Understanding by Design (UbD)
Models for Instructional Design
Understanding by Design
You may have heard someone say they use “backward design” to create courses and curriculum. Understanding by Design, or UbD for short, is a backward design model because the first step is determining where we want to end up.
UbD begins with the end in mind, carefully planning and describing specific outcomes for both the lesson unit and the overall curriculum program, The term “understanding” refers to what each learner will understand after completing the learning experiences and related activities. These “understandings” are used by a designer to create open-ended questions that provoke discussion and inquiry that will result in deep learning.
Educators McTighe and Wiggins created a template that teachers and curriculum coordinators can use to walk-through creation of a lesson plan. Using a prescribed scenario from my Design Models graduate course, I have completed a lesson design using this template to illustrate its use. You’ll find an image of it pasted below:
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