Derek Thurber
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Phone: 602-496-2530
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AOB 350 (West Valley Campus) Phoenix, AZ 85069
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Mail code: 3151Campus: Tempe
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Derek Thurber is a Teaching & Learning Specialist at Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching & Learning Innovation, and the author of the Curriculum Coherence Framework. He is passionate about helping higher education faculty and teams understand why good courses and programs do not always work as intended and how to strengthen them. For more than a decade, he has designed, evaluated, and improved undergraduate and graduate learning experiences, led complex curriculum projects, and used evidence to inform course and program decisions.
Derek also publishes regularly on Substack and has published research on teaching, learning, and course design in peer-reviewed journals. He is also currently serving as an Assistant Editor for To Improve the Academy.
EdD in Leadership and Innovation | Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ
MS in Higher Education Administration and Policy | Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
BA in History | Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA
My research focuses on understanding, evaluating, and improving curriculum coherence in higher education. Grounded in a comprehensive curriculum coherence framework, I examine how alignment (and misalignment) emerges across explicit (planned, learned, and assessed) and tacit (hidden and null) dimensions of the curriculum. By integrating curriculum development, outcomes-based education, and program evaluation, I study how intended learning goals translate into students’ actual learning experiences and assessment practices, while also accounting for what is implicitly communicated or left unaddressed. Drawing on curriculum artifacts, learner experience data, and faculty perspectives, my work supports actionable approaches to diagnosing incoherence and strengthening coherent course and program design through sustainable, faculty-centered improvement.
Thurber D., Markos, A., Ross, L., Conley, Q., & Wendt, J. (2025). Examining the use and usability of course “fact sheets” as an approach to faculty development. Journal of Faculty Development, 39(2), 41-48.
Thurber D. & Bossen, K. (2025). Curriculum review in higher education: The educational developer’s role in facilitating faculty communities of practice to improve coherence. To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, 44(1). https://doi.org/10.3998/tia.4500
Lujano, I., Thurber, D., & Romkey, M. (2024). Exploring the role of student-run journals in shaping academic identity. Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education. https://doi.org/10.1108/SGPE-04-2024-0036
Thurber, D., Markos, A., Ross, L., Conley, Q., & Wendt, J. (2024). Improving implementation of a large-scale curriculum redesign: An innovative approach to balancing fidelity and agency. Innovative Higher Education, 50(2). 389-410. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-024-09736-2
Speer, J., Conley, Q., Thurber, D., Williams, B., Wasden, M., & Jackson, B. (2022). A mixed-methods study of the effectiveness and perceptions of a course design institute for health science educators. BMC Medical Education, 22(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-022-03910-w
Thurber, D. (2021). Designing learning experiences for the future of learning in the digital age: A proposed framework. Current Issues in Education, 22(1).
Thurber, D. & Trautvetter, L. (2020). Examining student reported interaction and satisfaction in higher education administration graduate seminar-style blended courses. Online Learning, 24(3), 184-202. https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v24i3.2102
Courses
2026 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| TEL 701 | Action Research Quant Methods |
2026 Summer
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| HED 572 | Prog Assess & Eval Higher Ed |
| HED 572 | Prog Assess & Eval Higher Ed |
2026 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| TEL 701 | Action Research Quant Methods |
2025 Summer
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| HED 598 | Special Topics |
| HED 598 | Special Topics |
2024 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| TEL 711 | Strategies for Inquiry |
2024 Summer
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| TEL 708 | Collab Apprch Data-Inf Dcn Mkg |
| TEL 708 | Collab Apprch Data-Inf Dcn Mkg |
| TEL 708 | Collab Apprch Data-Inf Dcn Mkg |
2024 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| TEL 701 | Action Research Quant Methods |
2023 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| TEL 711 | Strategies for Inquiry |
2023 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| EDU 301 | Why Education? |
| EDU 301 | Why Education? |
| LSE 305 | Conceptualizing Learning |
2022 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| EDU 301 | Why Education? |
| LSE 305 | Conceptualizing Learning |
| LSE 305 | Conceptualizing Learning |
| EDU 301 | Why Education? |
2022 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| EDU 301 | Why Education? |
| EDU 301 | Why Education? |
| LSE 305 | Conceptualizing Learning |
2021 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| EDU 301 | Why Education? |
| LSE 305 | Conceptualizing Learning |
| LSE 305 | Conceptualizing Learning |
| EDU 301 | Why Education? |
Assistant Editor, To Improve the Academy (2026-current)
Guest Editor, Special Issue on Student-Led Journals, Current Issues in Education (CIE) (2023)
Managing Editor, Current Issues in Education (CIE; ISSN 1099-839X) (2022-2023)
Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network
Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE)