Understanding by Design (UbD)

OVERVIEW

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Big Idea #1 

• Teaching for understanding and transfer

Big Idea #2​

• Backward design

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• Begin with the end in mind! 

• Developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

• Known for its emphasis on achieving deep understanding and meaningful learning outcomes

• Widely used in the field of education to design curriculum, courses, and instructional materials that promote a student-centered approach to learning.

• Ensures that the curriculum and instruction are aligned with clear learning objectives.

• Emphasizes the importance of essential questions which are thought-provoking and open-ended queries that stimulate inquiry, critical thinking, and exploration. These questions guide the learning process and help students make connections between different pieces of knowledge.

• Considers the broader goals of education, the transferability of knowledge and skills to real-world contexts, and the cultivation of a deep and lasting understanding of key concepts​​

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Seven Tenets of UbD Framework - see inforgraphic to the left.

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STAGES

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#1  Identify the Desired Results (Outcomes) or understandings, knowledge, and essential skills students should acquire by the end of the learning experience. These overarching learning outcomes are referred to as "enduring understandings."

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#2  Determine Acceptable Evidence (Assessment) Next, they develop assessments and performance tasks that authentically measure whether students have achieved these outcomes.

#3  Plan Learning Experiences (Activities)  Finally, educators plan and create the instructional activities and materials to guide students toward those desired understandings and skills. 

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STRENGTHS

• Emphasis on Learning Outcomes: This will work in my mini-course's favor since the learning outcome will be manifested in the production of a short documentary video or audio story.

• Backward Design: Each lesson and activity in the course should directly contribute to the uptake of skills that support the learning outcome. There is a great deal of knowledge to acquire for students to success so there is no time to be wasted on gratuitous or frivolous activities.

• Focus on Understanding: I would like to implement activities that allow students to demonstrate to themselves and their peers their level of understanding of each required skill.

• Flexibility and Adaptability: This aspect could be beneficial to my mini-course, which is a bit atypical. I can tailor the model to adapt to teaching both in-person and for students who will be attending on Zoom only. 

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WEAKNESSES

• Complexity: This will require extra work on my end but I do believe that in the end, the effort will make the coursemore successful for the students.

• Resource-Intensive: This could be an issue since it requires access to various resources, including time, professional development, and educational materials. 

• Limited Guidance on Specific Strategies: Because of the limited guidance on specific instructional strategies and methods, if I were to actually implement this mini-course, I may need support in translating the framework into practical classroom strategies.

• Assessment Challenges: I hope that the students' final video and audio documetary will serve as a tell-all assessment, but I anticipate that there will be several layers of understanding and transferability that will not be demostated in the final project. ​​​​

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