Help Students Navigate your Courses and

Programs with Backward Design

Massachusetts PKAL Regional Network

2018 Winter MeetingThomas P. Kling

January 10, 2018

Session Objectives

•Backward Design: What Is It?•Apply Backward Design to a course

• Identify how a course fits into the arc of a student’s progression • Identify “pressure points” in meeting course learning outcomes

•Apply Backward Design to a Program

Student Success FrameworkBackward Design as an application of Inclusive Excellence

Our goals in higher education . . .

Approaches based on Equality

Approaches based on Equity

Backwards Design with Scaffolding:an equity based approach

Backward Design Applications

• An entire program• A single course• A single assignment

. . . all three

Course Level ConsiderationsLooking at how the end of a class influences the middle and the beginning.

Identify Role of the Course◦ Consider a single course where students’ learning is not what you want it to be. Ask:◦ Where is this a course in the student’s curriculum? How does it

stand in relation to other courses, as a foundation, middle or capstone experience?◦ What are the skills or ways of thinking developed in this

course, and how do those relate to a student’s development?◦ Given your course’s placement and the entry level of your

students, how does that impact your thinking about outcomes and assignments?

Course “Pressure Points”◦ Consider a single course where students’ learning is not what you want it to be. Ask:◦ In my experience, which learning outcome or objective do

students struggle with the most?◦ How have I asked students to demonstrate of mastery of this

outcome?◦ Given my course placement, and the pressure points in the

course, what will I do to enable their success?

Principles of Backward Design� Backward Design translates instructor’s

knowledge into course-level effectiveness.

� Look at the final end-point, and determine what students need to learn to get there.

� The quality of our assignments determines our effectiveness.

� Scaffold assignments to build student competency.

Backward Design

Fundamentally requires some changes in

� Technique

� Underlying Philosophy

Outcomes Pressure Points Redux

� Consider the outcomes you identified earlier.

Ask:◦ Where are my students taught these skills?◦ If in a previous class, what refreshers do they need?◦ If in my class, how to I integrate that skill and make its

use explicit in my assignments/class?◦ If they really aren’t taught it anywhere, why not? And

how do I add it to my assignments/class?

Reflection and Discussion

� With a partner, review/discuss the outcomes & pressure points you’ve identified in your course and the assignments you currently use to measure mastery.

� What strategies/revisions can you use to strengthen those outcomes?

Program Level ConsiderationsLooking at how classes fit together to meet overall objectives.

Program ObjectivesConsider your primary program in which you are involved. Ask:

◦ What are the primary objectives of my program?

or,

◦ What are the things students who graduate from my program are expected to know, or be able to do?

Program “Pressure Points”For you program, ask:

◦ In my experience, which objective do students struggle with the most?◦ How are students asked to demonstrate of mastery of this

outcome?◦ Where in the program is this objective addressed?

The critical question:

◦ If the problem is that one course isn’t doing its job, is the issue with that one course, or with some sequence culminating in that course?

Reflection and Discussion

� With a partner, review/discuss the outcomes & pressure points you’ve identified in your program, the courses where these are addressed, and the ways you currently measure mastery.

� At what level, or in what sequence can you best intervene?

� What strategies/revisions can you use to strengthen your program?

Further Reading

� Bean, John C. Engaging Ideas. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001.

� Wiggins, G., & J. McTighe. Understanding by Design. Expanded 2nd edition. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2005. Web site: http://www.ascd.org.

� Nilson, Linda B. Teaching at Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors. Third edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010.