What and Why of a course overview

The Course Overview is your trip itinerary. It explains to students what content will be covered in the course, why it matters to them now and in the future, and what they will be able to do with what they have learned when the course is finished. Your course overview paints a picture for the students of what they will learn during the term. But don't stop there.

This is an opportunity to hook them into the subject. Before giving your overview, engage your students with a central question or problem in the field that your class will address. Or do an activity that requires skills they don't have yet but will learn, so they are excited to learn them. You are setting the stage for their learning.

The ideas in Cognitively Priming Students for Learning, while focused more on learning units or class sessions, can be adapted to your course overview.

How to: Online in Canvas (Asynchronous)

You can write a comprehensive course overview, as we do in our fully online courses. But that may feel overwhelming and your students may not read it. There are other options.

Record a video

It is very easy to do a short video (2-4 minutes) on your phone or in Zoom to explain the course to students. Don't be shy. Let your enthusiasm for the subject matter come through in the video. Here's a short teaser by our own "Professor Dave" Westcott that is paired with a more comprehensive written course overview;

Do an activity

Consider starting the week with an activity that primes the pump for learning. You could make it a shared activity using the discussion board, or an individually submitted assignment. Then when the students read or watch your overview or content lecture, they are more invested in the course.

Check out the example below.

The first step to bringing about change is awareness. We cannot change what we cannot see. Often we overlook what surrounds us because it is familiar, like the water stain on the bathroom ceiling or the pile of clutter in the corner of the bedroom. This activity will help you look at your surroundings with new eyes. Once you become aware, you can then make others aware.

Look around you for examples of environmental health issues. Do you spot a hazard? Snap a photo or take a short video and share it to our class bulletin board along with a short explanation of what it is, where you found it, and how it could be improved or avoided.

How to: Live Sessions (Synchronous)

It is typical to do the course overview and the syllabus review together on the first day of class. Consider starting the session with an activity that primes the pump for learning.

The activity could be woven into your icebreaker activity, done as a whole class discussion, or as small breakout groups that come back and share to the class.

Alternatively, you could send an announcement or email to students with a pre-class activity that you then use at the start of class as a prelude to the course overview.

The following example was used online in a Canvas discussion forum, but is easily done in a live session.

For example:

As we go through this course, we're going to become Exercise Mythbusters. What questions do you have about exercise? What burning question have you always had? What one myth have you wondered about? For example, is the statement "No pain, no gain" really true?

We will look at a lot of questions throughout the course. Let's see if we can answer them.