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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.
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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.
23 thoughts on “Backward Design”
Backward design considers the reason behind learning concepts explored during my class, something I take as a given as the class I’m focused on is a pre-requisite and must align with other sections.
I have designed my own assignments, quizzes and weekly plans from the final exam plan (fixed outcomes prescribed by my department), but I can incorporate open educational resources – texts, examples, activities, etc. I can search for activities and resources that serve specific course outcomes and goals. I can also more explicity state the reasons behind activities and goals for students after completing the course, both during the remainder of their time at BMCC and beyond, and ask students to consider these points.
My takeaways – as my course outcomes and exam content is fixed/the class is a pre-requisite, I wonder how I can truly put these concepts into practice, beyond learning specific technical skills as a path to deeper engagement with music in a formal setting. Music theory is rife with issues and connected most directly with the most antiquated parts of formal music education. Conversely, engaging with this material is usually an expansion of students’ knowledge, which is certainly an asset.
“How is backward design different than your current process for designing learning experiences for your students?”
As an adjunct with subject matter experience / expertise, but no teacher training (events like this seminar notwithstanding, as useful as they are!), I kinda poke my head in different directions intuitively, like a blind kitten, in order to see what works and what doesn’t in my course. Most of the time this actually works well. (I know! I am surprised as well!)
Backward design makes sense, I guess, except the problem is, I do not have (and am not interested in developing) actual written learning outcomes. So, any process that says “start from your learning outcomes” sort of loses me right then and there.
My intuitive approach so far to designing my educational experiences starts sort of in the middle instead of at the back end. If we consider the textbook and other materials “the start”, what people actually do, the mistakes they make and the learning they perform “the middle”, and the end goals / outcomes “the back end”, then I start firmly “in the middle”. Perhaps because I teach a very practical course (“Personal Finance”), and because I am a financial advisor working with real people, I am acutely aware of what people actually do with their money, the mistakes they make, and I know very clearly what I’d like them to do instead. So, the starting point “in the middle” makes sense for me – knowing what people do with their money, I can move toward the start (give students something to read / listen / watch) that will correct and immunize them against making common mistakes, and I can also move toward the “back end”, by giving them assignments to apply what they learned, to make sure they do not fall into the traps of what I see my financial advisory clients do wrong.
I am very interested in hearing from others on Thursday how y’all make backward design work practically. I can be convinced to change, I promise. 🙂
Actually, backward design is not a strange concept to me. In my opening email I tell students that the culminating activity will measure their ability to demonstrate what they have learned. If they can write a critical essay in MLA format that has an effective argument supported by an analysis of the primary source and critical support from scholarly sources, they have met the learning outcome. I learned from the article that I have to restate this in some abbreviated way for every assignment.
I can also see the necessity to give step-by-step instructions for every assignment and the relationship of each assignment to the learning outcome. I already use bullets at the start of each module that serve as a checklist. I think the main takeaway is to do more with less. Rather than plowing through extensive reading, I will cut back on the content and work harder on the process.
If I am using ZTC materials, I hope I do not have to “dumb down” the course or settle for readings that are not literary hallmarks.
I have learning outcomes that we address at the beginning and end of each class. But beyond that, I teach entrepreneurship classes and my goal for these classes is to show students how to think entrepreneurially whether they have their own business or they work for someone else. Every organization needs people who know how to think differently and entrepreneurial thinking starts with two things. First comes the vision and then comes planning the exit strategy, how the entrepreneur will divest the business.
That said, backward design seems rather intuitive because without the vision driving the course and without an exit strategy of the return on their investment (both time and money), what’s going to motivate the students? They have to know where the journey will take them, they need to be inspired, not manipulated, to do the work for any meaningful learning to happen. Only inspiration is going to foster the greater, long-term goal of encouraging life-long learning that we all want for them.
It’s really important for me to keep reminding my students why they are here. I use a lot of examples including interviews with CEOs and CFOs so they see the grander picture and they can better understand why what we are studying is so relevant to an organization. For example, from an interview with a CFO, they can see how beneficial it is to an organization that they have an understanding of finance even if they work in marketing. I usually find these interviews in newspapers, magazines, books written by founders and CEOs, and podcasts are great too.
I also bring in guest speakers who explain what they do at their organizations and the Q&A after is enlightening for all of us. Again, they are reminded of why they are here taking this course.
I liked this reading a lot. I liked the tone in particular. I’ve always strived to serve the material to my students on a silver platter and spoon-feed them as much as possible, but this question that’s asked of us is the biggest take-away and no doubt it’ll be asked of us again when we finish the class as reflection does indeed bring a whole new level of clarity. I will definitely ask my students to site their takeaways more often and encourage them to recall, reiterate, and perhaps recalibrate their thinking. Spoon-feeding doesn’t encourage everyone to take the deep dive that I’d like them to take necessarily, this is a much more effective strategy. I will also make more of an effort to ask them how they think the course relates to their other courses so they can think more globally.
In some ways, I do believe I’ve been following components of backward design in both of my courses since almost all of my assignments work up to the class final and we begin by working on a project that mirrors the final. However, one of my key takeaways from the article is the importance of pointing back to the core objectives throughout the course. With that in mind, I hope to adjust some of my scaffolded assignments and assessments. Another key takeaway is the benefit of regular self-reflection beyond writing. I liked the idea of having students respond to self-reflective prompts using VoiceThreads or other audio components.
I provide students a term planner and weekly learning outcomes, but I should give more details about the relationship of each topic to the learning outcome. I should clarify the purpose of each assignment/activity.
Ideally (backward design) for my course, I encourage students not to memorize sociological terms, but to learn how to apply them. In addition to having prerequisite assessments, such as quizzes and writing assignments. I let the classroom choose examples for their group presentation (related to the topic covered that week). In return, students organize themselves in the same discipline and share innovative sociological examples from the future sector of work. And when the deadline for the final week arrives, students have already shared enough information with their peers to the point that they feel ready to generate a unique paper connected to what was learned throughout the course.
I’m not proud of this but I’m definitely the person the text describes who creates the online classroom with everything in it and then is shocked when the students don’t realize there is a major assignment due at the end of the semester. “No! I mentioned it twice earlier! There’s a folder in the Assignment section! It’s all over the syllabus! The SYLLABUS!!!!” I’ve also viewed this as making the information as accessible as possible without overwhelming students. If the entire semester is in each “weekly guide” folder than everyone cries in the corner but if I offer gentle reminders and multiple folders when they can find it on their time then hopefully everyone can ease into assignments. This typically results in a late panic at the end of the semester.
To this end, I think the biggest takeaway I have from this chapter is to create smaller progressive assignments to “encourage” my students to work on the assignment early and often. It will also help to drive students to begin finding research early, find interviews, and so forth for the assignment earlier in the semester. If the goal of the lesson is to have them work collaboratively on making decisions, having those decisions be scheduled and paced thoughtfully will help them achieve that goal.
I mean, not to hit the nail too hard on the head, but I’d say that I took away that I need to focus on what I hope my students will learn/do for the semester and then set up the course/syllabus/assignments to encourage them to do that.
I am familiar with backward design but Darby provides some very effective strategies for teaching online. She reminds us to keep UDL practices in mind so that we don’t just use writing to impart information (use videos). She also emphasizes the importance of reflection, so that makes me want to learn how to use and incorporate something like Voice Thread into my courses more since it gives the class the opportunity to talk to the text. My students appreciate that I link all the activities and materials in my online courses. So, for example, I’ll have my ENG 201 (literature) students find one poetic element similar and different in two poems, let’s say. And then their essay assignment will be a comparison and contrast of those poems. In a way, their Discussion Board assignments lead to their essay assignments. It’s important to connect everything, even thematically. This also avoids the “skills-based” approach in writing which presents material in a random, unconnected way. In writing courses, it’s also important to “scaffold” assignments, so that method works hand-in-hand with backward design. Each activity or assignment (low stakes mostly) builds up to the larger, high stakes assignment. In my ENG 101 (essays) course, I had trouble getting students to complete their documented essay but now I scaffold it much better and the students have fewer problems completing it!
How is backward design different than your current process for designing learning experiences for your students? Backward design focuses on “the take away..” The goal of a particular course.. The basic premise is that If we focus on the goal and create a detailed plan, we have a better chance of achieving the goal.
How might you use backward design to redesign learning experiences in your course(s) using open educational resources and other no-cost materials? I like the idea of having students work on the Final Project in week 1; providing the final project requirements. This will make a strong connection on the relevance of the course topics for completing the final project.
What are your key take-aways from the chapter, “Surfacing Backward Design”? The insights on how we learn.. In my technology courses, I teach content and skills which are reinforced with lab exercises…I will be creating “challenges” for students to complete a task before explaining the content. This seems like a good way for the students to better appreciate the solution to the problems we cover in class.
Backward design is not significantly different from what I already am doing when I design my courses; although now I have a fancy new name for it. My teaching career started with a degree in secondary education. Many of the colleagues I have met over the years have stories similar to the one shared in the article, but I stepped into the college classroom armed with more than a PhD in my field. This is not to say that I was a perfect teacher from Day 1, but I was equipped with an understanding of objectives and pedagogical design.
After reading the article, though, I see the importance of making the “final” objectives from the course clearer from the first week of the course. In composition, the course ends with a final essay in which students must place two specific articles in academic conversation with each other. Making the various components of that final essay obvious from the start will require breaking down and repeating those objectives. This is something that I do regularly in a face-to-face setting, but admittedly not as often in an asynchronous setting. (Side Note: Just two days ago I wrote that I move all the school-required objectives to the back of the syllabus since they are important for the school/accreditation. Reading this article about bringing objectives to the front of the course made me laugh to myself. Thinking about it further, the school-required objectives definitely influence our course objectives but they are not 100% the same creature.)
One of my key takeaways is to be overly obvious with why we are doing the assignments that we are doing.
Another key takeaway is that this author was married at 22, which always seems young and surprising to me no matter who the person is.
A third key takeaway is the idea of asking students to reflect on each week’s assignments. I wonder how students would respond to that.
How is backward design different than your current process for designing learning experiences for your students?
I probably began like the author: choosing material before determining outcomes to be achieved. Because I’ve taught Speech 100 for many years, what was initially a forward design has ultimately resulted in a backward design. Early on, I didn’t know enough about curriculum design but at this point it’s resulted in a backward design, where activities and assignments align.
How might you use backward design to redesign learning experiences in your course(s) using open educational resources and other no-cost materials? I teach 3-hour block courses that meet once a week. Some teachers might call each week a module or a unit, I simply refer to them as weeks. In any case, I think I will go back to my ‘Weekly Semester Plan’ and write a learning objective for each week, to state clearly just what we are trying to accomplish for each lesson, that is, each week, and not assume that students pick up on the objective of their own accord. In other words, I’m going to be more explicit.
What are your key take-aways from the chapter, “Surfacing Backward Design”? I see the logic of backward design. Aligning activities, assessments, projects, reflections, etc. with stated goals makes sense. However, there can also be room for spontaneity. Sometimes things come up that can lead to interesting moments, revelations, and you may want to veer off script to take advantage of these.
How is backward design different than your current process for designing learning experiences for your students? Backward design is very similar to the design of my courses, in the sense that the basic foundation is established in the beginning of the semester and scaffolded, subsequently building a complete structure toward the end of the semester. It’s different in the sense, I did not start with the end in mind per se, but I did approach the design as if we were going along on a journey, from place to place collecting all the items we would need for the party at the end.
How might you use backward design to redesign learning experiences in your course(s) using open educational resources and other no-cost materials? I think I would start with adding the “why” to my instruction of the assignments and how it relates to what’s to come. Next I might change the order of a module or two ensuring they were clearly and specifically aligned with the outcomes.
What are your key take-aways from the chapter, “Surfacing Backward Design”?
A couple of my key takeaways are: To remember to provide frequent reminders of the purpose of content and activities, to enhance interest and forward movement. I feel I have clearly aligned activities and assessments but I think understanding the relevance may go unnoticed at times and misunderstood as redundancy, “busy work”. Another key takeaway which will also help with the other one, is to give an introduction of each module’s content, specifying “what” “why” & “how”. I feel this will help with the fluidity, keeping it connected and not fragmented; as the material varies in its complexity and difficulty. And many times what’s not clearly understood gets skipped over.
I really liked the metaphor of journey and education in introducing the backward design. I view backward design as a potent combo of practicality and imagination. It is very much like a travel guide — a pre-map for our students’ journey. It has two very important parts, knowing the destination and pre-imagining all STOPS during the trip … and the difficulties the students might have reaching their goals. Like any seasoned traveler, as teachers we need to plan a very solid schedule with affordable pricing, weather-proof protection and light luggage… However, having a solid plan and enough resources, we still need to be extremely flexible both during the trip. As teaching the backward design as the non-traditional and online teaching becomes the new normal, we need to be aware of our own strengths and weaknesses regarding technology. We must pay attention to course design and our own and students’ technological fluencies.
1. How is backward design different than your current process from designing learning experiences for your students?
In planning learning experiences for my classes, I usually begin with the student learning outcomes; next, I prepare a course schedule that outlines weekly topics, and assignments. Then, I select a textbook that covers most of the topics and includes assignments that provide an opportunity for students to practice and demonstrate their learning of the.
Backward design, on the other hand, begins with the overall course goals, then considers assessments that will enable learners achieve the goals. Finally, the course content, including lectures, textbooks, and learning activities relevant to the course objectives and assessments are determined.
2. How might you use backward design to redesign learning experiences in your courses using open educational resources or other no-cost materials?
To begin utilizing backward design in my courses, I will apply it on major assessments, such as the final research paper or language project
For my language and culture class, the language project will be introduced at the beginning of the semester; this is a change from previous practice of assigning it towards the end of the semester after covering relevant topics.
Another change to be incorporated into the final research paper and language project is to diversify the final product. Unlike past semesters, when all students had to submit a written report, from now on students will choose from a number of options, including a written report, a video, or class presentation.
An enhancement in the language project for online classes will be requiring students to post weekly reflections on the discussion board indicating their progress.
3. What is your key take-away from reading the chapter, ‘Surfacing backward design?
My major take-away is that all parts of the course must align. The learning objectives, assessments, and the content must be connected and support each other.
For my online classes, transparency must be a prime goal in describing learning objectives and assignments. Moreover, students should be continually reminded of the purpose of the content and assignments.
The chapter from Small Teaching Online : Applying Learning Science in Online Classes was extraordinarily helpful. I was first introduced to backwards design when I taught high school in Baltimore City but Darby and Lang’s discussion of specific techniques to book end learning and funnel it toward the desired outcomes was inspiring in its workman-like quality. I particularly liked and was sparked by the discussion of what is the basic knowledge I wish the students to take away from the class; for me, this is what moves teaching from simply being a job to an art-form. Holding onto that as I design will help me be thorough and diligent. Other high points for me; working with the final assessment at the beginning. I like that very much and it dovetails with my own previous use of scaffolding to help my students build skill on skill; I see clearly how THEY knowing where we are going will aid both understanding and follow through. Also, I will incorporate a significantly more robust explanation of WHY I am doing anything as well as more smaller, bridging assessments, less for grading purposes and more for the students to see what relates to what in the course as we move forward. Excellent chapter. Very interesting.
How is backward design different than your current process for designing learning experiences for your students?
As part of my department’s curriculum committee and learning how to craft a Pathways approved syllabus, I realized that learning outcomes (LO) are more important than they seem. For a “pathwayzised” course, the Pathways committee seemed to want to make sure that the LO matched the material and assignments in the syllabus. Not that the syllabus being revised didn’t overall but they wanted to make sure that each one was identified.
We’re inclined to apply already selected learning outcomes as part of a syllabus template that I took to mean, “this is what your students should learn/accomplished after absorbing ALL of the material from the class lessons.” Therefore, I focused on the bigger picture and not on matching LO to each lesson or thematic unit. And thus, I think that my formula has been: Content + assessment + final product (LO). Now, I would reconsider the formula to be something like LO + content + assessment.
How might you use backward design to redesign learning experiences in your course(s) using open educational resources and other no-cost materials?
Convert the class journal assignment due at the end of the semester to a portfolio/scaffold assignment.
What are your key take-aways from the chapter, “Surfacing Backward Design”?
“The end justifies the means.” (:
“Everything must be anchored in the goals for enduring understanding; everything stems from those goals. New faculty members often begin the course-planning process by selecting the content: the textbooks and lecture materials. The backward-design process forces them to forget about the content until they decide what they really want students to learn.”
Darby, Flower, and James M. Lang. Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bmcc/detail.action?docID=5780349.
Created from bmcc on 2021-06-10 12:20:11.
Backward design is different than my current design by virtue of its format. When I was initially hired, less than a week before classes began, I designed the course by choosing the text, then content, then splicing the assessment into (almost) even intervals. Based on the schools’ designation of the course, I had to include a writing component as well which felt appropriate to assign as the final paper. Backward design is a completely different approach that calls for a reevaluation of course goals and designing based on ensuring that students attain those goals and how those outcomes are going to be assessed. It almost takes a student perspective into the design while still complying to institutional and instructor goals. While I discuss, explain, and ask questions to gauge understanding/relevance, this approach builds it into the course structure itself.
I envision using backward design to find different types of OER content that aligns with course objectives, similar to what my current text does. There is always something that happens (news or in social media) that can be explained via topics covered in a general psychology classroom (Bart Simpson Bouncing!). Something that I plan to incorporate is reflections and possibly quizzes as a more frequent checkpoint for understanding/assessment.
My key takeaways is that it is beneficial for the student for me to intentionally incorporate reflections as part of the learning experience. I find myself toward the end of the semester “zooming out” and recapping the major concepts and how they apply to life. Students will remember better if it is personally meaningful and reflections can foster these connections. Also, maybe an earlier checkpoint with an assignment would help my students write better papers at the end of class. I introduce it and allow drafts throughout the semester and make a big deal out of it during spring break/thanksgiving break but a graded practice assignment sooner may help.
The backward design seems to be similar to how I approach my classes except, now I know the formal name, and I will do it more intentionally for each assignment instead of globally from the onset of the class. The concept is similar to Stephen Covey’s principle, “Begin with the end in mind,” which appears in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Each module on Blackboard begins with the Learning Objectives for the unit. Still, it appears I have the opportunity to add more informal videos to explicitly explain the purpose of the assignment as it pertains to real-world application and not just for in-class assessment objectives.
A more specific way that I can couple backward design with open educational resources is to provide links to material that show students the benefit of what they are doing. For example, I can show them a job description and underline the communication skills employers are seeking. Then, I can include asset-based learning for them to share other articles, videos where employers list their need for candidates with communication skills.
“Surfacing Backward Design” affirms the need for faculty members to be their authentic selves in the classroom to connect with students effectively. The writer approached the material from a deficit-based approach, but I accepted it from an asset-based viewpoint. As a result, I will continue with my low-stake self-introductory speech assignment to get students to speak about a topic they know a great deal about (themselves) and use it as an opportunity to customize a presentation that they are comfortable sharing with others. What I plan to do more of is to write a purpose statement for that assignment to show them how that assignment connects with the interview question, “Tell me about yourself.” Finally, this assignment is reinforcing the need for me to seriously explore how to use my two decades of teaching in higher education to write a book on best practices or activities I used in my classes to build community, show empathy, includes culturally sustaining pedagogy, and promote asset-based learning, etc.
Although at the beginning of the semester, I do discuss what we will cover/learn in the course, it is not very specific and I don’t refer to the the overall learning objective as much as I could, reiterating the final learning outcomes and how what we are learning will contribute to that. So in my new design, I will put a stronger focus on the learning objectives, as we cover each topic.
I have an idea for an assignment (an assignment I currently give as extra credit) that will ask students to select a movie from a list I provide, but I will also ask students for their own movies to add to the list. The assignment will be a paper where the students identify psychological theories/research/topics in the movie and describe how these topics are shown in the movie. As we progress throught the semester, covering the topics, I will continue to ask how the topics are demonstrated in not just the movies from the list, but also in other medium such as books, TV shows, or music.
My take-away from the article is that backward design begins involves a clear goal for the course, and that the assessments throughout the semester all have a purpose leading to the learning objective goals of the course. Talking about why the assignments are given is as, if not more, important as telling the students that they must do them. Also, discussion with the students as to if they feel the assessments are a valid measure of what they are learning should be included.
I honestly have to say I am so glad to be part of this program! I am currently doing this in my SBE 100 course and now trying to incorporate that within the MAR 100 course. So the example I have for SBE100 my final project is called “The Entrepreneurial Journey” is its based on the coursework assignments we have done throughout the semester and at the end I want you to record your journey within voicethread to assess your throughts and answer if you are ready to be an entrepreneur one day. So I tell them what the journey is about and what is needed to complete it to pass the course, I also set up times for them to meet with me privately that will enable them to pass.
Example of breakdown of course
Are you ready to be an entreprenuer – is an online quiz
Business Proposal – One page word doc they have to hand in
Design a logo – Free website that enables them to create a logo
Brand book – another free site
Creating your trademark strategy – uspto links
Podcast – Students create a podcast through soundtrap
I also have visits by the librarian and the writing center.
This “journey model” was based on how I created my own business with free tools. I wanted to show them that there are ways to start your business with little to no cost.
When I first started teaching at BMCC, I was just like the author of “Surfacing Backward Design” – I was planning the course week to week, without a connection to the learning outcomes. My main concern was achieving state standards of two important speeches – Informative and Persuasive. Currently, I make stronger connections to the outcomes, but the large focus of the course is still on those state-mandated assignments. This past semester I devoted time at the start and end of the course to illustrate where students started and where they had ‘arrived’ – but this was solely from my observation. I hadn’t asked the students themselves where they felt they were in comparison to the beginning of the course. As I move from weekly planning and toward backward design, I am simultaneously motivated to bring students into the conversation. By sharing the learning objectives and asking students for their own goals and objectives, I can ensure that the course is designed from B to A, but with flexibility for student-led outcomes.
I see from the chapter that materials are the final part of the Backward Design puzzle – the last step is choosing what materials and assignments will contribute to students’ success in meeting learning objectives. As I plan the course and each module, using OER resources from varied sources presents great freedom. Without the need to stick to the layout of a textbook, I can design the course to best meet students in their public speaking journey.
Key takeaways I have from reading the Backward Design chapter:
– Transparency is key
– I need to take advantage of rubrics; these tools can help communicate to students not only how they’ll be assessed, but the links between the assessment and the outcomes.
– Students need to know what, why, and how to complete assessments
– It’s okay to start working on assessments before students have been taught the concepts – this can be a great tool for metacognition
Overall, I have found this chapter to be extremely helpful and full of ideas I can incorporate in the design of my course.
1) I have always used backward design since the first class that I taught. I have always thought of what I wanted my students to walk away with at the end of the course. I always have been interested in learning outcomes as that really tells you where you are at when the course is finished. What did your students really walk away with? What did you want them to leave with?
2) There are so many Open Educational Resources available today that can help you to provide an in-depth knowledge base for your course students. By stressing to yourself what the expected course outcomes should be you can start to plan your course. The course objectives topic by topic can also be helpful in getting the course design to take shape. By understanding what your end results in the course should be, you can start designing the components to get you there.
3) The take-aways from this chapter stressed once again to me how Backward Design planning can be so helpful in getting to the place you should be. If you know and understand the results you want it is an easier process to build your course structure. I believe that many people use this concept without knowing it is Backward Design by name. But it works for them in achieving their desired results. I enjoyed this chapter and the information presented.