WMUx

Instructor discussing class assignment with student.

WMUx
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5230 USA
(269) 387-4200

How We Work with Instructors

WMUx offers support to the campus community in each of the following areas:

One on One Consultations

Our goal is to collaborate with you to imagine, design, and develop engaging and effective learning experiences.

Are you looking to:

  • Do something different?
  • Try something new?
  • Rethink your assessments?
  • Address ongoing challenges in the classroom?
  • Take a great course or activity and translate it to another modality?
  • Add an experiential learning component to your course?
  • Complete a Quality Matters course review? 

We are here for these discussions. Meet with a member of our instructional design team in a one-on-one or group setting to explore best practices in teaching and learning. We will review instructional materials, discuss different ideas for delivery, and explore how you can revisit or redesign activities or the whole course. We will talk about pedagogy, organization, and design and guide you through integrating new and effective technologies into your work. We look forward to collaborating with you on the next iteration of your learning experience – whatever your goals or modality.

Reach out to schedule a meeting today

Group Facilitations and Workshops

Group of 5 people around a conference table with computers

Similar to one-on-one consultations, the instructional design team is available to work with groups to address discipline and department-level goals. We work with you to collaborate on facilitation, support, and design, connecting you with university and community partners as needed.  

We will work with you to: 

  • Redesign curriculum. 
  • Align, design, or reimagine multi-semester courses. 
  • Develop materials to support part-time instructors. 
  • Facilitate conversations around pedagogical challenges and opportunities your department or area is facing.  
     
Reach out to schedule a meeting today

  Back to top

Instructional Design

Our instructional design team is here to collaborate with you to create quality learning experiences. Our goal is to make teaching and learning an engaging and effective experience for all involved by providing ongoing support in the form of training, professional development, and consultations to both individuals and groups for the development of learning experiences in any modality.
 

Contact an instructional designer

  Back to top

Course Development

We have three main options for course development:

Our instructional design team works with you to think through your course or learning experience from start to finish, beginning with the end in mind as we work together to align objectives and outcomes with assessments and activities. We begin with ideation – so we have the same idea of where we are headed – then we collaborate and share ideas to think through the basic overview and benchmarks of the course. Next, we intentionally work through the finer details and think through more of the individual learning experiences as we move toward the assembly of the course. Finally, we review the course individually and then meet to discuss it before the course goes live. After the course has been taught to students, we'll meet again to iterate and assess the process. 

Like the course development process noted above, this process guides instructors through the design and development of a course. However, this process is typically reserved for online courses and is connected to a stipend that is initiated, approved, and paid for through college chairs and deans. For more information see the WMU Course Development Process.

The redesign/iteration process includes both a self-review and consultation. The course instructor and a member of the instructional design team will both complete a checklist regarding an existing course and meet to explore ideas on a redesign. The instructor can bring student feedback they have gathered or personal reflections to inform areas to change for the next run of the course. Instructors may also engage with a redesign/iteration process to intentionally address moving certain class sessions from one modality to another, such as flipped classroom, hybrid, or other flexible modalities.

All three options facilitate the creation of quality learning experiences and are designed to ensure that instructors have the support they need. The process begins with collaborative ideation and ends with a plan for iteration.

Start your plan today

  Back to top