Course Design Institutes

Helping you create exciting, engaging courses for the move to semesters

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The Center for Faculty Development is excited to launch our first Course Design Institutes (CDIs) in Fall 2026, specifically geared toward preparing faculty for a new structure and pace on semesters.

The move to semesters creates a range of pedagogical conundrums and opportunities, including that:

  • some programs are merging course content and combining learning outcomes (especially those in cohorts 2 and 3)
  • some programs are fully redesigning every single course (especially graduate programs)
  • all programs and courses are engaging with the spectrum of well-reasoned responses to AI, from full exploration to firm prohibition
  • cohort 1 programs (which required the fewest technical adaptations for the transition) still have to redesign for four fewer contact hours
  • all courses need to consider a different class cadence, with typically shorter class times, spread over 15 weeks.

These CDIs are exclusively for courses that are in-person or hybrid. For asynchronous courses, please contact our colleagues in the Instructional Design Studio (formerly CDLI).

Register here

If you’d like to participate in Fall Quarter, please register here by September 21. Fall sessions start the week of Monday, September 28.

The registration form will remain open for WQ and SQ cohorts - please sign up as early as you can!

Read on for more information.

What’s involved during the CDI?

With the semester cadence in mind, our CDIs will help you rethink the in-person or hybrid courses you teach and the ways you teach them.

Over eight research-informed sessions distributed throughout the quarter (a mix of CFD-led in-person workshops, drop-in clinics, and optional consultations), you’ll work on one upcoming course that you are transitioning from the quarter to semester format or re-designing on semesters for Cornish faculty. You’ll use the skill set developed during the CDI to apply to all other courses you'll be (re-)designing – and can start applying many of the ideas while we’re still on quarters!

While some topics may be familiar to you, experiencing them together will help you (re-)design a constructively aligned semester course to foster intellectual engagement, a sense of belonging, and meaningful learning for your students.

Each week, you will work on and submit an element of your (re-)designed course, including

All in-person sessions will be 75 minutes, and you can expect to complete on average no more than 150 minutes of work outside of each session per week.

The CDI will provide you with structure, prompts, examples, and time to work. You'll reimagine your learning outcomes, assignments, class activities, and course syllabus through a dynamic and scholarly process of collaborating and exchanging feedback with CFD facilitators and a cohort of teaching colleagues.

On successful completion of the CDI, you’ll receive certification from the Center for Faculty Development that you can include in any APR or promotion materials.

In the end, you'll have a semester-ready course that you are excited to teach and that students are equally excited to take.

Who can participate in a CDI?

Priority places will be given as follows:

  1. Faculty who are chosen as designees for their department or program
  2. Full-time faculty who are teaching in AY27–28
  3. All other faculty

See information below with suggestions on when to participate.

What days and times will CDIs be offered?

Our CDIs will be offered in a cohort model and in-person. Your CDI group will meet on the same day of the week, across eight weeks of each quarter.

CDI groups in Fall 2026:

  • Mondays: 11:00–12:15 (start date: Sep 28)
  • Tuesdays: 8:45–10:00 (start date: Sep 29)
  • Wednesdays: 2:15–3:30 (start date: Sep 30)
  • Thursdays: 1:30–2:45 (start date: Oct 1)

Our current plan is to offer the same times/days in Winter and Spring Quarters. If we receive feedback in Fall that some of these don’t work for enough people, we’ll look at rescheduling.

Our current plan is to offer the same times/days in Winter as in Fall. If we receive feedback in Fall that some of these don’t work for enough people, we’ll look at rescheduling.

CDI groups in Winter 2026:

  • Mondays: 11:00–12:15
  • Tuesdays: 8:45–10:00
  • Wednesdays: 2:15–3:30
  • Thursdays: 1:30–2:45

Our current plan is to offer the same times/days in Spring as in Fall. If we receive feedback in Fall that some of these don’t work for enough people, we’ll look at rescheduling.

CDI groups in Spring 2026:

  • Mondays: 11:00–12:15
  • Tuesdays: 8:45–10:00
  • Wednesdays: 2:15–3:30
  • Thursdays: 1:30–2:45

During which quarter should I participate?

We suggest the following considerations in selecting a CDI to attend.

For department designees, we recommend participating in a CDI in FQ or WQ to ensure you have time to share your learning with colleagues before the end of the academic year.  

If you teach sequenced courses, we suggest participating in a CDI in FQ or WQ, as these courses require significant planning while rearranging course content.

If you’ll be teaching a new course that combines material from different courses on the quarter system (e.g., grad courses, Cornish, Cohort 3 in general), we suggest participating in FQ or WQ, since the design process will be more complex.

If you teach a course tied to accreditation, we suggest participating in a CDI in FQ or WQ, as these courses may be less flexible and may require significant planning in rearranging course content.

If your program is from Cohort 1 or if you are converting a 5-credit quarter course to a 3-credit semester course, we suggest participating in WQ or SQ, since you will only be re-distributing content. (Remember that you will have four fewer hours of contact time, even though you’re meeting students for five weeks longer than on quarters.)

If you teach an elective or special topics course, we suggest participating in a CDI in SQ, as those courses may have more flexibility.

How do I sign up?

You’ll pick a quarter and a day of the week and you’ll tell us a little about the course you’ll be redesigning in the CDI.

We have 25 spaces available in each group and will create a waitlist for each.

Register here
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Questions?

We’re currently building out an FAQs section, but in the meantime, please send your questions to faculty-development@seattleu.edu.