Once you've designed a course, probably with topics for each day as outlined in the previous chapter, you'll need to begin designing the individual classes. You may decide to break your course into modules and then into individual classes. We'll address briefly the issue of modules and then address some tools and techniques for designing classes themselves.

Modules

Modules are groups of classes that address a single topic or a set of closely related topics. You may decide, given the constraints of calendar, range of topics in the course, and level of your students, that you will put anywhere from two to ten classes in a module. Modules of two classes can be very useful in the beginning of a one- or two-year degree program to establish an overview of the topics and frameworks that a course will explore over the program. Likewise, ten-session modules can be useful in developing behavioral skills in courses designed to leave students prepared to do specific things on the job. In our experience, however, modules of two are often too short to do much more than introduce a framework, while modules of ten take up too much space