What is Backwards Design?
The Backwards Design concept was originally introduced by Ralph Tyler in 1949, as reference to statement of objectives. The concept was introduced to instructional design as a model by Jay McTghe and Grant Wiggins in their book "Understanding by Design," originally published in 2000, with a second edition released in 2005.
This model is roughly based upon the same components of the ADDIE model but with less flexibility. The focus is to teach towards an "End Point"or learning goal, and the Instructional Design is kept tightly focused towards that end goal.
In the ADDIE instructional design model, the design process employs five phases: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. This offers a dynamic, flexible guideline for building effective training and performance support tools.(1)
Instead, for the backwards design model, the instructional designer starts with the end - the desired results (goals or standards) - and then derives the curriculum from the evidence of learning (performances) called for by the standard and the teaching needed to equip students to perform.(1)
This backward approach to curricular design also departs from another common practice: thinking about assessment as something to do at the end, once teaching is completed. Instead of creating assessments near the conclusion of a unit of study, backward design calls for the instructional designer to plan the goals or standards in terms of assessment evidence as they begin to plan a unit or course.
It reminds the instructional designer, before developing teaching and learning experiences, to start with the question; "What would we accept as evidence that students have attained the desired understandings and proficiencies?"
Vocational Education
This backwards design model is uniquely suited for Adult Vocational Education. Vocational education or Vocational Education and Training (VET), also called Career and Technical Education (CTE), prepares learners for jobs that are based in manual or practical activities, traditionally non-academic and totally related to a specific trade, occupation or vocation, hence the term, in which the learner participates. It is sometimes referred to as technical education, as the learner directly develops expertise in a particular group of techniques or technology.
Many vocations today require licensing or certifications. Depending upon the vocation, the student's ability to meet the certification standards are assessed through licensing exams which can be either a practical demonstration of skills, a written exam, or a combination of both. The discussion of the backwards design model will be in context of a focus on vocational education. In the next sections we will discuss each element of the backwards design process as shown in Figure 2.
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