“To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you’re going so that you better understand where you are now so that the steps you take are always in the right direction.”
Stephen Covey’s lessons from his best-selling book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, can be applied to many areas of our lives – including learning and development (L&D) design.
When the practice of ‘begin with the end in mind’ is applied to L&D, it poses the question: what ultimate results are we aiming to achieve for the learner, team, and company at large?
Backward design, according to the Teaching + Learning Lab at MiT, “prioritizes the intended learning outcomes instead of topics [and content] to be covered.” It is ‘backward’ from a typical design approach because it identifies the ultimate goal of the learning program. A roadmap is then created to outline how the goal will be achieved, followed by a layout of assessments, lesson plans and learning application.
Backward design is a three-stage process that begins with identifying the desired results; determining acceptable evidence; and planning learning activities – as outlined in the image below.
Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backward_design
MiT explains that desired results are intended learning outcomes such as a general idea of goals, what success looks like, and what learners should know or be able to do by the end of the course. Acceptable evidence includes measures such as assessments, exams, projects, and assignments used to determine whether a learner’s performance meets the goals set out in the beginning. Lastly, learning experience includes the activities and content provided to help learners achieve the set goals. In learning design, when we get to the third step, we can return to our standard design model of choice, such as ADDIE, Blooms Taxonomy or Merrill’s Principles of Instruction.
Advantages of backward design
- Aligns curriculum with proper learning goals and outcomes.
- Encouraging in-depth learning and problem-solving skills.
- Offers clear criteria, learning objectives and expectations.
- Eliminates the confusion caused by exhaustive course material and content details.
Harvard University provides an excellent template it uses when designing world-renowned courses. The same guidelines could be followed for developing a training program, and when considering investing in learning and development.
Contact us for more information on how to implement backwards design into your organization.
