Backward design is a strategy instructors can use to maximize the likelihood that students achieve the desired goals for the course. Imagine instruction is like archery. The teaching strategies and instructional materials are bow and arrows, and what we want students to get out of the course is the target. Backward design helps make sure the arrows are actually aimed at the target. When instructors design their teaching without the target in mind, they often miss the mark.
For example, many instructors would like for their students to develop critical thinking skills. If all of the course is mistargeted toward covering factual knowledge, students won't learn to think critically about the facts they are learning, how those facts came to be known, how the facts relate to one another, and how they can apply their factual knowledge in new contexts such as the next class they take.
How to implement
Backward design is called "backward" because it involves first thinking about what students will be able to do at the end of the course or lesson (goals and objectives), and then thinking about assessments and instructional activities.
Learning Goals
Traditionally, the first step in course design for many faculty may be to create a list of subject matter topics for a syllabus. Backward design starts with the learning goals for the course, instead of the subject matter. The learning goals for a course can relate to the subject-area knowledge, and can also involve skills, attitudes, behaviors, and values (L. Dee Fink, 2003)
Sample Learning Goals:
- Example 1: Understand the relationships among DNA, chromosomes, genes, cells, and organisms.
- Example 2: Communicate ideas effectively in writing.
- Example 3: Develop a greater appreciation for how scientific knowledge is generated.
- Example 4: Independently learn more about something you are curious about.
- Example 5: Evaluate an experimental design
- Example 6: Build a scientific argument
Learning Objectives
Learning goals lead to learning objectives - what students do to demonstrate that they have achieved the learning goals. Each learning objective includes a clear, measurable action verb and specific conditions under which the student will perform the action. Bloom's taxonomy classifies learning into six categories and highlights some action verbs that can be helpful when writing learning objectives.
Sample Learning Objectives:
- Example 1: Students will be able to draw and label a diagram to show howDNA, chromosomes, genes, cells, and organisms are related.
- Example 2: Students will be able to design an experiment to measure a dependent variable as a function of one or two independent variables.
- Example 3: Students will be able to describe how the periodic table is arranged with respect to atomic numbers and chemical properties.
Assessments
Assessments are the evidence that students have achieved the objectives. Assessments may be used for many reasons, including to:
- allow students to practice
- provide feedback to students on their learning progress
- give information to faculty about what students have (or have not) learned
- assign grades
For more information on types of assessment and grading fairly, visit the page on Assessment.
Instructional Activities
After objectives and assessments are defined, it is time to design activities that students will do in and out of class to achieve the objectives. The activities can be before-class readings or lectures, in-class worksheets, homework assignments, or other experiences during which students practice the desired performance (e.g., analyzing datasets, solving problems, making predictions justified with background reading, etc.) and get feedback from instructors, teaching assistants, peers, or automated systems.
Alignment (in progress)
Learn more
TIDES Workshops:
- Attend a TIDES Course Design Institute (CDI)
- Two-day workshop on course design
- Offered in May and August each summer
- May also be offered in January, depending on interest
- Participate in the Concentration for Teaching and Mentoring
- Seven 90-minute workshops offered in Fall semesters
- Focus is on lesson planning
- Video-based and reading-based self-study are also available
- Join the Canvas course to access more information and resources: https://utexas.instructure.com/enroll/GNL344
For a Backward Design guide, see:
- L. Dee Fink Guide to Course Design (targeted toward higher education)
- Self-directed guide
- To purchase book: ISBN-13: 978-1118124253; ISBN-10: 1118124251
To learn more about Backward Design, see:
- Felder & Brent Teaching and Learning STEM
- Summary and review
- To purchase book: ISBN-13: 978-1118925812; ISBN-10: 1118925815
- Summary and review
- Tanner and Allen (2007) "Putting the Horse Back in Front of the Cart: Using visions and decisions about high-quality learning to drive course design"
- Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching page on Understanding by Design
- Carleton College Science Education Resourse Center page on Curriculum by Design
- Wiggins & McTighe Understanding by design
- Summary
- To purchase book: ISBN-13: 978-1416600350; ISBN-10: 1416600353
For examples of curricula developed using backward design, see:
- CourseSource - Biology teaching resources
- Chemistry, Life, the Universe, and Everything - General chemistry curriculum
