Follow Up Friday

April 7, 2023

Design your course with the end in mind with backwards design.

From the Archives:

What is Backward Design?

In its simplest form, it is designing a course with the ends in mind. It is a practice of identifying the end goals for learners and building the course backward from those end goals. This process ensures that each component of the course is intentionally pieced together. Each activity, text, assessment, technology tool, etc., will all support learners in hitting the learning goal targets.

This runs counter to how we tend to think about constructing a course of study or any kind of progression. Compare how you might typically plan a course: the sequence tends to follow a pattern of “beginning” to “end.” For example, you have learners first watch the lecture, next read the textbook, then take a quiz, then study and take the test. Repeat for 15 weeks. This pattern prioritizes content first, which intuitively makes sense, but can unintentionally leave out the questions of what the content is for or what the learner is supposed to do with that content.

Backward Design asks you to consider the following questions and goals before designing your course:

What will learners be able to do with the knowledge and/or skills they will acquire from your course?
Considering the course content, how do you imagine learners could apply it to their other studies, future careers, and life?
What must a learner do or produce to demonstrate they have successfully mastered a piece of learning content before they can be ready to master the next piece?

Learn more in our post about Backward Design from last May.

Upcoming Events

Quality Matters for Summer Accelerate

Clemson Online is proud to announce new opportunities for instructors to gain experience in online course creation, teaching with Canvas, and the Quality Matters course review process. They include:

Online Course Bootcamp – Spring Break Intensive starts March 20!
Improving Your Online Course (IYOC)
QM Essentials Review
COFFEE: House Blend

Please see the full descriptions and registration links at our Quality Matters for Summer Accelerate website.

For applicable participants, these trainings can be listed on annual reviews in the Faculty Success system. Check with your department for specific details. If you have any questions about these training opportunities or any aspect of Quality Matters at Clemson, please email Lori Kinley.

Quick Hits – New ASL Zoom Feature Advanced

Thursday, April 13

The second and final training on Zoom’s new ASL feature. This session we will take a more in-depth look at this feature. This session is essential for hosts of Zoom Events and meetings where two interpreters are required.

Facilitated by Axel Ruiz, Sr. Learning Tech. Specialist, and Dan Lewis, Director of Digital Accessibility, CCIT Internal Operations
Time: 3:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Location: Virtual

Register here for Quick Hits: New ASL Zoom Feature Advanced on April 13th