Once you have decided on your goals and faced any limitations, you will need to decide how to evaluate whether the students have attained your objectives. This means deciding on your testing procedures and grading policies. Bear in mind, however, that an emphasis on mere recall of information is unlikely to promote an active and long-term engagement with the subject. If you will be stressing analytical or interpretive skills, then you will probably want to use essay exams and papers. Since the purposes of a course have to do with its effect on the students, it's important at a very early stage to try to predict the character of the particular group of students your course will have in it.
Several factors influence the makeup of a class.
By considering these factors, remembering yourself at the students' stage, and talking to instructors who have recently taught a course like yours, you can begin to envision the needs and limitations of your class. The crucial characteristics to think about are the students' motivations for taking the course, their background, and their study habits. Most obviously, graduate and undergraduate students differ in motivation, background, and habits. Graduates are animated by their career goals. As a group they share a background of necessary prerequisites for the field and are familiar with its vocabulary.