To ensure instructional alignment, I came up with the concept of a course development plan (CDP for short). This type of document accomplishes the following goals:

1. captures institutionally approved course details (i.e., course prefix, number, title, description, co/prerequisites, credit hours, course-level learning outcomes, and, in some cases, textbook), to ensure internal course coherence—see Figure 1;

2. captures where in the program the respective course falls (i.e., which program-level outcomes are met in this course, and at what level of proficiency, as well as what material/skills were introduced earlier in the program and, therefore, need to be reinforced or mastered in this particular course), to ensure proper scaffolding and internal program coherence—see Figure 1;

3. captures the grade weights, ensuring there is a variety of learning activities (including an appropriate mix of formative assignments and interactions, as well as summative assessments) and an appropriate weight distribution relative to the complexity of learning activities—see Figures 2, 3, and 4;

4. captures the rhythm of the course (i.e., by which day of the week learners may wish to go through the instructional materials, by when they should make initial discussion posts, and by when they should make peer responses and turn in all other activities for the week)—see Figure 5;

5. captures everything happening at the weekly level, including alignment to program-,  course-, and module-level outcomes, everything presented to students to prepare them to meet the outcomes, everything students will practice to build proficiency toward meeting the outcomes,  and everything students produce to demonstrate the behaviors described by the outcomes—see Figures 6, 7, and 8.