Understanding Backward Design

Backward design, also called backward planning or backward mapping, is a process that educators use to design learning experiences and instructional techniques to achieve specific learning goals. Backward design begins with the objectives of a unit or course—what students are expected to learn and be able to do—and then proceeds “backward” to create lessons that achieve those desired goals. In most public schools, the educational goals of a course or unit will be a given state’s learning standards—i.e., concise, written descriptions of what students are expected to know and be able to do at a specific stage of their education.

Selected References

Mills, J., Wiley, C., & Williams, J. (2019). " This Is What Learning Looks Like!": Backward Design and the Framework in First Year Writing. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 19(1), 155-175.

Condrat, V. (2018). Backward design: when a good ending makes a good beginning. Inspiring Professional Excellence in Teaching Languages, 64-75.