Whether you’re planning out how to run 26.2 miles or planning out how to get students successfully through a course, both require careful preparation, thoughtful pacing, and a clear finish line. You can’t just roll out of bed and start running in a marathon (I mean, the Greek legend about the first marathon literally sees Pheidippides drop dead at the end), and you certainly can’t put a final exam in front of your students and expect them to successfully demonstrate all of the course outcomes on day one.