I’ve had the good fortune of doing several classroom visits recently, and it is always inspiring to see the work my colleagues are doing. A question I often get asked after a classroom visit is about approaches that a professor can study in order to renew or advance their practice.
One of the most well-known approaches is Understanding by Design (UbD), and for good reason. Also known as backward design, the concept is simple (the execution less so!). Following UbD, teachers need will focus on their learning goals first. By the end of a class period, by the end of a unit, or by the end of a semester, we must ask: What do we want students to Know, Understand, and be able to Do? As a simple exercise, a teacher can write a quick KUD for each class meeting to make sure that our students are learning what we want them to learn.
Once you settle on a KUD–for a class meeting, for a unit of study, for an entire course–then you go to step 2 of the process: assessment. Spend time thinking about what types of assessment would really demonstrate that students know what they should know, understand what you want them to understand, and are proficient in whatever skills or habits of mind you want them to walk away with.
Only once we have our goals clear (stage 1), and our assessments clearly aligned with our goals (stage 2), do we move to instruction (stage 3). Here we think about the combination of direct instruction and activities we can do to make sure students are successful on our assessments, thereby also ensuring that they are meeting our learning goals.
What is unique about UbD is the way it breaks us out of the mode of feeling that a class must look a certain way. It also helps us see that assigning books or readings doesn’t necessarily mean that students are meeting our learning goals. In short, UbD frees us to be more experimental with our teaching, because we reconnect with the big picture and the overall purpose of our courses.
UbD practitioners also believe strongly in the ways that a “hook” can be a great way to start a class. A hook is a short five-minute activity that gets students energized and excited for the class ahead. It can be a provocative question, a connection from the class to a current event, or a short video clip related to the topic of the day. Especially in classes where it feels like we are covering a lot of content without a whole lot of time to pause, UbD can be really helpful. It helps us see the big picture, and it reminds us to be strategic about re-motivating and re-engaging our students through hooks and other activities.
Much more can be said on each of these points. I am happy to consult individuals and departments interested in UbD and how it can work in a course or across a curriculum.