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Backwards Design Articulo

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8 views2 pages

Backwards Design Articulo

Uploaded by

Karla Arias
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Backwards Design

Wiggins, G. and McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by Design. Expanded 2nd Edition. Upper Saddle River,
NJ/Alexandria, VA: Pearson Education/Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.

Backwards Design
Wiggins and McTighe’s backwards design model centers on the idea that the learning design process
should begin with identifying the desired learning results, and then "work backwards" to develop instruction,
rather than the traditional approach to define what topics need to be covered. They argue that you can’t start
planning how you’re going to teach until you know exactly what you want your students to learn. Their
framework identifies three main stages:

2. Determine 3. Plan learning


1. Identify acceptable experiences &
desired results
evidence instruction

1. Identify desired results.


First, establish the learning goals for the course. What should students know, understand, and be able
to do by the end of the course? We recognize that the challenge is how to prioritize and narrow down the
content to teach so it fits within the limited framework of the course. Wiggins and McTighe provide a useful
process for establishing curricular priorities. They pose three questions for instructors to address that
progressively focuses in on the most valuable content:

1. What are big ideas and important understandings students should retain? These choices are the
“enduring understandings” that students should remember after they have forgotten the details of the
course.
2. What knowledge and skills should students master? Sharpen the choices by considering what is
“important for students to know and do.” What concepts, principles, and underlying facts should they
know? What processes, strategies, and methods should they learn to use?
3. What should students hear, read, view, explore, or otherwise encounter? This knowledge is “worth
being familiar with.”

These questions will help instructors determine the best content for their course, and create concrete, specific
learning goals for their students. In other instructional design models this is known as defining goals and
objectives. Wiggins and McTighe ask instructors to consider not only the course goals and objectives, but also
the learning that should endure over the long term. “The enduring understanding” is not just “material worth
covering," but includes the following elements:
 Enduring value beyond the classroom
 Resides at the heart of the discipline
 Requires uncovering of abstract or often misunderstood ideas
 Offers potential for engaging students

2. Determine acceptable evidence.


Second, determine how students’ mastery of the knowledge and skills will be demonstrated. What
will be acceptable evidence that students are making progress toward the learning goals of the course? And
will the students AND instructor know if students are “getting it?” Sometimes our assessments do not match
our learning goals, and we therefore cannot attain the evidence we want. Thus, consider evidence coming
from a wide range of assessment methods in order to ensure that both students and instructors know the
learning gains and progress towards those gains. Assessments can include: essay tests, term papers, short-
answer quizzes, homework assignments, lab projects, in class multiple-choice questions and discussions,
problems to solve. The range of assessment tasks and performances selected must support students in

© 2015 The Regents of the University of California 1


Faculty Learning Program : Backwards Design

developing understanding and give students opportunities to demonstrate that understanding. The tasks must
also identify and differentiate levels or degrees of understanding.
An important emphasis is that assessment is part of the learning process and should occur throughout the
sequence, not just at the end. Questions to consider include:
1. How will students and instructor know that students “got it?” What counts as acceptable evidence of
understanding in this class and in this discipline?
2. What assessment tasks will support students in developing understanding?
3. How will the tasks identify and differentiate levels or degrees of understanding throughout the
learning process, not just at the end?

3. Plan learning experiences & instruction.


Finally, start planning how to teach the content. What instructional strategies and students’ learning
activities would be most appropriate? What are the best exercises, problems or questions for developing your
students’ ability to meet the specified learning goals? How can students practice using new knowledge to gain
the skills specified? How can students apply their learning? Devise active and collaborative exercises that
encourage students to grapple with new concepts in order to “own” them. The intent is to foster increasing
understanding, not rote memorization. Consider in what ways the students will:
 Know where they’re going (learning goals), why the material is important (reason for learning the
content) and what is required of them (performance requirements and evaluative criteria);
 Be engaged in digging into the big ideas (e.g., through inquiry, research, problem solving, and
experimentation);
 Have adequate opportunities to explore and experience big ideas and receive instruction to equip
them for the required performances;
 Have sufficient opportunities to rethink, rehearse, revise, and refine their work based upon timely
feedback; and
 Have opportunities to evaluate their work, reflect on their learning, and set goals.

© 2015 The Regents of the University of California 2

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