Moving Forward Using Backward Course Design: Alignment of Goals, Instruction, and Assessment
Presented by Dr. Cori Fata-Hartley
Thursday, November 19, 2015 11:30 - 1:30
1425 Biomedical Physical Sciences Building
Abstract How will you approach planning or designing
your next course? Many STEM instructors
follow a common path—select a textbook, identify the chapters to be covered,
develop lectures, and finally, create exams.
Instructional design methods such as Backward Design offer a more
deliberate approach to course development. Backward Design (Wiggins and
McTighe, 1988) is a conceptual framework that emphasizes the alignment of
learning goals and objectives, assessments, and instructional activities. In the first stage, instructors develop
specific learning objectives. What are
students expected to know, understand, or be able to do after completing the
course? Next, the instructor must determine
what will serve as acceptable evidence that students have met these objectives
(assessment). It is only after these
first two steps have been completed that the instructor develops materials such
as lectures and assignments that help student to achieve the learning
objectives. By using Backward Design, an instructor must identify curricular
priorities and assessment methods early.
When these priorities have been identified and evaluated, the teacher
may then apply the appropriate resources and time to the most important
concepts and ideas. Workshop
participants will be introduced to the principles of Backward Design and will
have the opportunity to apply those principles to their own classes.
Cori Fata-Hartley
is Assistant Dean for Curriculum Coordination in the College of Natural
Science. She completed doctoral studies
at the Medical College of Ohio and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Institute
for Molecular Virology at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Fata-Hartley joined MSU in 2005 and held
appointments in Lyman Briggs College and the Department of Microbiology and Molecular
Genetics and served as the Interim Director for Faculty and Instructional
Development in the Office of Faculty and Organizational Development before
being appointed Assistant Dean. Throughout her career she has participated in
fellowships focused on teaching and learning in STEM disciplines including the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Teaching Fellowship, New Generation for
Scientific Teaching Program while a postdoctoral associate at UW-Madison and
the American Society for Microbiology Biology Scholars Program after joining
MSU. Her efforts at MSU have focused on improving STEM teaching and learning
and increasing the retention and academic success for a diverse group of
learners. Fata-Hartley received the 2013
All-University Individual Award for Sustained Effort toward Excellence in
Diversity in recognition of her work to promote and foster inclusive learning
environments at MSU. As Assistant Dean for Curriculum Coordination,
Fata-Hartley plays a lead role in the implementation of the college’s ongoing
Biology Initiative, an effort to improve the educational experience students
pursuing life sciences degrees. She also works with departments and programs
across the college to develop and improve curricula and the connections among
them.
Video of presentation
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