Macro-Design · A design method for any length, from a single session to a full curriculum.

Backward Design (UbD)

Backward Design, from Understanding by Design, plans learning in reverse: first the desired results, then the evidence that shows they were reached, then the learning activities. It prevents activity-driven or coverage-driven design by aligning every activity with a clear outcome.

When to use Backward Design (UbD)

Use it at the start of any design process, especially when a session risks becoming a list of topics or favourite activities.

How Backward Design (UbD) works

Activities are designed backward from your session goal, ensuring every method serves the end outcome.

Phases of Backward Design (UbD)

  1. Desired Results: Decide what participants should understand and be able to do by the end, including the big ideas and essential questions. This is the anchor for every later choice.
  2. Assessment Evidence: Decide what evidence will show that participants reached those results, such as a performance task, a demonstration or an observable behaviour. Define it before planning activities.
  3. Learning Plan: Only then design the activities, input and sequence that prepare participants to produce that evidence. Cut anything that does not serve the desired results.

Key principles

  • Start from the end result
  • Define evidence before activities
  • Align outcomes, assessment and activities
  • Teach for understanding and transfer
  • Avoid coverage for its own sake

Best for

  • Course and curriculum design
  • Workshop planning
  • Education and higher education
  • Aligning stakeholders on outcomes

Considerations

  • Requires clear outcomes up front, which can be hard in emergent or exploratory sessions.
  • Designing good performance evidence takes time.
  • Can feel rigid if outcomes are treated as fixed when the group's needs shift.

Attribution & sources

Developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, 1998

Primary source

Design a session with Backward Design (UbD)

METODIC builds a complete Backward Design (UbD)-based session — methods, timing, worksheets, and facilitator guides — in minutes.

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