Backward Design

According to Smith and Ragan (2008) “Instructional Design is a process in which many items of materials are developed, designed, and delivered” (Smith and Ragan 2008). Instructional design has given me information on strategies to develop effective lesson plans in which will support my students to be fully engaged with the activities provided in a classroom environment. Instructional design also supports ideas on planning lessons for students with diverse and cultural needs for all learners. The eight learning outcome supported ideas for my students to become more familiar with integrating technology in class with their peers in which supported a diverse environment. While incorporating technology into my activities strategies of

Setting Instructional Direction. My interest in Instructional Design began during my first year of teaching when I had poor classroom management skills and looked for solutions to managing a disruptive classroom. I learned that I was in charge of my classroom, the kids’ behavior was up to me, and the easiest way to have a smooth classroom was to design lessons that did not allow for off-task behavior and to deliver those lessons with strong instructional strategies. Because it was up to me to engage my students in their own learning, I had to find instructional strategies that worked for my kids, and I’ve spent the past 18 years continuing to do so. The result has been my passion for teaching and learning.

This “hidden curriculum” of teaching is on-going and essential to the learning process. We are always modeling, teaching, guiding, fostering, probing, and inspiring learning! Additionally, educators assume the responsibility for empowering students to become deeper thinkers and stakeholders in their own learning. We acknowledge that curriculum is much more than factual regurgitation of knowledge, yielding only lower level thinking skills. The complex job market will be filled by employers looking for individuals who can provide both an analytical interpretation of information and the demonstrate the ability to be results driven.

The practice of world design is permanently being challenged to practice its conceptualization of educational course designs, especially for web-based affordances, to release designers to new processes that more align with the modern use of communication devices and networks. Suggest that the time has come for ID to

When it comes down to learning and a grade, most students care about the grade more than actually comprehending information,which gives students a false interpretation of how things work.“After all, there are no Cliff Notes in the business world.”

Backward design is focused on setting goals before choosing any teaching methods and assessment tools. There are three stages of backward design: stage one is to identify desired results (what should the students know and understand, and should be able to do), stage two is to determine acceptable evidence (how do teachers know the students have achieved the desired results) and, stage three is to plan learning experience and instructions. This design requires teacher to plan with a clear understanding of the end goal/destination.

Reigeluth, C. M. (1999). The elaboration theory: Guidance for scope and sequence decisions. In C. M. Reigeluth (Ed.), Instructional design theories and models: A new paradigm of instructional theory (Vol. II, pp. 425-453). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence

Everyday, teachers are faced with the challenge of teaching students new information that is valuable to their future. Teachers are responsible to determine what and how information is taught. How this information is taught to students is pertinent to their success; therefore, teachers must be able to use effective teaching methods in the classroom. Students have diverse learning styles; therefore, teachers need to determine how students learn best and pattern their teaching to accommodate these differences. During elementary school, children learn to read and write, acquire a basic understanding of content areas, and develop dispositions toward

The foundations of instruction and theories were implemented in earlier times, and the efforts of educational psychologists were used to develop a connection between psychology and to make applications of learning theories in classrooms. Two of the theorists from this time were John Dewey (1910), who developed a connection between learning theory and educational practice, and Edward Thorndike (1913), who explored the principles of learning that were used directly with the teaching process (Tennyson, R. D. (2010, p. 1). Thorndike (1913) developed the body of instructional design principles with task analysis and teaching methods as a result of his research outcomes and evaluation methods.

As a Lead Instructional Designer at Pearson, I have been thoroughly enjoying various collaborations with university program leaders and building fruitful relationships with positive outcomes and great rapport. I love being a liaison between the university and our rotating instructional design team. This experience has proven to me that I thrive in the place of fostering creative designs, innovating new work processes, organizing complex ideas into simple structures, and encouraging people I meet with great respect and friendly support.

The majority of my teaching career has been spent a public school that firmly believes in Jay McTighe’s backwards design model. At the beginning of the school year, my colleagues and I would explore our content standards, determine power standards, and create essential questions that would drive our units. We would plan our lesson around the skill students should know at the end of the unit and plan assessments that would test students’ knowledge. There was never any discussion on how we would differentiate these lessons for students. One thing that I have learned from Carol Ann Tomlinson and Jay McTighe is that differentiation and backwards design should work in tandem to provide “powerful knowledge that works for each student” (Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006, p. 3). In a conversation with both experts I would discuss the learning I have gained as a result of studying their work.

After examining the Understanding by Design framework by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, I have learned how to develop a unit by working backwards. The development of a unit is multi-layered in its focus on curriculum, instruction, and assessment. In planning I need to first assess what the big ideas are that I want my students to learn and why they are so important. In our study of Mesopotamia, we look at how our world began with the first civilization and the achievements that led to advances throughout history. The big ideas framed as understandings that I want my students to know are that the locations of civilizations and city-states in relation to specific landforms affects development and technology achievements can benefit society in a variety of areas. Then I look at what essential questions are raised and what I want students to know and be able to do. The framework looks to deepen student understanding and transfer that understanding of knowledge and skill into a performance task and other evidence of formative and summative assessments.

Instructional Design explain as “a systematic process that is employed to develop education and training programs in a consistent and reliable fashion”. Likewise, it might be considered a system for creating modules or lessons that build and improve the likelihood of learning, makes the obtaining of information and aptitude more effective, successful, and engaging, energizes the engagement of learners so they learn quicker and addition deeper levels of comprehension.

The process to become an effective teacher passes through knowing how to develop a course syllabus, while placing my students at the center. As a future instructor at a university, I have to think through what makes class interesting, clear, and understood by the students. My primary concern and focus are my students. After reading through most of this week’s assigned topics and carrying out my research on the internet and the Walden library, I am convinced that as a future instructor my approach, theories of teaching, and those who I will teach are the core when preparing a course description.

Designing learning is one of the most decisive phases in the life cycle of a course or learning unit. The main idea behind this phase is to maximize the probability of developing good quality learning/instruction. This requires accurate description of all components on which is based the educational process and whose interaction contributes to achieving the educational purpose of the unit. These components include roles, educational resources, learning environment, activities involved in the educational process, and all elements and factors that determine the success of the teaching / learning process. Usually it is up to the teacher, instructional designer, or generally teacher-designer to describe the learning unit before or after its actual course.