UbD Downloads:       Indicators of Teaching for Understanding by Design

                                                   Put Understanding First - article by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

                                                   UbD Course Design Template  - Dale Marshfield
 

 UbD Links:       1.  Big Ideas      2. Understanding by Design Exchange     

                                    3.  Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)  
 

 What is UbD? 

     Understanding by Design 

• Helps us to design instruction that promotes understanding and student engagement;
• Is a recursive process, not a prescriptive program or instructional model;
• Looks at instructional design from a “results” orientation;
• Provides design tools and templates;
• Provides design standards;
• Targets achievement through a “backward design” process that focuses on assessment first and relevant instructional activities last;
• Challenging professional work that requires self-assessment and reflection concerning classroom practice;
• Is not opposed to content standards or traditional testing and grading;
• Expects us to establish spirals of learning where students use and reconsider ideas and skill – vs. a linear scope and sequence;
• Requires thoughtful reflection upon the use and warrant of knowledge;
• Asks us to think of curriculum in terms of desired “performances of understanding” and then “plan backwards” to identify needed concepts and skills.

          Source:  http://www.sdttl.com/2002/ubd.htm



   Understanding by Design

     Is a framework for designing curriculum, assessments, and instruction that explores questions like: 
         What is teaching for understanding?
         How can you unpack content standards to identify the important big ideas that you want students to understand?
         How do you know that students truly understand and can apply their understanding in a meaningful way?
         How can you design courses and units to emphasize understanding rather than coverage?
         What instructional practices are both engaging and effective for developing student understanding?

     One of the available tools, the Understanding by Design Exchange, is a Web site dedicated to the design of curriculum,
     assessment, and instruction that leads students to deep understanding of content. In the Exchange, you can

• Use the backward design template to create units.
• Search hundreds of units created by other participants.
• Integrate state and provincial standards to your unit design.
• Receive feedback from an expert about your unit.
• Keep track of group and individual progress as an administrator.

          Source: http://www.ubdexchange.org/web_resources/UbD_Overview/learn_more.cfm