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Teaching guide · Course design
Start with backward design
Plan your course from outcomes, not from the materials you happen to have.
It is tempting to plan a course by gathering materials: last term’s slides, the readings, a few activities. A course built that way answers the question “what will we cover?” The question that serves students is “what should they be able to do by the end?”
Backward design, from Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, plans in the reverse of how a course is delivered. Three questions, always in this order: where are students going, which is your outcomes; how will you know they arrived, which is the evidence; and what gets them there, which is the activities and materials. Content comes last, on purpose, so everything in the course earns its place by serving an outcome.
| 1. Outcome | Students can evaluate the credibility of a source. |
| 2. Evidence | A short source audit graded with a rubric. |
| 3. Activities | A reading, a brief demonstration, and practice that build toward the audit. |