Guides for Learning & Teaching:
Session Design & Planning in 9 steps
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Centre for Professional Learning and Development
Guides for Learning and Teaching
Session Design and Planning in 9 steps
Introduction
This guide contains information to help you design and plan (and ultimately
deliver!) successful sessions. Each of the 9 steps shown below is explained in
more detail in the sections, which follow to identify:

The purpose and benefits of each step for you and your students

Questions to consider in each step

Where you can find further guidance to help you at each step
Step 1
Decide the purpose of your session
Step 2
Design learning activities aligned appropriately to the intended
learning outcomes
Step 3
Identify how you will monitor your students’ learning in the session
Step 4
Identify how and when you will evaluate the effectiveness of your
session
Step 5
Schedule your session’s running order & timings
Step 6
Identify the resources you will need to deliver the session
Step 7
Source and check those resources
Step 8
Identify risks and their impact on your session’s success
Step 9
Create your contingency plan for times when those key things go
wrong
Creating a session plan is ideal as it avoids you having to start from scratch
each time you deliver the session. It makes the session explicit and so can be
used by others in your absence. See the CPLD Guide to Using and Creating
Session Plans for further guidance.
How this guide relates to the UKPSF and NTU Professional Standards for
Teaching and Supporting Learning in HE
Areas of Activity
Areas of Core Knowledge (Ks)
Professional Values (Vs)
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A1, A2
K2, K3
V3
Step 1
Determine the purpose of your session
Why?
For you as tutor:
 Provides a clear focal point for designing the session content
 Provides a measure or benchmark against which you evaluate your session’s
impact – were you and your students able to achieve what was intended?
For your students:
 Provides valuable information to your students to help them understand what
to expect from the session, and what’s expected of them.
 Provides a benchmark against which your students can assess for themselves
their knowledge prior to the session - ‘where am I now?/what do I already
know? They can use the same benchmark to monitor and assess their
progress during and after the session – helps give them feedback, and
information to help judge what they have learned. That’s one of the factors
which supports learning.
How?
 By defining the aim of the session
 By defining what you intend the students to learn by the end of the session
(the learning outcomes)
 By defining how your session relates to others in a series such as a module or
programme
Useful questions to consider:
 Is this a stand-alone session or part of a module or course? If the latter, do I
know how does it fit with the wider module and/or course? If not, how can I
find out?
 What is my overall aim in providing the session?
 What do I want the students to be able to ‘do’, ‘know’, or ‘be’ as a result of
completing the session? – which bits of the module learning outcomes does
this session address?
 How am I going to enable the students to understand the purpose of the
session?
Information you will need to get started:
 If your session is part of a module or wider programme, you will need the
module aims and learning outcomes to determine how the session fits in with
those. It isn’t expected that every session will have to address all the
learning outcomes of a module, but it is important to know which ones you
are expected to address so you can mirror those in your session’s aims and
outcomes. Have the aims and learning outcomes for your session already
been written? If the aims and learning outcomes already exist, are they
appropriate and do they align with the rest of the module. If not, what
changes can you discuss with the module or programme leader to help?
Further guidance:
 Your course team colleagues
 Course and module specification – for learning outcomes
 CPLD Guide to Writing Learning Outcomes
 NTU Quality Handbook via the CADQ website
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Step 2
Design learning activities aligned appropriately to
the intended learning outcomes
Why?
For you as a tutor:
 To improve your chances of selecting methods and approaches appropriately
aligned to the learning outcomes.
 To focus your attention when designing sessions onto what your students are
doing rather than on what you like to do.
For your students:
 You help improve their chances of learning what you intended them to.
Useful questions to consider:
 What teaching methods could I use to teach the topic?
 Which methods will actively engage my students in the learning process?
 Have I selected the best methods for learning what’s set out in the intended
learning outcomes?
How?
 Use the action verbs in the learning outcomes to guide your design of learning
activities – make sure what you get the students to do and practise is what’s
defined in the learning outcomes. For instance, if your students need to learn
to evaluate, the session activities should enable them to learn how to evaluate
and practise it.
 Avoid selecting a method just because it’s how you like to learn. Go for
methods, which have the best chance of enabling the students to get actively
engaged in learning.
 Avoid extremes of variety in your methods – either too much or too little!
 Search around in open learning resources and ask colleagues what they do.
This will help inspire ideas and help you create a bit of variety to meet your
learners’ different learning preferences. Stay critical though – are they using
methods which support active engagement?
 Observe more experienced colleagues (both within and outside your discipline
for inspiration – but observe critically. Are there methods actively engaging
the students in learning? Are the students achieving the learning outcomes?
Ask them why they chose to teach the way they do – sometimes, a method is
used because of familiarity rather than for its effectiveness at supporting
learning.
 Ask your students for ideas on how they’d like to learn a subject.
 Experiment and evaluate – don’t give up on something first time you use it!
Students take time to understand a new method.
 Explain your methods to students and evaluate critically!
Further guidance:
CPLD Guide to Designing for Active Learning to help you select learning methods,
which support deeper, rather than superficial learning.
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Step 3
Why?
Identify how you will monitor your students’
learning in the session
It’s easy to be so focused on what we’re doing as tutors, that we
forget to consider what our students are doing, and what progress
they are making towards achieving the intended learning
outcomes. This is often be left until formal summative assessment,
yet we can build formative feedback activities into our sessions that
provide them and us with timely information about understanding
and progress.
For you as tutor:
 Provides you with information to help you gauge the extent to which your
session is working for your students – are they learning what you intended
them to learn?
 Prompts us to focus on our students’ learning rather than our teaching.
 Helps us focus on impact rather than just delivering content.
 Provides valuable information to inform future session content, and the
evaluation of your sessions.
For your students:
 Can help them learn how to evaluate and monitor their own progress and
learning.
 Can encourage them to become more independent learners.
 Helps them become more aware of their own progress and help them target
areas needing extra work and study.
Useful questions to consider:
 What methods can I use to monitor student progress and learning?
 Are there some methods that are quicker and easier to use than others?
 Which methods are easy to use with large numbers of students?
How?
The following 7 ideas are adapted from ‘53 Interesting Things to Do in Your
Lecture’ 1992 (4th edition) by Graham Gibbs, and Sue & Trevor Habeshaw.

The instant feedback questionnaire in which you provide a number of
statements students can respond to in terms of how well they understand
them. You can use in-class voting systems that now provide the anonymised
results on the screen, so student get feedback about their performance in
relation to others in the class without any individual having to be identified.

The ‘3 most important things’ in which you ask your students to list on a
scrap of paper or post-it notes (or on-line if you have access to the
technology), the 3 most important things from today’s session, and get them
to leave you with those with you. It’s fascinating to see how others interpret
what’s important, and you can use this information to provide feedback or recap important learning points from the session. There are many alternatives
you could ask, including ‘ the most important message I took from today’s
session is..’ and ‘the one thing I am struggling to understand is…’.

The ‘one-minute paper’ in which you ask your students to write
anonymously non-stop for one minute on anything they have learned from
the session without worrying about punctuation, grammar, structure, order
etc. – they just randomly write things down as they occur to them. Gather
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these in and look through them to compare the range of learning from the
session.

Start with a test – this can enable you to judge how much has been
retained form previous sessions or let’s you find out the level of
understanding and knowledge about a new topic. It can also help re-focus
students’ attention and helps them settle into the session.

Finish with a test – to let you round off a session and provide you and your
students with important feedback about how much they have understood and
learned. You could use hand-outs, online tests, on screen questions with
answers that are revealed as you go etc.

Spot test – at any point during the session, or in any session to help
maintain that element of surprise. Usually very brief and help provide a brief
interlude during a session to refocus attention.

‘Are there any questions?’ – the one we probably instinctively rely on the
most! But as Gibbs and colleagues point out “it is so routinely ineffective that
it has come to mean ‘That’s all for today’.” (1994, p143). Students often
need time to reflect on what they want to ask, or are too busy note-taking to
have time to think about the real questions they need to ask. Or, they may
just be too busy packing up, or think the tutor doesn’t really mean it, or feel
too awkward to ask in front of a large group. Questions can be more effective
if the following are done:
Provide a pause of several minutes for students to work in small groups to
create a question – this prevents them from feeling isolated in asking the
question
Ask them to swop questions with another group – and try to answer them
Then any they can’t answer – say you’ll be asking a couple of the groups
to read those unanswered questions out to the whole group.
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Step 4
Identify how and when you will evaluate the
success of your session
Why?
For you as tutor:
 To enable you to know if you’re doing the right thing – to what extent are
your teaching methods helping your students learn what’s intended?
 To help you establish an important dialogue with your students that can help
you share your expectations of each other, and clarify the purpose of the
sessions.
 To enable you to contribute to the Programme and Module evaluation.
For your students:
 To provide them with an opportunity to give feedback to the module team
about the teaching on the course.
Useful questions to consider:
 What criteria should I use to judge my session as effective?
 What are the most sustainable ways of sourcing information to enable me to
evaluate the effectiveness of my sessions?
 When should I evaluate my sessions?
How?
 Use learning outcomes as benchmarks against which to evaluate progress–
the effectiveness of any session should be judged by how well the students
have learned what was intended as a result of participating in the session.
 Evaluate the extent to which your methods encouraged active rather than
passive learning.
 Reflect on the extent to which the factors, which support successful learning
are reflected in your methods.
 Evaluate your students’ reactions to the methods used – what do they think
helped them learn and why? What was less helpful and why?
Further guidance:
Find ideas for designing active learning activities in CPLD Guide to designing
for Active Learning
Find ideas about using quizzes in various forms and media in the CPLD ‘Guide to
Using Quizzes to Assess Student Learning’.
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Step 5
Schedule your session’s running order & timings
Why?
For you as a tutor:
 To give you confidence that all the planned activities will fit the time available
 To enable you to identify when you need to re-think the amount of content
 To use as a guide when you are delivering the session – helps you keep on
track
 To minimise the risk of things not going to plan on the day and undermining
the success of your session and your own confidence
 To help you clarify with your students what they can expect from your
sessions.
For your students:
 They know what to expect in the sessions
 To help maintain their confidence in you as an effective tutor
 They don’t get overloaded with too much and risk missing out on the
important items.
Useful questions to consider:
 In relation to my content, what must be done/could be done if time/ is not
essential to be done
 Do I know how long things take in reality?
 Have I allowed sufficient time for each activity in the session?
 What should I leave in and what should I leave out?
 How should I sequence the segments/activities of my session?
How?
 Use a session template adapted to meet your needs to make it easy to
capture your session plan information, and to prompt you to consider
important details.
 By sequencing content and activities to fit time available in a coherent and
logical sequence.
 By remembering to leave time for you and your students to arrive and leave
the session, and set up and settle. As a guide, fill no more than 40-45
minutes of every hour. Remember NTU etiquette - start any session 5 minutes
after advertised time and finish 5 minutes before advertised time to allow
time for students to arrive/settle/leave to get to next session.
 In sessions longer than an hour, build in 10 minutes for comfort break.
 Remembering that introductions, summing-up and any Q&A, or discussions
are also activities – part of the content that needs to be scheduled.
Otherwise, you run out of time.
Further guidance:
 Use the session template provided to help you plan – or design/adapt one
that works for you. See CPLD Guide to Using Session Templates in your
Session Planning.
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Step 6
Identify the resources you will need to
deliver the session
Why?
For you as a tutor:
 To plan ahead and be well prepared – this builds your own confidence.
 To check you have a viable session.
 To minimise disruption during the session.
 To enable you to make the students aware of any prep required for the
sessions.
 To maintain your students’ confidence in you as a tutor.
For your students:
 To ensure they are sufficiently prepared and informed so they can participate
fully in the session.
Useful questions to consider:
 What does each activity/part of my session require in terms of resources?
 What do I need my students to prepare and/or bring to the session?
 How can I ensure they understand what’s required of them?
 Do I know what teaching room has been booked and what is available in that
room?
 Will I require my students to do any follow-up after the session – and if so,
what resources do I need to provide for that?
 Have I identified resources that can be used by all my students? – or do I
need alternatives? (for instance for students with visual or hearing
impairment, learning difficulties such as dyslexia)
How?
 List the resources required in your session plan - that way, you don’t have to
rethink it next time you run the session; and if you are ill, useful for anyone
covering your session.
 Consider resources as anything from pens, pencils, post-it notes, paper, flip
chat paper, slides, visual aids, briefing papers or info for different tasks,
activity briefing sheets, artefacts, voting handsets, and handouts.
 Consider non-digital as well as digital resources.
 Aim for the most sustainable ones (ie cost-effective to produce, green, ones
that minimise your time to create).
 Identify anything you need to make yourself.
 Identify anything you can re-use/re-purpose from open resources available for
anyone to use
Further guidance:
An important issue is to ensure that all your resources are fully accessible and
appropriate to all your students. See the information provided on Making
Resources Accessible and Inclusive.
A starting point for using and reusing open electronic resources in your
teaching sessions can be found in the NTU Using Technology in Learning and
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Teaching Learning Room on the Staff tab in NOW: look for the ‘Delivering online content’ section.
There is a Guide to AV equipment in all NTU teaching rooms on the Information
Services’ website – it also contains instructions on using the equipment
To book AV equipment for a room that doesn’t contain AV, please contact:
E-mail City Campus: SOS AV City Clifton Campus: SOS AV Clifton Brackenhurst
Campus: SOS AV Brackenhurst. Please remember to give them at least 24 hours
notice, thanks.
Teaching room bookings are handled centrally within the Academic Office – to
book a teaching room, email regroomrequests@ntu.ac.uk (Check with your
academic admin for local arrangements for academic teams in your School).
Room Bookings have also added the following information:
Please note that if you require the partitions to be moved in a room you will
need to raise a request through the Badger system.
Hospitality. Can be arranged at http://www.ntu.ac.uk/hospitality/. Note that catering
is not permitted in rooms other than those designated specifically for meetings,
further exceptions are detailed on the hospitality link above. Please be sure to book
an additional room for catering if required. E-mail: CATrequests@ntu.ac.uk Ext:
(0115 848) 2393
Audio/Visual Equipment. If you have specific requirements please check this is
available in the room you have requested or have been allocated. To request
audio/visual equipment please contact. E-mail City Campus: SOS AV City Clifton
Campus: SOS AV Clifton Brackenhurst Campus: SOS AV Brackenhurst
Please note SOS AV require at least 24 hours notice to check and confirm any
request.
Room Feedback. For any queries regarding room layout, furniture and general
health & safety issues about this room. E-mail:
mailto:AAO.gptfeedback@ntu.ac.ukExt: (0115 848) 2933
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Step 7
Source and check those resources
Why?
For you as a tutor:
 To enable you to identify any resource constraints and whether you can
overcome those, or need to go back and revise your original session plans.
 To help avoid the stress from leaving things till the last minute.
 To enable you to find time-efficient ways of preparing resources for your
sessions.
 To use and source resources which all your students can use.
For your students:
 To enable them to be sufficiently prepared to participate fully in the session.
 To have access to resources they can use.
Useful questions to consider:
 Have any of my students, particular learning needs which will impact on the
type of resources they can use?
 For any resource, what alternatives are available?
 What do I need to do to create/source accessible and inclusive resources?
 Other than my students, what other significant resource constraints do I have
to take into account?
 Can I overcome any significant constraints and how?
 Are there open resources available that I can use in my sessions rather than
have to re-create them from scratch?
 If there are no alternative resources, how could I adjust my session plan
without altering the original intended learning outcomes?
 How many students am I expecting in the session?
How?
 Consider alternatives if you can’t access what you would like to use - do you
go back and alter your original activities, or is there another creative
alternative you can use?
 Before you create something from scratch yourself, check open resources
repositories and online to see if there are resources already available that you
can reuse
 If using software, check whether the computer in the teaching room has the
necessary software you require
 Check the learning environment and equipment in the room – any constraints
and how will you handle those? Will you need to adapt the layout - especially
before your use it for first time; do you have time to adapt the layout before
starting? The audio-visual equipment varies building to building at NTU.
 If you use flip charts, check whether they are they available in the room with
paper, or do you have to take your own with you?
 If using artefacts – how can you get everything to the room?
 If everything is accessible on-line - will you need to take a back-up memory
stick or hard copy with you?
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Step 8
Identify risks and their impact on your
session’s success
Why?
For you as tutor:
 We know only too well how the best-laid plans are still vulnerable to things
going wrong. Minimise your stress levels by anticipating key risks in advance
and work out how to minimise the risk of them happening – a mini ‘riskanalysis’
 By anticipating any difficulties you can work around those and minimise the
chances of them getting in the way of successful delivery of your sessions.
 Minimises disruption for you and helps maintain your confidence.
For your students:
 Minimises disruption for them also, and helps maintain their confidence in
your ability.
Useful questions to consider:
 Which could go wrong when I’m delivering my session?
 What are the most significant risks – ie the ones that would cause the most
disruption?
 What will I do if something goes wrong?
 Can I do anything to prevent things going wrong in the first place?
 Are there simple steps I can take to avoid some risks completely?
 Are all the risks within my control, or will I need help from others to minimise
the chances of them occurring?
How?
 Try to avoid getting bogged down in worrying about everything that could go
wrong – you could drive yourself to distraction!
 Instead, identify the most likely problems that could occur, and rank them as
and the extent of disruption they could cause.
 Then focus on those things that are most likely to cause the most disruption
to your session.
 Or identify the 3 things you would be most worried about if they were to
happen to you, and why.
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Step 9
Create your contingency plan for handling
the disruption when things go wrong
Why?
For you as tutor:
 To ensure that you minimise the disruptive impact of things going wrong
(whether anticipated/unanticipated).
 To help you stay calm and confident, and in control.
For your students:
 Minimises disruption to their learning.
 Help maintain their confidence in your ability to cope.
Useful questions to consider:
 What things might I not have anticipated?
 What will I do if something unexpected happens that disrupts my session?
How?
 Brainstorm ways of minimising the chances, or avoiding those things
happening – talk to more experienced colleagues to find out how they do it.
 By having a contingency ready for all of the following 4 key scenarios:
- if your audio-visual equipment fails
- you forget the resources you need
- your students fail to prepare
- students keep distracting/disrupting you and others
 Write your plan down – for example in your session plan, or another means
which you will be able to access easily in your session to remind you and give
you time to think!
 Take the time in the session to think about your reaction before you react.
Further guidance:
Some of the risks relate to the behaviour of your students and other colleagues.
For further information and inspiration, see the ‘CPLD Guide to Tackling
Challenging Behaviours’
CPLD January 2015
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