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• 1 2020-07-20T09:37:41-07:00 Backwards Design 29 plain 1016446 2020-08-28T18:36:27-07:00

  A Brief Introduction to Backwards Design

  There are many course design processes to use to create a course. This Schema takes you through one of those processes: Backwards Design. This is a process of intentionally designing our course using the WHY we discovered in the first part of this Schema as a focal point.

  You can start with what you want your students to know and do AND your WHY. Then, work your way through assessments, assignments, and activities that will get to your desired destination.

  "But if I don't get all the way there by the time the semester starts, if I've really thought through the learning outcomes, and I’ve really thought their assessment [...] So I'm really thinking through those learning outcomes, I'm thinking through assessment, and if I don't have every single little mini thing done, I'm going to have the big milestones done and then I'll be able to just keep up a couple weeks ahead, maybe a day ahead." x -- Bonni Stachowiak (article citation here)

  First, we’re going to start by aligning our WHYs with what we want the students to understand, or our overarching big picture learning goals. These are our Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions.
  
  Write down your educational purpose and your course goals. This is available as a worksheet in the How workbook.
   

  Your Educational Purpose	Your Course Goals

  
  

  Further Reading

  • Understanding by Design by Wiggins and McTighe (WashU catalog)
  • A Self-Directed Guide to Designing Course for Significant Learning by Dee Fink (PDF)
  • Small Teaching Online by Darby Flower (WashU catalog)
• 1 2020-07-28T14:23:44-07:00 Creating Adaptable Assessments, Assignments, and Activities 28 plain 2020-08-28T15:21:09-07:00 Now more than ever we need to be adaptable in our course design. To achieve this, we can think about the ways in which we approach assessment, activities, and assignments incorporating as much flexibility as possible. As you read through this content, think keep your purpose and learning outcomes in the forefront of your mind.
  
  How can you use your purpose and outcomes to design assessments, assignments, and activities for your course?
  

  
  Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

  Incorporating UDL into your online teaching can help you move toward a more engaged, equitable, and accessible classroom. It is not a panacea for challenges that arise in online learning; however, it does offer a framework for reducing barriers and maximizing learning for all learners.
  
  

  Reflect on the Qualities of an Adaptive Course and Course Components.

   
  1. What seems actionable?
  2. What are you already doing?
  3. What do you want to learn more about?
  4. How can you create a more level playing field for your students?
  5. What are the concepts students routinely misunderstand?
  Next, look at a current assignment or assessment, or think about one you’re going to design. Use the matrix to create an assignment that is both transparent and universally designed.
  

  Activity and Assignment Examples

  Strategies for Active Learning while Physically Distancing
  TILT Examples and Resources

  Further Reading

  • ADA Compliance for Course Design, https://er.educause.edu/articles/2017/1/ada-compliance-for-online-course-design
  • Universal Design Learning Guidelines: http://udlguidelines.cast.org/
• 1 2020-07-28T14:22:19-07:00 Creating Learning Outcomes 17 plain 2020-08-28T15:10:51-07:00 Learning outcomes should be aligned to or reflect the Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions. These will be written in a way that operationalizes the understandings in order for them to be assessable during the course.
  
  Dee Fink proposes six dimensions of learning in his Taxonomy of Significant Learning (p. 11).
  
  
  Learning outcomes can be constructed to reflect these dimensions as you build a more socially conscious course.
  
  To create your social impact outcomes, reflect on the dimensions of learning and the questions above. You can have a learning outcome that addresses all dimensions, or just a few. Then, use the following formula to create an outcome that relates to the dimensions you want to highlight in your course.
   

  Students will be able to +	Action VERB +	knowledge, skill, or behavior you want students to learn.
  Students will be able to +
  Students will be able to +
  Students will be able to +

  Further Reading

  • Going beyond Bloom’s for learning outcomes and objectives. BYU Center for Teaching and Learning.
  • See Bloom’s Taxonomy for levels of learning and associated verbs.
  • Jeremy Branzetti, Michael A. Gisondi, Laura R. Hopson & Linda Regan (2019). Aiming Beyond Competent: The Application of the Taxonomy of Significant Learning to Medical Education. Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 31:4, 466-478, DOI: 10.1080/10401334.2018.1561368