment for the ID. Redeveloped CDDs may not follow this structure if design was not redone from the ground up. You can leave a comment for the ID, but the competency likely cannot be changed.Competencies are created by the design team to align with various skills. Competency syntax guidelines can be found on the "Competency Syntax" page of the Guidance System. Competency numbers contain the domain number, subdomain number, and competency number. When additional competencies are added to a live course, the numbering of the new competencies will differ from the existing competencies.
[The learner] + [(verb) + (optional dependent clause/s) + (simple or complex object) + (optional prepositional phrase)].
Example title and competency language:
Builds Professional Connections
The learner builds professional connections and relationships by leveraging network strategies and best practices.
Evidence Statements
Evidence statements are necessary for courses that have objective assessments. There may be evidence statements for courses that contain performance assessments as well. Evidence statements for performance assessments may not follow the guidelines below and may appear more like notes for development (e.g., having more than one sentence or using multiple verbs).
Evidence statements should use only one verb that describes what the learner will do. They should also be measurable and should align with the competency.
Example:
The learner implements a cloud security solution based on an organization's requirements.
Additional examples and more detailed guidelines for creating evidence statements can be found on the "Evidence Statement Design and Implementation" page of the Guidance System.
"Given": When appropriate, evidence statement may include "given" or "given a," though this is not required. Instances of "when provided with" or "when given a" should be replaced with "given a." Avoid unnecessary use of this phrase.
Example:
✗ Given data extraction techniques, the learner uses the techniques in preparation for data visualization.
✔ The learner uses data extraction techniques in preparation for data visualization.
Objectives
These are sometimes called learning objectives or enabling objectives. An objective should represent a single action or behavior. Use imperative statements that start with a verb, where possible, with a period at the end. Objectives should not be written in a way that the statement could be confused for an activity. Objectives should not be restrictive or specific to an LR.
Objectives should contain only one verb, in present tense.
Example:
Determine appropriate accommodations for students with exceptionalities.
Exception: Some verbs must go together because it is impossible to do one without the other.
✗ Compare and contrast the protagonist and antagonist in the play.
✔ Install and configure the .NET framework integration.
Task Models
Task model items should follow the guidelines and standards for objective assessments. See the Assessments section for more information.
The following sections of the task model template should be edited:
- Scope of Evidence
- Notable Exceptions to Scope
- Characteristic Features
- Variable Features
- Sample Items
