Curriculum design · University of South Florida

Spanish I & II — a curriculum built from the objectives up

Two full course levels designed, developed, and delivered for undergraduate learners, with every assessment traced back to a stated learning objective.

Role
Curriculum designer & developer
Tools
Canvas, ADDIE, Quality Matters
Learners
Undergraduate, Levels I & II
Year
2022 — 2025
The challenge

Two levels, no shared spine

Levels I and II had grown separately over years of teaching. Objectives overlapped, assessments measured different things, and students arriving in Level II were not where Level I assumed they'd be.

My approach

Needs analysis, then Backward Design

I ran a needs analysis and literature review first, wrote a single objective set spanning both levels, then designed backward from assessment to activity so every task earned its place.

The outcome

A curriculum that carries forward

Both levels now share one assessment framework, meet Quality Matters standards, and hand off cleanly between instructors — which is what made them reusable across sections.

Inside the course

The modules

Learning objectives

  • Produce and recognise core greetings and introductions
  • Identify present-tense regular verb patterns in context
  • Self-assess against the course's proficiency descriptors

Activities & assessment

  • Diagnostic placement task, auto-graded in Canvas
  • Paired audio recording with rubric-based peer feedback
  • Low-stakes weekly check to surface gaps early
Canvas screenshot — 800 × 500

Learning objectives

  • Hold a short exchange on familiar everyday topics
  • Apply gender and number agreement in written work
  • Interpret authentic short-form media without translation

Activities & assessment

  • Authentic media set — clips, menus, signage
  • Scenario role-play recorded and submitted in Canvas
  • Written production task with a shared analytic rubric
Activity screenshot — 800 × 500

Learning objectives

  • Compare cultural practices across Spanish-speaking regions
  • Choose register appropriately for the situation
  • Support an interpretation with evidence from a source

Activities & assessment

  • Source-based discussion with structured response protocol
  • Short research artefact, presented to the cohort
  • Reflection mapped to the module's objectives
Module screenshot — 800 × 500

Learning objectives

  • Demonstrate the full Level I objective set in one integrated task
  • Give and act on peer feedback using the course rubric
  • Identify personal targets for Level II

Activities & assessment

  • Integrated capstone — spoken and written components
  • Rubric-aligned peer review round
  • Handoff summary that follows the learner into Level II
Rubric screenshot — 800 × 500
From inside the course

Screens & materials