Using UbD to Develop Competency Based Curriculum

Video Transcription

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you're having a wonderful day today. Today we're going to be looking at using Understanding by Design to develop competency-based curriculum. For today's lesson, I've chosen a quote by Malcolm Forbes which states, "The purposes of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one."

Now, by the time we're done with today's lesson, you will be able to understand how to use competency-based education and Understanding by Design in curriculum design and implementation.

First, what I'd like to do is go ahead and review just briefly the Understanding by Design unit template. If you look at this web address right here, that's where you can go to find a unit template that will help you set up an Understanding by Design unit. When you go to that website, you'll click on the template link. And it'll bring you to an optional template that you can fill in. Here's an example of one that I have filled in in red for a unit that I have done.

Let's go ahead and take a look at the five design principles for competency-based education. I want to just briefly review with you these five principles of students advancing upon demonstrated mastery, explicit and measurable learning objectives, that the assessment is meaningful for the student and creates a positive learning experience, that students are able to receive differentiated support immediately so that they continue their learning, and that students' learning outcomes also include that idea of application or creation of knowledge so that they can expand it beyond the classroom.

Now let's go ahead and briefly review the history and the stages of Understanding by Design. First, Understanding by Design was developed by Grant 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 one 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 two 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 three 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 five, 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 where to. And this is from Wiggins and McTighe. And where to 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 like self student assessment, tailoring it to individual students' needs and talents and interests, and then finally being organized so that students are really not just getting that superficial education but really digging deep.

Now what I'd like to do is connect all of these various elements together so you can see how all of them really work together in the process. So if we're going to look at those five essential elements all connected together, we've got flexible, anytime, anywhere learning connects right into that stage three of Understanding by Design, which also goes right in with the idea of equipping all of the things that you need to help that learning, as well as design principle five-- the application and creation of knowledge in with real settings.

All of that works together to fit right in with those 21st century skills and really focusing in on applying learning outside of the classroom.

When we look at refining and redefining the role of the teacher, that coincides really nicely with stage two of Understanding by Design with the where mentality and also with the idea of hooking students, the idea that students will advance upon mastery, and that within competency-based education, the teachers are the ones who really facilitate that mastery. All of that kind of builds together to really redefining the units of the learning, as well as the relationships between the student and the teacher.

Next, I want to go ahead and take a look that idea of the project-based or the authentic learning. That fits right in with stage two of Understanding by Design where we are then equipping students with what they need and focusing in on design principles 1, 2, and 5, that idea of that students continue upon mastery, that there are relevant and measurable objectives, and that there's really this emphasis on the application of a student's knowledge. That fits in nicely with competency-based education's real-world settings.

And all of that ties together to emphasize those 21st century skills, applying that learning outside of the classroom, and really connecting a student's work not only to those standards but using that work as an exemplar for other students.

When we look at that student-driven learning path, we can focus right in then on stage three of Understanding by Design where we are tailoring and rethinking, reflecting, and revising the learning for students. That fits nicely with design principles one and four where an emphasis is put on mastery and then also providing differentiated support.

And competency-based education really focuses in on that personalization. All of that works together to allow for flexible pacing, interventions when necessary, and really responding to that student's level of mastery.

Finally, we can focus in on the idea that mastery and competency-based progression or pace fits within all three stages of Understanding by Design where we are really evaluating and organizing what it is that we're doing with the "where to" of our lessons and that design principles 1, 3, and 5, that mastery, making meaningful assessments and focusing in on the students' creation of knowledge really hones in and works nicely with competency-based education's elements of formative assessment so tracking that assessment along the way.

And all of that ties together to really look at the elements of mastery assessed in multiple different contexts, that there's an emphasis on the learning that's involved, not just the grades, and that we are connecting everything we do back to those standards.

Remember, competency-based education is a strong approach to that personalized learning. It's really important that you emphasize that competency-based education and the five design principles. Really focus in on the personalization within your classroom.

And personalization is an important goal for that 21st century instruction. So we're making sure that we are moving with that competency-based blended learning, all focusing in on personalizing that experience.

Now that we've reached the end of the lesson, you have been able to understand how to use competency-based education and all of the facets of Understanding by Design in curriculum design and implementation.

Now I want you to take just a second to reflect on the ways in which you could use these various elements in your own curriculum design. As you reflect on this new information and how it can be applied, you might want to explore the additional resources section that accompanies this video presentation. This is where you'll find links to resources chosen to help you deepen your learning and explore ways to apply your newly acquired skillset.