Backward Design Infographic

Backward Design - Assumptions (Wiggins &McTighe, 2005)

Transcript

Overview

Introduction

• Traditional methods of instruction leads to at times unfocused, dense content, teaching of abstract theories and obscure facts, and students prioritizing rote memorization of facts.
• Backward design can be particularly beneficial to medical education:
• Promotes competency based medical education
• Helps determine content scope, sequencing, and scaffolding
• Better aligned objectives, assessments, and activities - provide more purposeful instructional activities that can help with skill and knowledge transfer to clinical practice
• Assessments measure clinical competency

• With Covid-19, many instructors had to move their courses online
• Backward design provides a "blueprint" for instructors as they determine how to transition their course online - what components are necessary? What isn't needed for student learning? How do you address each learning objective in an online setting?
• Intentional instruction is particularly important online due to limited student interaction and obstacles to communication

Backward design in medical education (Cline & Rinaldi, 2023)

Backward design for online learning (Davis et al, 2021)

(Wiggins & McTighe, 2005)

• The Backward Design model is linear - if followed linearly, may not emphasize need to adapt to feedback and iterate on design process (Smith, 2023)
• May reduce learning objectives to a "limited set of measurable outcomes" (Smith, 2023, para. 5) and neglect some more implicit, holistic learning
• Time consuming process (AFNR Teacher Guide, n.d.)

Weaknesses

• Each learning activity has a purpose (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005)
• Greater alignment between objectives, assessments, and instructional strategies (Davis et al, 2021)
• Provides learners with clear expectations to guide their learning (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005)
• Provides learner with a clear idea of WHY the course was structured a particular way (Davis et al, 2021)

Strengths

• Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources (n.d.). AFNR Teacher Guide: Understanding by design. https://www.isbe.net/Documents/Understanding-by-Design-Teacher-Guide.pdf
• Cline, G., Rinaldi, K. (2023). A compelling case for the use of backward design to advance competency based nursing education. Nurse Educator, 48(5), 168-169. DOI: 10.1097/NNE.0000000000001388
• Davis, N., Gough, M., Taylor, L. (2021). Enhancing online courses by utilizing "Backward Design". Journal of Teaching in Travel and Tourism, 21(4), 437-446. https://doi.org/10.1080/15313220.2021.1924922
• Smith, S. (2023, May 11). Examining the limitations of Backwards Design. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/examining-limitations-backwards-design-stephen-smith/
• Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by Design (2nd Ed.). ASCD.

References

• Concepts of backward design have been discussed by several people, including Polya (1945) and Tyler (1949)
• Wiggins and McTighe formalized the Backward Design model in their book Understanding by Design (first published 1998). They created:
• A step-by-step process
• Template
• Design standards

Founders

Backward Design Model

• Counters the traditional "forward" design in which content and instructional activities ideas dictate instruction
• Focus on the educational purpose of "understanding" - teachers can't know how or what to teach if they don't know which understandings they need learners to know and how learners will put those understandings into practice

• Establishing clear learning objectives of the skills and knowledge learners should gain and establishing aligned ways to assess that this learning has occured allows instructors to plan content to cover and activities to do with intentionality to specifically address learning goals sought.

Determine how to assess learning

What instructional strategies and resources are needed for desired learning?

Learning objectives - what do learners need to know?

3. Plan learning experiences and instruction

2. Determine acceptable evidence

1. Identify desired results

Adapted from Wiggins & McTighe (2005) and Davis et al (2021)

Sources

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Backward design is a model that emphasizes the importance of starting with the end goals and objectives in mind to guide course and education design.

Backward Design

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Introduction transcript

Hello everyone, welcome to my infographic on Backward Design Backward design is a learner-centered model that aims to shift the focus of course design from content-driven to result-driven. It emphasizes starting with the end goal and objectives to guide the rest of the course design process. What do you want your learners to be able to know or do after the course, and how can you structure your course to ensure they get there? This model was formalized by Wiggins and McTighe first in the 1990s - backwards design promotes a key purpose of education: understanding. How can teachers know what or how to teach if they don’t know what students should understand? Wiggins and McTighe developed this three step model where clear and specific learning objectives are determined first, followed by determining aligned assessments that will provide evidence of meeting the learning objectives. Only then, will the instructor have a clear end goal to work towards and be able to determine the appropriate scope of content and instructional strategies students need to effectively learn. Although it may be initially time consuming, backward design ensures alignment of objectives, assessments, and instruction, reduces unfocused and non-purposeful instructional activities, and provides clear expectations and a clear learning journey for the learners. This model is effective in a variety of educational settings, and can be of particular benefit to online learning and to promote competency-based medical education. The benefits of backward design are important for medical education, such as increasing clarity on the sequencing of complex material, ensuring all instructional activities serve a purpose as medical students are busy and have no time to waste, and that the content covered is intentional and is within scope - a common challenge in a field with essentially endless knowledge. I hope you enjoy reviewing this infographic to gain a greater understanding of Backward design.