EDT 8120 - Instructional Design for Digital Learning
WELCOME!
Most college-level educators are thrown into the role of instructor without any formal training on how to teach, much less design course curricula. As a result, professors tend to do for the students what their professors did to them - Teach, Test, and Hope for the best. However, research has shown there are good and bad ways to design a course and develop activities for learning.
Understanding by Design
This series of web pages will teach you how to design unit and course materials in a way that aligns them with the objectives of the course and your expectations for the students' performance. Once the Big Question upon which the course centers is defined, subsequent aspects of the course can be formulated to support the students' understanding of this Big Question. We will use the Understanding by Design approach developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe (2011). This is sometimes referred to as "backward design", as it often begins with defining the learning objectives rather than the classroom lectures and other activities.
Most college-level educators are thrown into the role of instructor without any formal training on how to teach, much less design course curricula. As a result, professors tend to do for the students what their professors did to them - Teach, Test, and Hope for the best. However, research has shown there are good and bad ways to design a course and develop activities for learning.
Understanding by Design
This series of web pages will teach you how to design unit and course materials in a way that aligns them with the objectives of the course and your expectations for the students' performance. Once the Big Question upon which the course centers is defined, subsequent aspects of the course can be formulated to support the students' understanding of this Big Question. We will use the Understanding by Design approach developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe (2011). This is sometimes referred to as "backward design", as it often begins with defining the learning objectives rather than the classroom lectures and other activities.
Start here
Each section of this web site provides instruction on designing one of the three stages of the UbD template.
Each section of this web site provides instruction on designing one of the three stages of the UbD template.
- Stage #1 - Identifying the Desired Results
- Stage #2 - Determining Acceptable Evidence
- Stage #3 - Planning Learning Experiences
Instructor information
My name is Jim Olson. I'm a neuroscientist and educator at a large university. I have had over thirty years of experience in course design and lecture development. However, most of my training has been acquired through trial and error. For this reason, I am excited to share this method of course development with you and hope you will find it helpful.
My name is Jim Olson. I'm a neuroscientist and educator at a large university. I have had over thirty years of experience in course design and lecture development. However, most of my training has been acquired through trial and error. For this reason, I am excited to share this method of course development with you and hope you will find it helpful.
References
Wiggins, G. and McTighe, J. (2011) The understanding by design guide to creating high-quality units. Alexandria, Virginia, ASCD.
Wiggins, G. and McTighe, J. (2011) The understanding by design guide to creating high-quality units. Alexandria, Virginia, ASCD.