The Hardest and most time consuming part: What are the best learning activities for this course?

Each one of the learning activities is a creative and research project in itself. With sufficient resources it can take me 2-6 hours to develop a learning activity that may take 30 min or less in class.

I have found that I constantly need to remind myself not to get caught up in minute details that are mostly surface features of the learning activity, and focus on the "heart" of the activity; the part that would help students learn. It’s more important to focus on the essence of the learning activity and anticipate what kind of thinking/learning it my induce and spend most time on developing it. That requires keeping the learning outcome right next to you and referring back to it frequently to see whether the essence of the learning activity addresses that learning outcome. Once you have thought that through you can start working on the class management procedures, and the documents and supplies necessary to conduct the activity.

Once you have a draft, have a colleague and a student look at it and see if what you created makes sense to them. You may have it clear in your mind, but when writing it down left some gaps in the instructions/explanations or made incorrect assumptions your peer or the students can identify for you.