When it comes to curriculum design, backward design is forward-thinking. Backward design is the educational process of starting with your desired outcome and then building instructional strategies and assessments to meet the goal. I feel that this strategy is very useful for making sure that the teaching meets the outcome.
The three stages of backward design are:
Stage 1: Desired Outcome
Stage 2: Acceptable Evidence
Stage 3: Learning Activities
Some important questions to ask when backward planning is: What are you really teaching? What is really important and inspiring to the learner? How can you plan for learner understanding? It is like going on a trip.You know your destination, and can plan for it by bringing the right clothes, using the best mode of transportation to get there, plan side trips along the way, find restaurants and not get off track to reach your destination on time. Backward Planning for learning works the same way, providing for meaningful, goal-oriented education.
UdB puts the student in the position to develop critical and creative thinking. Asking socratic questions and encouraging self assessments helps students to become THINKERS, not just reiterative students.
As educators we need to ask ourselves first, "What is the goal of my course?" Then, what are we assessing? How are we doing against the goal? Then, it naturally follows, what should occur in the classroom to reach the goal?
Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe are two educators that have been in the forefront of this educational framework for strategic thinking and planning. Here is a great video on UbD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4isSHf3SBuQ.
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