Introduction What is Backward Design

Developing a new course is such a large project it can be daunting to even know where to begin. At its core, backward design answers this question by asking where you want students to end up. While we may be tempted to start with the technical details, a course creation process should begin with setting up clear course goals regarding what students should learn and be able to do in terms of skills, knowledge, and attitudes. In this course, we will outline this framework, known as Backward Design (Wiggins and McTighe, 2005).

Backward design is not new. Ralph Tyler advocated this process of course design in 1948. The concept initially seems obvious. We don't start with the content; we start with what the students are expected to be able to do with the content. To put this another way, if we think of a course as a road trip, backward design encourages us to decide where we're going first.

Why Use Backward Design

As mentioned above, backward design is a framework to help instructors design with intentionality by encouraging the instructor to begin with the course goals and objectives before implementing it into the curriculum. This process provides guidance for how to design thoughtful instruction and lessons. Once your learning goals and objectives have been identified, you will have an easier time developing assessments and instruction around grounded learning outcomes. A course outline created with backward design also gives you the tools to self-evaluate the alignment of your own course to make sure your course is doing what you intend for it to do, and it can serve as a clear resource to share with collaborative educators.

Reflection

Consider the following questions before beginning the backward design process.

What do you want the students to learn?
How will you and your students see learning happening?
What will you and your students need to do for students to learn?

The Three Phases of Backward Design

Backward design helps you to align your course goals, learning objectives, assessments, and teaching and learning activities in order to provide consistency for students and supports more accurate construction of course concepts. Use the following phases to walk through the backward design process. Click the button at the bottom of each phase to get started working on your backward design or select the next button.

backward design process

Phase 1

Identify Desired Results

phase 1 identify desired results

In the first stage, the instructor must consider the learning goals/objectives of the lesson, unit, or course. Instructors ask themselves the following questions:

What long-term transfer goals are targeted?
What are the essential concepts for students to understand?
What essential questions will students keep considering?
What knowledge and skills will students acquire?
What established goals/standards are targeted?

Writing goals and objectives

Phase 2

Determine Acceptable Evidence

The second stage of backward design has instructors consider the assessments and performance tasks students will complete in order to demonstrate evidence of understanding and learning. Consider the following two questions at this stage:

How will I know if students have achieved the desired results?
What will I accept as evidence of student understanding and proficiency?

Determine Assessment Strategies

Phase 3

Organizing Instruction

phase 3 organizing instruction

The final stage of backward design is when instructors begin to consider how they will organize their teaching. This is when instructional strategies and learning activities should be brainstormed and organized. Consider the questions below:

What enabling knowledge (facts, concepts, principles) and skills (processes, procedures, strategies) will students need in order to perform effectively and achieve desired results?
What activities will equip students with the needed knowledge and skills?
What materials and resources are best suited to accomplish these goals?
How will you organize all of your course material and learning experiences?

Organizing Instruction