U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
www.cops.usdoj.gov
Fact Sheet
Course Design Document Template
The course design document (CDD) is a comprehensive outline of the content of each course, which serves as the foundation
of course development. The CDD will layout the scope, goals, objectives, exercises, and overall strategy of the course, so
(1) the COPS Office can understand the course projection and (2) course developers have a clear plan of course development.
Each awardee should work closely with their COPS Office program manager on the CDD, sharing drafts with their program
manager until a consensus on the CDD is reached. Once the COPS Office program manager approves the CDD, it is sent for
an internal review by the COPS Office. Once the review process is complete, further revisions might be required. The draft
course may not be developed until final approval of the CDD is provided by the COPS Office.
The CDD should contain, at a minimum,
the following items:
Course Title
State the course title.
Scope Statement
State the subject matter and course relevancy.
Course Overview
Provide a summary of the course.
Course Purpose
State the intent of the course.
Central Course Topics
State which topics are included in the course.
Central Course Activities
Provide an overview of general course activities.
Terminal Learning Objective
Provide an action verb statement that outlines what the
student is expected to learn or be capable of performing
at the conclusion of the course.
Establishing Learning Objective(s)
Provide the incremental learning objectives that support
the terminal learning objective, which should be measurable
performance statement that enables the student to demon-
strate achievement of the terminal learning objective.
Duration of the Training
State the course length.
Target Audience
State the intended participants.
Instructor-to-Participant Ratio (for in-person
courses only)
State the number of participants to the number of instruc-
tors for the course.
Eligibility Requirements
Specify who is eligible to participate in the course.
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Course Design Document Template Fact Sheet
Prerequisites
Describe whether there are any fundamentals necessary
before a participant takes the course.
Adult Learning Strategies and Principles
State the adult learning strategies and principles being
utilized and practiced in the course.
Instructional Preparation
(for in-person courses only)
Describe what the instructors are expected to know for
the course and how the learning environment should
be arranged, and provide, at a minimum, the bulleted
information:
Required materials
Training room preparation
Training room configuration
Classroom technology and audio-visual equipment
Instructor Teams (for in-person courses only)
Describe how the course is intended to be delivered and
the number of course instructors.
Evaluation Strategy
Describe learning checks, Level I and Level II evaluations,
and overarching learning strategy for the course.
Course Progression
Describe how the course is divided and the flow
of the course.
Modules
Describe each module in outline form and include,
at a minimum, the bulleted information:
Module title
Module description
Terminal learning objective for each module
Establishing learning objectives for each module
Outline of module contents to include exercises,
videos, activities
Overview of the functionality associated with the
module (for online courses only)
Resource list (for in-person courses only)
References
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