Backward Design for
Course Development
Wiggins, G & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by Design.
Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development. (and their handbook)

How do you know that they know?
They just did it!
-Jane Vella

Understanding
• What’s the difference between knowledge
and understanding?

Understanding
Occurs when
“students are able to take information and
skills . . . and apply them flexibly and
appropriately in a new and at least
somewhat unanticipated situation”
-Howard Gardner

6 Facets
of Understanding Explanation
Self-
Knowledge Interpretation
Empathy Application
Perspective

Explanation
Definition:
Sophisticated and apt explanations and
theories, which provide knowledgeable and
justified accounts of events, actions, and
ideas (p. 12)
When do you recognize this?

Understanding something
“is to see it in its relations to other things: to
note how it operates or functions, what
consequences follow from it, what causes it”
-John Dewey
(as quoted in
Wiggins & McTIghe, p. 12)

In Assessment
Have students:
• Explain, not simply recall
• Link specific facts with larger ideas and justify
the connections;
• Show their work, not just give an answer
• Support their conclusions
(p. 13)

Interpretation
Definition
Interpretations, narratives, and translations
that provide meaning
What might this look like?

Interpretation
Building a narrative
Students
“learn to build stories and interpretations,
not just passively take in official ones. They
need to see how knowledge is built ‘from
the inside’.”
(p. 17)

Application
Definition
The ability to use knowledge effectively in
new situations and diverse contexts
What might this look like?

Application
Emphasize
• Performance-based learning (based in)
• Authentic tasks
• Only supplemented by more conventional
tests

Perspective
Definition:
Critical and insightful points of view
(but not the student’s own point of view)
Instead an understanding that complex
questions involve multiple points of view –
many which are plausible

Perspective
Big Ideas!
Give opportunities for students to
• Confront alternative theories
• Diverse points of view
Big questions… (such as?)

Perspective questions
• From whose point of
view? • What is justified or
• From which vantage warranted?
point? • Is it reasonable?
• What is assumed or • What are the strengths
tacit that needs to be and weaknesses of the
made explicit and idea?
considered? • Is it plausible?
• Is there adequate • What are its limits?
evidence?

Keep asking:
What?
So what?
Now what?

Empathy
Definition
The ability to get inside another person’s
feelings and worldview
Imagination (how?)

Empathy
• How does it seem to you?
• What do they see that I don’t?
• What do I need to experience if I am to
understand?
• What was the artist or performer feeling, seeing,
and trying to make me feel and see?
Experiential
(p. 22)

Self-Knowledge
Definition
The wisdom to know one’s ignorance and how
one’s patterns of thought and action inform
as well as prejudice understanding.
“An immature mind is not merely ignorant or
unskilled but unreflective.”
(p. 26)

Self-knowledge
Metacognition
Thinking about thinking – and through it we
“seek and find the inevitable blind spots,
prejudices, or oversights in our thinking.” (p. 27)

Self-knowledge
• How does who I am shape my views?
• What are the limits of my understanding?
• What are my blind spots?
• What am I prone to misunderstand because
of prejudice, habit, or style?

Backward Design
Traditional Backward Design
• Goals & objectives • Goals & objectives
• Activities • Assessments
• Assessments • Activities

Backward Design Process
1. Identify desired results
2. Determine acceptable
evidence
3. Plan learning experiences
and instruction

Identify desired results
• Look at the course goals and make choices
• Consider the important ideas or core
processes that are transferrable to new
situations
“Five years from now….”

Identify Desired Results
• What is important for students to be
able to do, know, or perform?
• What enduring understandings are
needed?
• What are the essential questions?

Essential Questions
• Overarching
– transcend the particulars of a unit and point
toward larger, transferable ideas
• Topical
– more specific
– lead to particular understandings related to the
topics of this unit, key inferences and
generalizations

Examples: Overarching
• Should the desire for economic productivity drive
society’s adult education curriculum?
• Should the focus of adult learning be on the needs
of the individual or on the needs of society?
– Who should decide/influence this?
• Do “we” have an obligation to provide life-long
learning?(and how do you define “we”?) What
benefits are there to society in providing life-long
learning?

Examples: Overarching
• What should be the overall aim or role of
adult learning in society today?
• In what ways is your social and cultural
context influencing the ways in which you
think of yourself as a learner, in what you
learn, and how you learn?
• How do these influences get reflected in
formal learning environments for adults?

Examples: Topical
Consider your own motivation to learn
• To what extent does your own experience
reflect these research findings?
• How does it differ from what we’ve read or
discussed?
• How might you account for these
differences?

Think about the meaning of learning
so far in your own life.
• How have the events of your life led you to or away
from learning?
• How have your learning needs changed as you
progressed through life?
• How have life events affected your motivation to
engage in learning?
• Consider McClusky’s Theory of Margin – identify
where you were in the margin at different times
–Where are you now?

Examples: Topical
Reflection:
What have you learned about the nature of
adult learning? About yourself as an adult
learner?

Determine acceptable evidence
How will we know that they know?
• “Think about your course in terms of the
assessment evidence needed to validate that
the desired learning has been achieved
– so that the course is not simply content to be
covered or a series of learning activities”
– (p. 39)

Determine acceptable evidence
• How will enduring understanding be
measured?
• How will assessments vary?
– Both formal and informal
– Scope
– Time frame
– Setting
– Structure

Begin with assessment
• Authentic tasks / Problem based learning
• More traditional approaches (quizzes, tests,
etc) to supplement when appropriate
– to evaluate knowledge and skill levels
• Self-assessment
• Peer assessment

Plan learning experiences and instruction
• What enabling knowledge (facts, concepts, and
principles) and skills (procedures) will students need to
perform effectively and achieve desired results?
• What activities will equip students with the needed
knowledge and skills?
• What will need to be taught and coached, and how
should it best be taught, in light of performance goals?
• What materials and resources are best suited to
accomplish these goals?
• Is the overall design coherent and effective?

WHERE do you focus?
• Where the work is headed
• Hook students with engaging works (key ideas)
• Explore the subject in depth (equip & experience)
• Rethink with students the big ideas (research,
revise)
• Evaluate and develop action plans through self-
assessment

• Packets
• Questions
• Reference:
Wiggins, G & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by
Design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision
and Curriculum Development.
(and their handbook)