Implementation of The Backward Design (BD) to Support and Guide Curriculum Decisions

Backward design 

Backward design is a planning framework that focuses on facilitating effective instruction by designing a more goal-focused framework. It prepares you to meet your objectives (Washington State University, 2019). Besides, BD helps clarify the course and what students will learn and be able to do. It is a method that enables the plan to be much more purposeful and sufficient. The goal is to support a learning experience that assigns learners to their life mission and goals.

The three-step process

BD requires 

1. Identify desired results, specifying the expected outcomes.
2. Determine acceptable evidence and appoint adequate proof of achieved developments. 
3. Plan learning experiences, instruction, and resources. It also supports teaching and resources to reach the learning outcomes (Washington State University, 2019).

Identifying the Heart of the Issue As Designing a "Content-Centred" Course

A content-centred course. It starts with a list of subjects and performs through them while concentrating on coverage throughout the course. On the other hand, a learning-centred course starts with responding to what can and should students learn about this subject? It then moves forward to organizing activities, assessments, and content presentations to support that learning. Further, by starting from a learning-centred approach, it is easier to prioritize the content-oriented learning outcomes into three groups: the critical, the important-but-not-critical, and the good-to-know (Fink, 2013).

Prioritizing makes us see a structure emerging that may not be in the same order or with the same emphasis as before. Asking questions like the following can help sort and prioritize:

• What to include for students to have the required knowledge and skills to continue in the discipline?
• Either to include it only because it is in the textbook or not?
• What to include in the course as central to the discipline?
• If to include materials because the person who taught this course before included them? 

Educational Innovation at UW-Madison: The "Backward Design" Framework

"Liberal education, on the other hand, focuses on a two-pronged approach exposing students to broad knowledge of many disciplines as well as deep knowledge within a particular field of study, with the intention of developing flexible communication, intellectual, and decision- making skills" (Michael & Libarkin, 2016, p44). 

Characteristics of Effective Learning

(Amer,2022).

References

Amer, R. (2022). Characteristics of Effective Learning.

Brown, P. C., Roediger, H. L., & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Learning is misunderstood. In Make it stick (pp. 1-22). Cambridge, MA: Belknap.

Donovan, M. S., Bransford, J. D., & Pellegrino, J. W. (2002). Key findings. In How people learn: Bridging research & practice (pp. 10-24). National Academy Press.

Fink, L. Dee (2013) "The Current Status of Faculty Development Internationally," International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 7(2), Article 4. Available at: https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2013.070204

Michael, N.A. & Libarkin, J.C.. (2016). Understanding by design: Mentored implementation of backward design methodology at the university level. Bioscene, 42(2). 44-52.

Washington State University. (September 6, 2019). Backward Design: A Planning Framework. Academic. Outreach and Innovation | Learning Innovations.