Abstract:

Course design is a document regulating the study process, an essential element structuring the general content of curricula. Its aim is to put together the optimal learning experiences for students in an environment that is supportive and appreciative of learning and intellectual development. Course design contains the information about the study course parameters and the interaction between teaching and learning. The development of the course design is a process based on the use of such methods that would create a quality learning environment for students and an effective study experience. Course designs in different countries, universities, study programmes may differ, however, most course design elements are typological: the informative part of the course design, the required prior knowledge, the study course abstract, the calendar plan of the study course, the learning outcomes, the organisation of students’ independent (self) work and the description of assignments, the requirements for obtaining credit points, the course content, sources of information. Course design navigate students during the course, not only providing an understanding of what competences will have been acquired upon completion of the course, but also providing an idea of the forms by which the planned content is to be acquired, creating an understanding of self-directed learning given in the section describing the organisation of students’ independent work. It should be noted that the description of students’ independent work is one of the least regulated sections in the course design, although independent work of students of higher educational institutions is an important educational activity that contributes to the formation of a system of fundamental subject and scientific knowledge (Kornilov, 2018). Independent work makes a great contribution to the development of students’ scientific and cognitive potential in the process of learning.

The longstanding pre-studies of course design significance done by various universities show that the section describing students’ independent work is often insufficiently developed, thus students do not have a clear understanding of the credit point hours intended for independent work; the assignments of independent work, their purpose, volume and evaluation criteria are not defined.

The given study focuses on practices of the students’ independent work description in the course design. The aim of the study is to describe trends, summarise good practices and provide recommendations for effective description of students’ independent work, including an important aspect of student-centred higher education - how to coach students to set goals and develop a plan for learning (Wilson, Conyers, 2018). The description of students’ independent work is being studied, compared and described with the content analysis approach in the form of study course descriptions of several universities, critically analysing its quantitative and qualitative indicators: specification, conformity to the study course content, integration into the e-learning environment, evaluation parameters

Keywords:

Course design, curriculum design, students’ independent work, effective learning, study results, study programm.