How Can I Redesign My Teaching
to Develop Demonstrable
Learner Capabilities?

From Teaching Content
to Developing Capability

Higher education is not only about what students know.

It is also about what they can DO with what they know.

And can they use and adapt that knowledge when the situation changes?

Your Design Challenge

Take one small part of your teaching
and redesign it so that students can

Practise → Demonstrate → Receive Feedback → Adapt

You are not being asked to redesign your entire course. Choose one: topic • activity • assignment • laboratory • project • field activity • assessment

Your Design Journey

01 | Start with Your Teaching

Ask:

What do I currently ask my students to learn or do?

Select one part of your existing teaching.

→ Open Step 01

02 | Identify the Target Capability

Ask:

What should my learners become better able to do?

For example:

Analytical thinking • Creative thinking • Systems thinking • Problem solving • Communication • Collaboration • Adaptability

→ Open Step 02

03 | Define Demonstrable Performance

Ask:

What should I actually see the learner doing?

Move from:
“Students will develop analytical thinking.”

To:
“Students will analyse competing explanations, evaluate evidence and justify a conclusion.”

→ Open Step 03

04 | Create a Learning Opportunity

Ask:

What will students DO that gives them an opportunity to develop this capability?

Investigate • Analyse • Solve • Compare • Interpret • Design • Model • Create • Communicate • Collaborate

→ Open Step 04

05 | Identify Evidence of Capability

Ask:

What would convince me that the student can actually do this?

A skill becomes assessable when it produces observable evidence.

→ Open Step 05

06 | Design the Assessment

Ask:

What will distinguish weak, developing, proficient and advanced performance?

Use clear criteria to judge the quality of the evidence produced by the learner.

→ Open Step 06

07 | Introduce Change or Uncertainty

Ask:

Can the learner still use the capability when the situation changes?

New information • Different conditions • Unfamiliar context • Changed constraint • Conflicting evidence • Unexpected result

→ Open Step 07

★ Your Teaching Redesign ★

Now bring all seven elements together in the Teaching Redesign Wiki.

Teaching Context → Capability → Performance

Learning Opportunity → Evidence → Assessment

Adaptation → Learner Growth

→ OPEN THE TEACHING REDESIGN WIKI

09 | Reflect

After completing your redesign, ask:

  • What did I previously ask students mainly to know?
  • What will I now ask them to do?
  • What evidence will I now look for?
  • How will I know whether they can use the capability when circumstances change?
  • What is one change I can realistically implement in my teaching?

Skill → Competence → Capability → Learner Growth

→ Open Reflection

Remember

The objective is not to add another activity to your course.

It is to ask whether an existing part of your teaching can become a better opportunity for learners to develop and demonstrate capability.

START  →  01  →  02  →  03  →  04  →  05  →  06  →  07  →  WIKI  →  REFLECTION

Last modified: Sunday, 20 September 2026, 11:38 AM