One of the key characteristics of Designing Backward is alignment between the learning goals, assessments, and the learning activities. By planning with the goal in mind, you can ensure that the assessments align with the learning goals and every learning activity supports learners as they work towards mastery of the goals and successfully completing the assessments.

It's important to share the learning goals with your learners so that they know where they are headed and what they will achieve by the end of the module, unit or course. This transparency addresses learners' Affective Networks by providing focus and a goal. Learners will see how engaging in each activity will help them to achieve the end goal.

Backward Design Planning Example

Here is an example of Backward Design in action for a writing course.

Step 1: Identify Desired Results

Objective

Students will effectively write for various audiences to help others perform a task.

Step 2: Determine Assessment Evidence

3 writing assignments

A piece of technical writing geared towards a child
A piece of technical writing geared towards a young adult
A piece of technical writing geared towards a person from a different culture

A rubric will identify the characteristics of effective technical writing.

Plan Learning Experience and Instruction

The learning plan for this unit might include:

Information about purposes and types of technical writing
Information about audiences
Examples of effective technical writing for different purposes
Examples of ineffective technical writing for different purposes
Discussion about the characteristics of effective and ineffective technical writing
Drafts and developmental feedback for each piece of technical writing
Student reflections about their writing
Student self-evaluations of their writing

You can see that each item in the learning plan aligns with the learning goal and supports learners as they work toward successful completion of the assessments.

Backward Design

Please view this video interview with Dr. Antonia Jokelova and Dr. Michelle Forte as they discuss the Backward Design planning framework as it applies to online course design (5:27).

Transcript: Backward Design Example

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