Peter Newbury Center for Teaching Development UC San Diego David Gross Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology UMass, Amherst 13 February 2015 collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu cirtl.net

1. The College Classroom – Spring 2015
Class Meeting 3: Backward Design
Dave Gross
dgross@
biochem.umass.edu
Thursday, February 12, 2015
1:00-2:30p ET, 12:00-1:30p CT, 11:00a-12:30p MT, 10:00-11:30a PT
Peter Newbury
pnewbury@ucsd.edu
@polarisdotca

2. Think about a research project. Which
of the following would you do first in
your project?
Backward Design –The College Classroom2
A) Dig into the literature
B) Obtain funding
C) Plan an experiment
D) Take some data
E) Write out objectives

3. Think about a course. Which of the
following would you do first to design
your course?
Backward Design –The College Classroom3
A) Create exam questions
B) Order a textbook
C) Prepare Powerpoints
D) Write lecture notes
E) Write the syllabus

4. Objectives for Today
Backward Design –The College Classroom4
By the end of today’s session you will be able to
 explain backward design to a colleague
 assess the Bloom’s level of an exam question
 create appropriate learning goals and objectives for
a course or course element

5. Backward Design –The College Classroom5
Understanding By Design
Wiggins & McTighe, 1998
Backward Design
 What do I want students to know?
 How will I determine if they know it?
 What will I do to get them the information?

6. Backward Design –The College Classroom6
Understanding By Design
Wiggins & McTighe, 1998
Backward Design
1. What do I want students to know?
2. How will I determine if they know it?
3. What will I do to get them the information?
1. Learning goals
2. Learning outcomes and assessment
3. Activities and exercises

7. Backward Design –The College Classroom7
Standard course planning
Choose textbook

Create syllabus

Write/revise lectures, notes

Prepare PowerPoint presentations

Write exams
Instructor-centered

8. Backward Design –The College Classroom8
Standard course planning vs Backward design
Choose textbook

Create syllabus

Write/revise lectures, notes

Prepare PowerPoint presentations

Write exams
Formulate broad learning goals

Set specific learning objectives

Design assessments
(formative and summative)

Develop learning activities
(lectures, homework, other)
Instructor-centered Student-centered

9. Team activity: designing backwardly
9
Go to your team room and work on the following exercise:
From the list below, lay out the chronological order for the
listed design elements based on backward design
principles.
 Choose a textbook
 Create and active learning exercise
 Order clickers for the course
 Pick a topic for the course
 Write an exam question
 Write the course syllabus
Take 9 minutes to
do this. Decide who
will be the team
spokesperson.
Remember your
room number!
Backward Design –The College Classroom

10. Objectives for Today
Backward Design –The College Classroom10
By the end of today’s session you will be able to
 explain backward design to a colleague
 assess the Bloom’s level of an exam question
 create appropriate learning goals and objectives for
a course or course element

11. Team activity: Three syllabi
11
You should be familiar with the three syllabi that were
posted for today’s session. Go back to your team room and
discuss the differences you see among these syllabi. Do you
find evidence of backward design in the changes?
Take 9 minutes to do
this. Decide who the
new spokesperson
will be for the team.
Backward Design –The College Classroom

12. Backward Design –The College Classroom12
Standard course planning vs Backward design
Choose textbook

Create syllabus

Write/revise lectures, notes

Prepare PowerPoint presentations

Write exams
Formulate broad learning goals

Set specific learning objectives

Design assessments
(formative and summative)

Develop learning activities
(lectures, homework, other)
Instructor-centered Student-centered

13. Blooming the questions
13
Bloom’sTaxonomy
Rose(ImagebyMehdizeynalionWikimedia
commonsCCBY-SA3.0)
Backward Design –The College Classroom

14. Bloom’s Levels of Understanding:
Action verbs
14
6. Evaluation: think critically about and defend a position
Judge, Justify, Defend, Criticize, Evaluate
5. Synthesis: transform, combine ideas to create something new
Develop, Create, Propose, Design, Invent
4. Analysis: break down concepts into parts
Compare, Contrast, Distinguish
3. Application: apply comprehension to unfamiliar situations
Apply, Use, Compute, Solve, Predict
2. Comprehension: demonstrate understanding of ideas, concepts
Restate, Explain, Summarize, Interpret, Describe
1. Factual Knowledge: remember and recall factual information
Define, List, State, Name, Cite
Adapted from Allen, D. andTanner, K., Cell
Biol. Educ. 1: 63-67 (2002)Backward Design –The College Classroom

15. Bloom’s Levels of Understanding
Action verbs
15
Expert
Novice
Backward Design –The College Classroom

16. Team activity: Three syllabi
16
Now go back to your room and revisit the three syllabi.
Look for changes that are related to the use of Bloom’s
Taxonomy.
Take 4 minutes to do
this. Decide who the
new spokesperson
will be for the team.
Backward Design –The College Classroom

17. 17 Backward Design –The College Classroom

18. 18
knowledge
framework
retrieval
Backward Design –The College Classroom

19. Team activity: The Garden
19
OK, back to your room again.This time work together to
design Learning Goals and Learning Objectives for your
class on “The Garden”.This isYOUR class, so you need to
figure out what you are doing.
Take 14 minutes to do
this. Decide who the
new spokesperson will
be for the team.
Backward Design –The College Classroom

20. Objectives for Today
Backward Design –The College Classroom20
By the end of today’s session you will be able to
 explain backward design to a colleague
 assess the Bloom’s level of an exam question
 create appropriate learning goals and objectives for
a course or course element

21. Next week: Assessment
Watch the blog for next meeting’s
readings and assignments
collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu
CIRTL Schedule
21 Backward Design –The College Classroom

22. References
22
1. Wiggins, G. and McTighe, J., Understanding by Design, Pearson, Upper Saddle River,
NJ, (2006) ISBN 1-4166-0035-3.
2. Allen, D. andTanner, K., Cell Biol.Educ.1: 63-67 (2002)
Backward Design –The College Classroom