Whether you are designing a new course or have been teaching a course for several years it is important to carefully consider your objectives for the students taking the course and to map out a plan to get them there. Wiggens and McTighe (1999) describe their model for curriculum design as the "backward design process." The steps of this process are:

• Identify desired results.
• Determine acceptable evidence.
• Plan learning experiences and instruction.

This is a sound approach to curriculum design and is also a helpful process to go through before beginning to make modifications to your course. In this section, we will focus on the first two steps in this process. The third step will be the focus of the section called Diversified Instructional Methods.

Identifying Desired Outcomes

What skills, knowledge, attitudes do you want students to have once they complete this course? Write your objectives for students taking this course. You may want to begin the goal statements as follows:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Identify...
• Define...
• Analyze...
• Use data to...
• Describe...

These objectives should be fairly broad and overarching. If your course objectives are written in less behavioral terms such as "understand" or "know" or "develop an appreciation for," you may want to either re-state them in more behavioral terms, or write sub-goals below them. This site on Bloom's Taxonomy may assist you in expressing your course objectives:

Once you have written the objectives, look at them critically by responding to the following questions.

• Do they truly represent the core values of the course?
  
  
• What makes each of the goals important?
  • Is it central to the discipline or subject matter?
  • Is it foundational for future courses?
  • Is it required knowledge for licensure exams or certification?
  • Is it critical for employment in this field?
  
  
• Is it realistic for you and your students to accomplish these objectives during the time you have available?

Narrow down or modify the objectives based on your responses to the above questions. Place them in order of importance. Which goals are essential to the course and which would be "nice" to accomplish? Once you have these goals written out, you are ready to begin the next step in this process.

View Examples of Course Objectives:

http://www.sunysuffolk.edu/Web/Selden/English/eg09.html

http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/dev/shared/objectives.htm

Determining Acceptable Evidence

You may want to print this worksheet (MS Word) to complete this section.

You have defined where you want to take your students. Now, how will you know they have arrived? How will you know they have acquired the understanding or skills described in the goals listed above?

In this step you will further define the objectives and tie them to a form of assessment. This is not just a matter of stating that this objective will be measured by an exam. Instead, be specific.

For example, if your course objective is:

• Assess the significance of key turning points in world history.

The acceptable evidence may be:

• Given a specific event, the student will (without prompting) be able to provide and describe at least three examples that illustratefar-reaching influences of that event.

Notice that this statement does not tie this evidence to any particular form of assessment. You can now add the possible ways that this could be achieved.

• Assess the significance of key turning points in world history.
  
  • Given a specific event, the student will (without prompting) be able to provide and describe at least three examples that illustrate the far-reaching influences of that event.
    • Oral discussion
    • In-class essay
    • Essay on exam
    • Short answer on exam

You might also ask yourself if it is truly necessary that the student respond without prompting. If not, other options could be added for demonstrating this knowledge.

As you tie the objectives to methods of assessment, consider the full range of options:

• case studies
• collaborative projects
• class discussion
• oral questions
• essays
• portfolios
• homework assignments
• quizzes, tests, and take-home exams
• papers
• performance tasks
• presentations and projects

There will likely be more than one acceptable way that a student could provide evidence of understanding or competency. Where this is the case, list the options that come to mind for each objective. By listing more than one option you are building flexibitlity into your course. You may or may not provide these options to students up front, but either way you are more prepared to accommodate the diversity that may be present.

Once you have completed the activities described in this section, you have laid the groundwork for all of the other sections in this process. Keep the completed worksheet handy as we will refer back to it often.

Rationale:

You may wonder how this process relates to teaching students with disabilities.

1. Approaching curriculum design in this way establishes a firm foundation for applying the principles of Universal Design to every element of your course. For example, it will be much easier to communicate your expectations in the course syllabus once you have clarified desired outcomes.
   
   
2. Clearly identifying what is essential to your course protects you in the event that a request for an accommodation is denied and allows you to consider on the front end where modifications can be made. Accommodations for a disability are not intended to fundamentally alter the nature of the course or to eliminate essential components of the course. Taking the course through this process allows you to maintain the integrity of the course while still allowing for flexibility where it can be provided.

How students benefit:

When instructors carefully review and develop the learning objectives for their courses, all students benefit. The other sections of this website will provide guidance for relating all other course elements back to these essential objectives.