Backward Design is a course design approach that starts with the destination: the learning outcomes and objectives outline in the Course Outline of Record (COR).
Backward Design is a Three-Stage Process:
- Identify the Desired Results (What you want the student to know or be able to do - outcomes?)
- Determine Assessment Evidence (How you know they learned or can do what you intended)
- Plan Learning Experiences (What and how you will teach them so that they can achieve the outcome - materials, activities, etc.?)
This approach to design is derived from the work of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe who developed a process of curriculum development called Understanding by Design, or UbD. This process, also known as backward design, is founded on the notions that:
- Course design should be purposeful,
- It should be focused on student understanding and transfer of learning, and
- It should be continual—tweaked with each iteration to improve teaching and learning.
This is not considered a learning theory, rather it is a strategy or process for instructional design that pulls the course elements together in a very coherent way.
Resources
The videos and the white paper below will give you first hand information from Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe on Understanding by Design (UbD).
Video: In this first video author, Jay McTighe describes the Understanding by Design (UbD) framework for improving student achievement. Video runtime 7 minutes
Video: In these two videos author, Grant Wiggins leads a two-part workshop on using the Understanding by Design (UbD) framework to craft effective learning activities. Video 1: 10 minutes, Video 2: 15 minutes.
White Paper: Understanding by Design, Jay Mc Tighe. In his whitepaper, McTighe outlines the basic principles of UbD. This paper offers an effective and concise explanation and introduces the reader to the acronym W.H.E.R.E.T.O which describes a set of instructional principles that might wish to consider when developing their plan for learning.
Lesson Plan Template: Use this editable Understanding by Design lesson plan template to begin using backwards design on your own course.
Image: "Travel, pin, map and planning" by Capturing the human heart. is in the Public Domain, CC0
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