How UbD Fits into CBE

Video Transcription

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you are having a wonderful day today. Today, we're going to be looking at how Understanding by Design really fits into competency-based education. And for today's lesson, I've chosen a quote by Malcolm Forbes, which states "the purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one."

Now, by the end of today's lesson, you will be able to review the three stages of Understanding by Design when it comes to instructional planning. You will be able to review the six facets of understanding and the WHERETO elements. And you will be able to connect Understanding by Design with the design principles of competency-based education.

Let's go ahead and briefly review the history and the stages of Understanding by Design. First, Understanding by Design was developed by Grand Wiggins and Jay McTighe. And it is really the idea of designing curriculum with an end objective, starting there and then working backwards. So the idea of backwards design means that you're setting those instructional goals, and then moving to the various outcomes, and then deciding the activities you'll do in your lesson and the best elements to use in order to get students there. So that template that you have really helps you by moving backwards.

Also, there are three stages that are involved in Understanding by Design lesson design. Stage 1 has to do with identifying those desired results. So what is the goal? What are the standards? What are the essential questions that I'm going to ask? And what's the key knowledge that students should understand?

Stage 2 is where you determine the acceptable evidence. So how is the student going to show me that they have met these goals? And then stage 3 is where you develop the actual learning plan, the various activities, and the ways in which you are going to encourage and increase your ideas of student engagement.

Next, I'd like to go ahead and review and recap the six facets of Understanding by Design. So the first facet for Understanding by Design is the idea of explaining, that students are able to recall those facts and data that you have presented to them. The second facet of Understanding by Design is interpret. This is increasing just a little bit as we're working up the hierarchy of that understanding where students are able to really make meaningful stories and provide ideas, dimensions, really make it personally relevant for them.

The third facet is to apply, where students are able to adapt what they've learned in your classroom into other classrooms or other contexts. The fourth is where students can have perspective, being able to see the points of views of other people, really that bigger picture. Going right along with that is facet number 5, which is empathize. Students not only can see another person's point of view, but they also are able to find value in those other opinions. And then the last facet is to have self-knowledge, where students are able to really perceive the way in which they learn, and how they understand, things and also acknowledging what it is that they don't know.

Now, as we look at Understanding by Design, there are a number of tools that you can use as you work to create your lesson plans. One of those is WHERETO. And this is from Wiggins and McTighe.

And WHERETO is an acronym that stands for where and why. So why is the unit being held. Where are we going to do this? To hook and hold, am I getting the students' attention? Equip, what are the tools and the experiences that I'm going to need to help encourage their learning?

Rethink, reflect, and revise, asking students to really look at opportunities to rethink the way they thought about something before and revise their previous thoughts. To evaluate, really looking at the idea of self student assessment, tailoring it to individual students' needs and talents and interests. And then finally, being organized so that students are not just getting that superficial education, but really digging deep.

Now, let's go ahead and take a look at how we can relate the elements of Understanding by Design to competency-based education. So first and foremost, the idea that students advance upon demonstrated mastery. This really relates to the idea that students are showing that mastery of the key and knowledge and the skills that we bring up in stage 1 where students are able to really identify, and we are able to identify, those desired results. That then leads to the mastery of those essential questions, which then leads to the mastery of that established standard. So you can see how those two really connect together.

Number 2, the idea that there are and measurable learning objectives. Again, what we're learning out at is that students are being empowered. And when we look at those competencies, we really focus in on how they can be equated to the elements of stage 1. So the competencies really refer back to those essential questions that you're developing and the key skills and knowledge, the abilities that students will demonstrate. All of that focuses back on creating those explicit and measurable learning objectives.

Number 3, that the assessment is meaningful. Really what we're looking at here is that students in their assessments are experiencing a positive learning experience. So within Understanding by Design, the teacher then develops or collects multiple forms of assessment. And that really focuses in on stage 2 where you are developing what that would look like, focusing in on allowing students multiple or diverse opportunities so that they can demonstrate mastery of those competencies and have the opportunity to re-demonstrate it if necessary.

Number 4, that students receive that differentiated support. Here what we're focusing in on are using WHERETO when you're designing those learning experiences so that you can really offer that differentiated learning. Specifically, you could even focus in on the T in WHERETO, really tailor it, that instruction, so that you are looking at each individual student's talents and styles and learning needs as you are moving forward.

And number 5, the idea that learning outcomes really emphasize and include that application in the creation of knowledge. What we're focusing in here, specifically within Understanding by Design, is that the main assessment can often be what's called a performance assessment. So students are demonstrating the knowledge that they've learned. And they're meeting the competencies.

But really they are focusing in on that higher level cognitive thinking and demonstrating that they not only know the knowledge and the skills, but they've also really developed that disposition for learning. This focuses in on those six facets of understanding so that we're really looking at all six facets when we are developing those learning outcomes.

Now that we've reached the end of the lesson, you have been able to review the three stages of Understanding by Design instructional planning. You've been able to review the six facets of understanding as well as the WHERETO elements. And you've been able to connect UbD with the design principles of competency-based education.

Now that we've finished and you've learned all about these different elements, I want you to think which, of the elements you've learned today about Understanding by Design and competency-based education would be most useful to you in your teaching?

Now it's your turn to apply what you've learned in the video. The Additional Resources section will be super helpful. This section is designed to help you discover useful ways to apply what you've learned here. Each link includes a brief description so that you can easily target the resources that you want.