For deans, provosts, CTL directors & department chairs

Find out where your courses are losing students — and how to fix it before next term.

The Learning System Health Check is a bounded diagnostic of one course or a key program sequence. We assess your course architecture the way an experienced learning design team would, delivering a clear findings report, quick wins for faculty, and a prioritized improvement roadmap. No redesign commitment required.

$1,500 for a single course. The full fee is credited toward a Light Build or Department Bundle, or $750 toward a single Alignment Sprint.

Booked within 90 days of your findings report. If your next full term begins after that window closes, the credit holds until it does. Credits expire 180 days from the date of your findings report.

Request the Health Check I already know what to fix — see the Sprint

Not ready to commit? Take the free 2-minute Learning System Snapshot →

The Diagnostic Gap

Most course problems look like student problems.

Low completion, a wave of withdrawals after week three, or grade distributions split into passing and failing with little middle ground often get chalked up to student motivation.

In practice, the cause frequently sits in course architecture: an assessment measuring the wrong outcome, an unmanageable late-term pileup, or no clear on-ramp for students who fall behind. Those issues are entirely fixable—once you have the visibility to see them.

What your report looks like

Course Health Check · Sample report

BIO 110 — Intro to Biology (online)

Illustrative

Priority gap

Alignment

Three of five outcomes are never assessed directly; the final project measures two outcomes not listed in the syllabus.

Start here

Rebuild the outcome-to-assessment map before touching content.

Pattern reading

Experience is carrying a course whose Alignment is weak — students can find everything, but it doesn't add up to the outcomes.

Composite, de-identified sample. Scores on a 1–4 scale. Compliance items are flags for institutional review.

What you receive

Findings Report
Deep-dive analysis across core design lenses with institutional evidence and impact ratings.
Quick Wins
Immediate, low-lift adjustments faculty can implement this term without a full rebuild.
Prioritized Roadmap
Clear recommendations organized by urgency: fix-now, fix-next, and fix-later.
Executive Debrief
A 60-minute recorded walkthrough with leadership and faculty to discuss findings and next steps.

What we look at

Course & Assessment Alignment
Whether learning outcomes, activities, and evaluations connect—and whether every stated outcome is genuinely measured.
Assessment Design & AI Exposure
Which assignments are vulnerable to unmanaged AI completion, and where authentic, AI-resilient task design is needed.
Structural Retention Risks
The structural causes of DFW rates: high-stakes early cliffs, late-term workload pileups, and lack of re-entry pathways.
Regular & Substantive Interaction (RSI)
Where interaction patterns may fall short of federal distance education expectations, flagged for institutional compliance review.
Accessibility & UDL (ADA Title II)
Barriers in materials, media, and document structures flagged against WCAG 2.1 AA standards ahead of federal deadlines.
Section-to-Section Consistency
Variations across multiple sections and blueprints needed to guarantee equity of experience.

Compliance-related findings are flags for institutional review, not legal rulings. Final determinations rest with your compliance and financial aid offices.

How it works

01
Scope (Day 1)
A 30-minute scoping call to select target courses, review goals, and confirm available syllabus or completion data.
02
Faculty Listening (Week 1)
Short, collegial conversations with instructors. We listen to instructional reality and context before evaluating.
03
LMS Audit (Week 1)
In-depth review of the course shell, materials, and student workflows against our diagnostic framework.
04
Findings Report (Week 2)
Delivery of the written report detailing what is working, risk areas, and quick wins.
05
Roadmap Debrief (Week 2)
A 60-minute collaborative session with leadership and faculty to walk through the findings and roadmap.

Built for institutional leaders who need clarity

Designed for deans, provosts, online learning directors, and department chairs who know a course or program sequence isn't performing as expected, but need an objective diagnostic before deciding where to invest time and budget.

Already know the fix?

Already know the exact course and facing an upcoming term launch?

The Course Redesign Sprint may be your faster path. Explore the 10-Day Sprint →

Proof from the work

De-identified examples, labeled by evidence status

Implemented

General-education course redesign

Nearly one-third of students were failing or disengaging. The issue traced back to course structure, not student motivation: students lacked a low-stakes way in, had no chance to revise before high-stakes grading, and writing tasks were easy to bypass instead of genuinely source-based.

The redesigned model added a low-stakes entry point, six revisable checkpoints, and source-based writing that is harder to complete with AI. It was adopted for the next offering, with outcomes still expected.

Measured

Early-term feedback system

A campus-wide early-term feedback process was rolled out to every academic department head so faculty could spot confusion, workload issues, and engagement barriers before the end of term.

A quarter responded within two weeks, all supportive, and participating faculty reported largely favorable early student feedback.

Case studies draw on work led by our founder in senior higher-education roles. Client engagements are delivered by the Learning by Design team.

Investment

Single-Course Health Check

$1,500

A bounded diagnostic of one course: a findings report, quick wins faculty can use this term, and a prioritized roadmap.

The full $1,500 fee is credited toward a Light Build or Department Bundle, or $750 toward a single Alignment Sprint.

Valid for sprints booked within 90 days of your findings report. If your next full term begins after that window closes, the credit holds until it does. Credits expire 180 days from the date of your findings report.

The findings report and roadmap are yours to keep and act on — with our team or your own. No obligation to continue.

Request the Health Check

Multi-course or program-level

Program reviews across a course sequence or department are scoped individually, and can be structured to fit Title III, Perkins, or institutional student success grants. A Program Diagnostic is the scoped next tier for multi-course needs. Ask about a Program Diagnostic →

When an engagement involves LMS access, we work under confidentiality agreements, handle student data in line with FERPA, and never put student data into AI tools.

See your courses through an architect's lens.

A 20-minute call to scope it. No pitch deck, no pressure.

Book a Scoping Call