MBECTEStarting New Courses

Starting From The Bottom

There are a lot of ways to start designing a course, whether you're building it from scratch or renovating a course passed down to you. How do we make sure we're actually making learning simpler for all students?

Backwards Design starts with the end goal in mind– determining exactly what you want your learners to achieve before you even begin designing the course.

Editor in Chief of Cult of Pedagogy, Jennifer Gonzalez

"In their book Understanding by Design, which was originally published in 1998, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe introduced us to backward design, an approach to instructional planning that starts with the end goal, then works backward from there. The “full” version of Wiggins and McTighe’s original approach is pretty complex and can be time-consuming to implement. If you’re ready for that, I recommend digging into their book. For now, though, I’m just going to share the most basic version of backward design.

Here are the steps:

Step 1: Identify what students should know and be able to do by the end of the learning cycle.

Step 2: Create an assessment to measure that learning.

Step 3: Plan a sequence of lessons that will prepare students to successfully complete the assessment.

The difference in order is significant: Plan the assessment first, then plan only lessons that will contribute to student success on that assessment."

– Jennifer Gonzalez, Cult of Pedagogy

Remember, an accessible class must be:

Perceivable: Learners can see, hear, & otherwise sense all of the content available.
Operable: Learners can navigate the course easily on any device they may use.
Understandable: Learners can logically work their way through the content.
Robust: Learners using assistive tech tools can still use all of the content.
Pedagogically Sound: Learners are appropriately guided through learning objectives toward course outcomes.
Supportive: Learners are directed to appropriate learning/campus resources as needed.

(Constructed with consideration of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) standards.)

If we start with these principles in mind when we begin building or overhauling a course, we'll be far more successful in creating something accessible from top to bottom!

Draft out your course using the Alignment Grid to get started.

Want to learn more?

Check out Wiggens and McTighe's book, Understanding By Design, available from the Marriott Library.

Bloom's Taxonomy

Bloom's Taxonomy is a series of 3 models (Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor) that are used to divide learning objectives into separate levels of complexity and specificity. It provides a structured approach to learning that ensures learners grasp the basics, but also challenges students to engage in higher-order thinking, critical analysis, and creative problem-solving.

Bloom's Taxonomy from broadest to most specific: Remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create. Longer description is available in the links available on the Starting New Courses page.

Want to learn more?

Fink's taxonomy

Fink's Taxonomy is another wonderful learning taxonomy that focuses on more than just the cognitive levels of learning. In addition to knowledge and application levels, it includes integration, human dimension, caring, and learning how to learn levels. You may prefer this taxonomy over Bloom's (like me!), particularly if some of these less cognitive types of learning are particularly important in your own field.

Fink's Taxonomy: Foundational Knowledge, Application, Integration, Human Dimension, Caring, and Learning How To Learn. Longer description is available in the links available on the Starting New Courses page.

Want to learn more?

Learning outcomes & Objectives

The journey to effective learning begins with a single, powerful step: defining learning outcomes and objectives. They are the foundation of the Backwards Design process, and key to creating successful and purposeful learning experiences. What's the difference, and how do we use them?

The terms learning outcomes and learning objectives are often used interchangeably; however, objectives and outcomes are not the same!

Outcomes

Overarching goals that describe the attitudes, knowledge, and skills that learners are expected to gain throughout the course or program. 3-8 outcomes per course is a great benchmark.

Outcomes should be:

Stated clearly in the syllabus and made visible to students.
Be represented at the unit level, as well as lesson level via objectives.
Align to the teaching/learning activities and assessments.
Drive how the course at large is designed and taught.
Be measurable indicators of student learning across the course and multiple learning activities.
Address multiple levels of learning (in reference to Bloom's and/or Fink's taxonomies).

Objectives

Specific statements of attitudes, knowledge, and skills to be mastered in a given lesson, ultimately aligned with the course learning outcomes. 3-8 objectives per unit/lesson is a great benchmark.

Objectives should be:

Stated clearly alongside each activity and assessment throughout a course.
Represent the course outcomes via concrete, measurable actions.
Align to the teaching/learning activities and assessments.
Drive how activities and assessments are designed and taught.
Concise and measurable within a specific activity.
Address multiple levels of learning (in reference to Bloom's and/or Fink's taxonomies).

Quality outcomes and objectives are written with 4 distinct parts in mind:

Audience: Who are you expecting to do this?
Action: What is the measurable, observable behavior you're looking for? Use an action verb tied to Bloom's or Fink's taxonomies.
Context: When and/or how is someone expected to demonstrate this behavior?
Achievement: What exactly does success look like? If your discipline uses explicit standards, this may include the standard you are aiming to cover.

When [Audience] have completed [Context],
they will be able to [Action] and indicate this by [Achievement].

SMART Goals

The SMART goal structure is a great way to start brainstorming about objectives and outcomes:

Specific: What exactly are you expecting learners to do?
Measurable: How do you plan to measure this?
Achievable: Is this something that is actually possible based on the skills your students already have and the content you have provided?
Relevant: How is this skill actually relevant to the course and/or discipline?
Time-Based: Is this something that can be achieved in the timeframe available?

To-Do for 'U'

We rarely have an opportunity to follow up with our students after they complete our courses. But what would happen if we had an opportunity to sit down and talk with them about their educational experiences?

L.D. Fink wrote about the Dream Exercise in Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College CoursesLinks to an external site.. The Dream Exercise is a great way to jumpstart your thinking about how you want your course to be structured.

Try It!

Describe the course you are developing.
What do you want your learners to know, feel, and do after completing your course?
What would distinguish students who have taken this course or instruction from students who have not?
Condense your answers for the above questions into one statement to guide your course development.