Learning outcomes:
- LO5: Evaluate the strength of a curriculum in light of the principles of backward design.
- LO6: Design or modify a comprehensive curriculum or syllabus, specific to your disciplinary context.
Conduct research into syllabus design
In the video at the beginning of this unit, Professor Rob Lue explores how backward design can be used to create an effective, detailed, and comprehensive syllabus. This video complements the Module 4 Unit 1 interactive infographic, which discusses backward design in greater detail. You have also been provided with resources that examine syllabus creation through backward design. These resources include:
- Georgetown University’s designing backward resource;
- Louise Lamphere Beryl’s article on using backward design for syllabus development; and
- Yale University’s backward design course planning resource.
Additionally, University of Illinois provides a general resource on creating a syllabus.
Once you have explored the resources above, conduct research into syllabi and syllabus design within your discipline. You will have the opportunity to collect some examples of syllabi that exemplify the kind of “design thinking” associated with backward design, and some that do not. You should collect at least one example of each. When you have collected these examples, consider the following questions:
- Compare the examples you have collected. What notable differences do you find between the syllabi that reflect effective backward design and those that seem not to do so?
- How would you approach designing and creating a syllabus centered on a topic of your choice?
Note:
This research task is integral to your successful completion of the teaching portfolio component at the end of this unit. It is intended to encourage your thinking around effective syllabus design, which is the focus of this unit’s teaching portfolio component.