The Understanding by Design (UbD) Process of instruction is created with academic instruction in mind. In education, standards lead instruction in the classroom. To assist educators in delivering instruction effectively, Wiggins and McTighe designed the UbD process. UbD focuses learning on the "big ideas" and the core processes of the content standards. It prioritizes content to be taught to students.
This process is created with the end results in mind and uses the term called backward design to, then, plan instruction. Backward Design consists of three stages:
This process is created with the end results in mind and uses the term called backward design to, then, plan instruction. Backward Design consists of three stages:
- Identify desired results. (Q: What do you want students to remember?) This is the "enduring understanding" of the lesson, or what students will understand even after the lesson is over. In this stage the educator develops the essential questions which will lead the lesson.
- Determine Acceptable Evidence. (Q: How will you know whether students have learned the information?) This is where assessment is created. The educator decides how the students' understanding will be assessed. There are three types of assessment which Wiggins and McTighe defines: (1) Performance-Assessment (what can the student do?), (2) Criterion Referenced instruction (quizzes) and (3) Unprompted and self-assessment (observations and dialogue)
- Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction (Q: What activities, sequence, and resources will help reach these goals?) In this stage the sequence of the lesson is developed to deliver instruction.
Six Facets of Understanding
Q: How do we assess student understanding? Wiggins and McTighe noted that assessing student understanding is a challenging process. To better understand this process Wiggins and McTighe proposed that understanding is displayed through six facets.
- Explain - "put in your own words"
- Interpret - make concepts meaningful.
- Apply - Transfer what you know into a new situation
- Perspective - See the big picture or see different points of views
- Empathy - Listen to different points of views
- Self-knowledge - Understand how you view the concept
- These are indicators which assist educators in creating assessment that show students understanding of concepts learned.
Web Resources
- UbD Exchange Website (http://ubdexchange.org): Contains thousands of examples of unit designs in UbD format. and Weblinks to assist educators in finding big ideas, essential questions, performance assessment tasks, and rubrics
- Association for Supervision and CurriculumDevelopment (ASCD)Website for Understanding by Design Publishers of the book by Wiggins and McTighe, this site provides more information about the UbD process. Literature about
Literature on UbD
- Tomlinson, C. A., McTighe, J. (2006). Integrating differentiated instruction and understanding by design. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Alexandria, VA.
- Wiggins, G., McTighe, J. (2004). Understanding by Design. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Alexandria, VA.
Understanding by Design Response Blog
This blog is developed by Salynn Kam and Jayneen Souza to display our thoughts about the UbD model.
Site materials compiled for Educational Purposes by Salynn Kam and Jayneen Souza
University of Hawaii at Manoa, College of Education, Master of Education in Educational Technology
ETEC 600
2010
University of Hawaii at Manoa, College of Education, Master of Education in Educational Technology
ETEC 600
2010