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CPAD Shares Issue #7: Backward Design

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Featured Resource: Backward Design

 

 

Regardless of your academic discipline, at some point you will likely be confronted with a challenging task: the need to design (or significantly revise) a course. We all want our courses to be the best they can be. One option is to “go it alone”— simply rely on your own experience and instinct to make the myriad of decisions required; another option is to use a recognized approach for guidance.

 

One excellent planning resource you should consider is the Understanding by Design (UbD) framework, which has solidified a reputation as a benchmark approach in the last 25 years. Resting on a strong foundation of theoretical research in cognitive psychology and the results of student achievement studies, UbD’s two key ideas are contained in the title: a focus on teaching and assessing for understanding and learning transfer, and the logic of designing curriculum “backwards” from those ends.

 

What is Understanding by Design? Author Jay McTighe explains.

Hawker Brownlow Education video

7 minutes

 

The first edition of Understanding by Design was published in 1998, co-authored by the late Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, and an expanded second edition was released in 2005. In this video, McTighe clearly and succinctly explains the essence of the approach in under four minutes. We particularly like the advice he proceeds to offer to first-time users of the framework: 1) think big; 2) start small; 3) go for an early win.

 

Backward Design

 

By Erin Stapleton-Corcoran, Instructional Designer with the Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence, University of Illinois Chicago, January 25, 2023.

 

If McTighe’s overview of UbD intrigued you, then this site is ideal for learning more. In scouring the web for excellent primers on UbD, this recently-created resource topped them all. The author briefly summarizes the UbD course design stages and components, augmented by a good use of visuals.

Stage 1: Identify Desired Results

  1. Identify the Big Ideas
  2. Transform the Big Ideas into Essential Questions
  3. Craft learning objectives
  4. Prioritize content
  5. Determine knowledge and skill understandings

Stage 2: Determine Appropriate Assessments

  1. Apply the three-layer conceptual model
  2. Identify assessment evidence across the Six Facets of Understanding
  3. Identify the mix of formative and summative assessments

· Stage 3: Formulate a Learning Plan

  1. Plan the sequence of learning activities (using WHERETO)
  2. Articulate how you will teach for understanding

 

The final consideration is ensuring that Stages 1,2, and 3 are in alignment.

 

Resources from McTighe & Associates Consulting

 

Resource section of McTighe & Associates site

 

If you are interested in experimenting with the approach or would like to learn more, this is the site for you. Here you can:

  • Explore guiding examples
  • Download the UbD Template and other resource files
  • Review essential questions by subject area
  • Get help for assessment design
  • Watch informative videos
  • Read relevant articles

 

If you have questions or would like to learn more about the UbD framework, contact Bill Rose in the Office of Digital learning at bmr1@psu.edu.

 

 

Join the conversation on our website!

CPAD Shares Issue 3: AIGA

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 Featured Resource:  AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) 

 

In this issue we look at the intersection of educational practice with the academic discipline of graphic arts. We can only highlight a small portion of what AIGA offers educators in this discipline, but these three resources stand out to us as particularly useful. 

 

Design Education Resources: Design Futures Research 

 

A series of briefing papers in seven parts provided as downloadable PDF files on the AIGA site. 

  

Typical article reading length is 8 to 12 pages long; about 12 to 18 minutes. 

 

AIGA describes the Design Futures research project as examining “seven trends shaping the context for the practice of design. This change in the nature of work calls for new skills and perspectives beyond traditional college-level design education. It is critical that the industry expands its knowledge and expertise to remain economically viable and professionally relevant as it prepares for changing client demands and new opportunities for design influence.”
 

The Design Futures briefing paper serves as the introduction to this series (six pages, about nine minutes). 

 

Each paper defines a trend, cites examples of the trend in practice, identifies the core concepts and principles involved, and lists the competencies necessary for addressing the trend at the college and professional level. Each includes a brief list of resources for further reading.  

 

 

 

Design Teaching Resource: Projects 

 

Browse the colorful cards of creative project possibilities, learn more about your peers who submitted them, connect with the Design Educators Community, or explore resources related to topics such as course planning and accessibility. 

 

This resource, which includes over 160 successful teaching projects, is as inspirational as it is practical. Populated by graphic design faculty from around the country, each project includes a project brief, learning objectives, deliverables, associated readings and resources, and reflections regarding how well and why the assignment worked. Projects are searchable by student academic level, design category (for example, typography), and by keywords (for example, “color theory”, or “photography”). 

 

 

Design Future Now! Podcast 

 

Length ranges from very short (13 minutes) to much longer (50+ minutes); typical length is 30 minutes or less. 

 

AIGA explores key questions confronting the profession with selected practitioners and leaders in this ongoing series of podcasts. With only 16 episodes thus far, this resource can be quickly scanned for interest. Past episodes have included topics such as what musical minds teach us about creativity and innovation, digital craft and the shift from “human centered design” to “humanity centered design”, along with a wide range of others.