What questions will the course help students answer, or what abilities, habits, or qualities will it help them develop? What reasoning abilities must they develop to answer these questions? What information will they need and how will they obtain it? What questions will you ask students in order to focus their attention on significant issues, or to clarify concepts, or to highlight assumptions that they are likely to ignore? What writing will you ask them to do that will help them grapple with these matters? How will you confront them with conflicting claims and encourage them to grapple (e.g., collaboratively) with the issues? How will you find out what they wish to know? How will you find out how students are learning and provide feedback before and separate from any grading of the students? How will you help students learn to learn, to examine and assess their own learning and thinking, and to read more effectively, analytically, and actively? How will you keep students thinking when you communicate with them?

In short, how will you create a natural learning environment with the skills and information you wish to teach embedded in assignments (questions and tasks) students find fascinating--authentic tasks that arouse curiosity and challenge students to rethink their assumptions and examine their mental models of reality? How will you spell out explicitly the intellectual standards you will be using in assessing their work and why you use those standards? How will you help students learn to assess their work using those standards? How will you know when students are able to do what you want them to do intellectually?  

-Ken Bain