Develop or Revise Online Course
Backward Design is a curriculum-planning framework that focuses on teaching for understanding. In Understanding by Design,1 Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe advocate for an approach to curricular design that deviates from conventional teaching habits, like trying to cover as much content as possible and assessing students when the teaching ends. Instead, Wiggins and McTighe argue that teachers should first identify what they want students to learn and then decide on the best means to assess that understanding.
This “backward” approach to curricular design is not new, nor is it “backward,” since it follows a logical, common sense framework for creating meaningful learning experiences. Rather, the “backward” concept denotes an approach to teaching that refocuses efforts on creating an enduring understanding. Put another way, it’s not only important for teachers to cover content, but to ask what’s worth knowing? There is so much content that could be taught, but what’s really worth understanding and what implications can this understanding have for students?
The components of a Backward Design framework include:
Before your begin planning and designing your course, check out our blog post on 10 Common Misconceptions about Online Courses.