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Read Chapter 1: Surfacing Backward Design from Small Teaching Online. Come to the next session ready to discuss using the backward design process in redesigning your course with OER.
The link above goes to the e-book chapter in one of our Library databases. Let us know if you have trouble logging in to read the chapter.
Note: You can download the chapter as a PDF. When you click the chapter download icon, you’ll be prompted to check out the book for 1 day. Click on the icon again to download.
Reflect
Post your responses to the following spark questions as a comment below:
- How is backward design different than your current process for designing learning experiences for your students?
- How might you use backward design to redesign learning experiences in your course(s) using open educational resources and other no-cost materials?
- What are your key take-aways from the chapter, “Surfacing Backward Design”?
Bonus
If you have time and interest, here is a podcast episode interviewing the author of Small Teaching Online, Flower Darby.
11 thoughts on “Backward Design”
I had some issues with the materials… I’m sure Wiggins and McTighe were working off the shoulders of others, but I saw no mention of them in the entire ebook (i didn’t look that closely but the fact that they weren’t foregrounded). Their concepts were the holy grail for me as a public school educator and principal. It’s like talking about the innovative blues of the rolling stones without mentioning robert johnson muddy waters, freddie king, john lee hooker, etc…
Anyway I find the idea of backward planning indispensable.
And just to show I am a total crank, another of their ideas i adhere to is depth vs breadth — which unfortunately BMCC does not believe in and even forces the opposite. We must teach 50 different things per semester to satisfy the requirements as demanded by the academic senate. ugh.
+1 for Wiggins and McTighe! In the past we’ve also use the article “A Planning Tool for Incorporating Backward Design, Active Learning, and Authentic Assessment in the College Classroom”, which incorporates W&T more explicitly. For anyone interested, it’s available through the Library: https://cuny-bm.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CUNY_BM/1p2s18j/cdi_proquest_journals_2619337947
OH my current redesign project includes the following update with this in mind, rather than a weekly summary of the reading and lectures as required in the past, I am posing a set of 5 questions per week that ask students to discuss the key topics from that week.
Reading Chapter 1, Surfacing Backward Design reinforced my belief that a backward design framework will be most effective in student learning and understanding. I ask myself and my students these questions? What does the student understand and how will they apply it for impact? Do they know the purpose of our class activities and assignments? Are they transferring the learning into application in their life?
As I prepare for the upcoming semester, I will focus more on the ending first, on what purpose the student should be striving for.
I would look into reducing the number of chapters and topics covered in the course to those big ideas that students need to retain and are enduring for the rest of their lives. I need to separate my personal interest topics from those that are needed to achieve the learning outcomes.
I would also look into slowing the pace of the course. Possibly allowing for catch-up sessions and optional class days. I designed my Semester Case Study paper into three progress reports and one final submission paper which brings all the reports together and the student’s recommendations. This scaffolding was beneficial to the students.
Key Takeaways from Surfacing Backward Design-
– Alignment is key. Course material, learning activities, assessments, and objectives are all aligned.
– Start with the End in mind first.
– Student reflections and response to learning objectives, willingness to share their reflections.
Honestly, I have been aware of outcomes, from overall course outcomes linked to topic outcomes, distributed over weeks. I think I could better link the individual assignments more clearly to outcomes for students, so they can see how the micro links to the macro experience of the content (not the grade). What I can do for this re-design, is take the learning outcomes and link them to the newly included OER material and assignments. It seems the key takeaway for me from the chapter is transparent linking of activities with learning goals, so students can connect with a purpose and retain the material in a meaningful way. Assignments are not disposable, nor does content “fly away”.
I’ve learned, by default, to “backward design” my course over time as students were constantly “surprised” by the required Concert Report due at the end of the semester. From Day 1, I show performances of musical works and ask for their feedback, sometimes verbal, sometimes written, in preparation and practice for their Concert Report. However, I think I could do a better job with outlining the learning objective of the course. I liked the author’s checklist: what, why and how. I need to incorportate these questions, along with rubrics, checklists and exemplars, to give better guidance on every assignment.
For my courses, which have been around for many years, seem to have been designed backward in many ways. In Chemistry, doing experiments are more or less based on backward design. There’s is a goal to achieve and we get to the result by various methods, procedures, manipulations, etc. With that said, many students are actually not prepared and not aware of the outcome, thus, by simply following the lab manual, just to complete a lab session, would make the work meaningless at times, as they have no idea what the purpose is in doing the work. This notion is in line with page 15 in chapter 1 of “Surfacing Backward Design”. It is very critical for me, as an instructor, to point out and emphasize the goal of the learning and how each step is connected to get to the end.
While my courses have already been built around backward design, I would like to obtain additional resources that help pave the path that gets to the learning outcome. I want to find innovative methods and alternatives to learn what has traditionally been taught the same way over the years.
Yes, I was given a copy of a syllabus, given a textbook, told to organize chapter lesson plans and focus on assessment. Yes, this was what I was told when I started at BMCC. Additionally, I was told that the focus is on learning and more specifically assessment (testing). In later years, it was still testing but also writing across the curriculum. I was designing my classes for assessment – student performance. I did not focus on engagement.
So with a backward design, it is more about engagement which would lead to more about learning and not focusing so much on traditional assessment. Yes, I can encourage learning by having students think differently about how they can learn the material and it might not always be assessment by testing. I can have students design polls, create a video, offer suggestions for discussions (discussion boards). It seems to me that it is more about make it interesting that will pique students to want to discuss and be engaged in the topic(s).
There are so many great resources for all fields of psychology such as youtube, ted talks. Also, https://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/, https://www.queendom.com/tests/access_page/index.htm?idRegTest=712,https://myhandwriting.com/analyze/index.html, https://www.fmsfonline.org/. I am open to using the oer. As indicated, I have found great resources to supplement chapters and interactive resources as indicated from the links above that I have provided.
I can determine what materials are needed and necessary to meet the learning objectives that I have established. I also believe that my students will offer more reflections about more meaningful learning that is applicable to their backgrounds or career goals.
Four changes in the Backward Design for my future online class:
1. I will start with the final assessment creation at the beginning of a course study. I used to create my class design by following the class schedules and to leave the final assessment in the last step. Now, I would like to switch the final assessment from the last step to the first step. This switch will help me to focus on the learning destination and to measure students’ achievements. This switch idea of connecting the beginning to ending will make me use the class time effective and efficient to meet the learning objectives.
2. I will create monthly low-stakes discussion activities to keep students engaged in learning. Low-Stakes Discussions can be video/audio/text-message discussions to match with students’ busy life schedules. By using formative assessments such as monthly low-stakes discussion activities, I will be able to monitor students’ learning progress in monthly reflections.
3. I will make students be aware of the purpose of each learning activity and each homework assignment and each exam and each project.
4. I will send reminder notes to remind students of important dates/time such as assignment submission deadlines and exam schedules to keep students accountable. To keep students in the right track, I will make efforts to give students friendly reminders of timelines, deadlines, and milestones during my online course study.
What impresses me most in the surfacing backward design is the description of a big gap between an online learning environment and a face-to-face classroom learning environment. Most students are not familiar with an online setting and the learning management system. Uncertainty mixed with worries raised a lot of questions for students enrolled in an online-asynchronous mode. What to expect? What to learn? How to submit work? How to take exam? Where to find teacher? Where to meet classmates? Where to get help? Information in the Chapter of Surfacing Backward Design is helpful and useful for me to become an experienced well-prepared online teacher.
In the years since I’ve been an instructor, I do think I’ve incorporated some components of backward design into my teaching but in a less structured and systemic way. There are specific skills that I want students to be able to have by the end of the semester so I include assignments and activities that build up to it. However, I think that’s different from the “enduring understanding” that Lang describes in the text. I think my instructional style has hyperfocus on skills such as note-taking/ text annotation, reading comprehension, and examining competing ideas instead of the enduring understanding that historical events inform present realities. It has been my hope that students make the connection between history and the present through the skills I’m trying to cultivate but as I reflect on this week’s materials, I think if I shift the focus from skills to “enduring understanding”, the activities in each unit might be more fitting and engaging.
Small Teaching Online chapter 1 aligns very well with teaching computer skills both to CIS majors and those taking the course as an elective. Most of the students have at least minimal experience with two of the topics, some considerable with three of the four. The online teaching/testing package has built-in videos (two dozen for each of teh four topics) which mesh well with the twice-a-week Zoom meetings. I send my own PowerPoint overview every three weeks introducing the next topic — and giving a gentle word-to-the-wise about where we might want to be by this time in the semester.