Three S’s of Undergraduate Course Architecture: Compatibilities of Setting, Style and Structure
Three separate baseline decisions are recommended when designing an undergraduate course prior to considering any course content. The “Three S” course design decisions include determining (1) the setting (on-campus, online or hybrid), (2) the learning style (passive or active), and (3) the learning structure (instructor-regulated or student-regulated). This theoretical paper identifies connections within and among these interrelated decisions and illustrates the compatible course design combinations. The paper finds that the online setting has the fewest compatible “Three S” combinations and the hybrid setting has the most compatible combinations.
