Ask an ID: Backward Design: Rethinking Curriculum for Accelerated Sessions

Ask an ID: Rethinking Curriculum for Accelerated Sessions

Dear Instructional Designer,

I am an Adjunct Professor who has been at ACC for 20 years. I have always taught a 16-week course but I was just assigned a 12-week session for the first time. I am unsure how to best approach and manage this new session given the difference in length and would appreciate any guidance you can provide.

– Course Compressor

Dear Course Compressor,

I can certainly understand how this shift in course length presents a new challenge. Not to worry – here are some tips and resources to help you make this adjustment a smooth one for both you and your students.

Backward Design is how we usually look at course structure. We start with the learning outcomes, what we want the students to be able to demonstrate, and then figure out the materials, activities, and assessments that go with each objective. You can access an example ACC course map here, which I encourage you to fill out. You want to look at your 16 week course objectives and figure out what is absolutely required, what is important, and what is just “nice to know” and cut out some of those. Trying to fully condense a 16 week into 12 without cutting anything isn’t generally recommended because of cognitive load theory and the spacing effect.

Rethink if you want to move from weekly modules to “unit” modules. A typical pattern is to fold Weeks 1–2, 3–4, 5–6, etc., into combined modules with clearer themes.

Be clear to the students about what is going on. Explain that they are in an accelerated course so things are going to move faster than they may be used to. Remind the students that it will be imperative to stay on top of their work and outline in every module what they need to Read or Watch, what they need to Do, and what the Assessment will be. Connect the learning outcomes to those activities to help them understand why they are doing what they are doing. And give them a ballpark figure of how much time you are expecting each chunk to take. I like to create a PDF course schedule with the dates of the term and all the due dates so that they can print it or save it and cross things off. 

You also want to use frequent, smaller check‑ins (quick quizzes, minute papers, short reflections) to monitor learning and catch problems early when things move faster. This is especially important because students in shortened terms can experience more stress and less recovery time between tasks.

It’s a lot to generate so I recommend leaning on Google Gemini for help. It’s in your Google Workspace Tools. Make sure you use your ACC linked account so that all of your course materials will stay secure and make sure to double check every single thing it generates for students because there can always be hallucinations and errors with generative AI.

I hope this helps you! Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any further questions or to set up a 1:1 meeting.

Backwards by design,

Your Instructional Designer