A checklist prompts an instructional designer to consider essential elements of learning objectives, content structure, and assessment strategies. A checklist ensures instructional materials are aligned with the desired learning outcomes. Alternatively, a reverse checklist is designed to guide the process from the desired outcome to identify the elements required to achieve this outcome.
Like a reverse checklist, backward instructional design can be aligned in three stages, design the learning goals, set desired learning results, and design the instructional materials. (Stapleton-Corcoran, 2023).
Additional Resources: Grant Wiggins - Understanding by Design (2 of 2)
Backward Design for Life Coaches
Backward design is used in learning environments in a creative, collaborative, and purposeful way. This is a systematic instructional design approach to purposefully develop meaningful engagement. (Wandee et al., 2021). Life coaching and instructional design share a common goal of facilitating personal and professional growth.
Coaches highlight the empowerment of individuals to identify and achieve goals. Instructional designers aim to create effective and engaging learning experiences. (Albertus Magnus College). The constructive collaboration of design and coaching is a transformative learning environment. With the backward design, coaches can reverse engineer the individuals' goals and desired outcomes.
Attaining Goals by Design
Coaching empowers individuals through storytelling with relational experiences. Inspired active participation in the learning process guides intrinsic motivation. (Keller & Deimann, 2018). Coaching collaboration and feedback reward an extrinsically motivated engagement in the experience.
Instructional designers use coaching techniques in the creation of interactive and engaging learning environments. Coaches use discussions and reflective activities to tailor the learning experience to the individual. The alignment of learning materials with the individual provides accountability for goal achievement. The encouragement motivates an individual to set goals, track progress, and celebrate achievements.
Comfort zones and growth value are a means to understand personal journeys. Rediscovering courage in finding meaning in one’s tasks is a demonstration of what is possible when conditions are situational. (Co-Active Training Institute). A content-centered approach risks engagement when individuals are not clear on how learning objectives support their experience. The opportunity for misalignment between their experience and the content. (Stapleton-Corcoran, 2023).
Additional Resources: SMART Goals - Mind Tools
Ideal Outcomes for Coaching
Instructional design develops materials that influence competency and autonomy in the attainment of coaching goals. The use of situational learning and personalized frameworks invokes motivation for achievement. As a coach, the goal of backward design is to define what content and activities will promote the achievement of the learning goals and objectives. Technology and personalized content are a bridge to fill the gap between instructional design and life coaching. When used effectively, technology can be used as a resource for accountability and development of learning objectives.
The many branches of The Tree of Contemplative Practices are elements in line with the broader perspective of human performance technology. (Keller & Deimann, 2018). The influence of human performance is identified by three major categories capability, opportunity, and motivation. Capability refers to a learner's knowledge prior to instruction. Opportunity refers to the resources a learner is provided with, and motivation is the learner's desire to engage with the instructional activity.
Additional Resources: The Tree of Contemplative Practices
References:
C.-A. T. Institute, (2023, March 3). What is co-active?: Coach Training & Leadership Development. Co.https://coactive.com/about/what-is-coactive
Reiser, R.A., & Dempsey, J.V. (2018). Trends and issues in instructional design and technology. [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780134237039/
Stapleton-Corcoran, E. (2023, January 25). Center for the advancement of teaching excellence. Backward Design | Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence | University of Illinois Chicago. https://teaching.uic.edu/resources/teaching-guides/learning-principles-and-frameworks/backward-design/
Wandee Srikongchan, Sittichai Kaewkuekool, & Sopon Mejaleurn. (2021). Backward Instructional Design Based Learning Activities to Developing Students’ Creative Thinking with Lateral Thinking Technique. International Journal of Instruction, 14(2), 233–252. https://doi-org.oclc.fullsail.edu/10.29333/iji.2021.14214a
What is Instructional Design & Learning Technology?. Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Connecticut. We have faith in your future. https://www.albertus.edu/instructional-design-and-learning-technology/ms/what-is-instructional-design-and-learning-technology.php#:~:text=Instructional%20design%20focuses%20on%20the,that%20engage%20and%20motivate%20learners.
I truly appreciated reading this last blog post, as the topic of backward design grasped my attention. The main difference between traditional and backward design in teaching is the order in which instructors plan their lessons and assessments. In traditional design, teachers typically plan their lessons first and create assessments as an afterthought. In contrast, backward design starts with identifying the desired end results and then planning assessments to measure student learning, followed by designing lessons that help students achieve those learning goals. Backward design is a more intentional approach to instructional planning that focuses on student learning. This framework requires instructors to shift their thinking from teaching methods to learning outcomes.
In the first stage of backward design, instructors…
Effective instructional design is crucial for creating engaging learning environments. Backward instructional design stands out as a systematic approach, emphasizing alignment between learning outcomes and instructional materials. It begins with defining specific learning objectives and then crafting materials to achieve them. This ensures not only alignment but also fosters meaningful engagement and facilitates growth within educational settings (Stapleton-Corcoran, 2023). Its application extends beyond traditional education into coaching contexts, empowering learners to achieve goals (Wandee et al., 2021; Keller & Deimann, 2018). This collaboration underscores the importance of personalized feedback and situational learning in fostering motivation and autonomy among learners (Albertus Magnus College; Keller & Deimann).
1. Defining the Learning Objective
The engagement principle of defining learning objectives serves as…
The case study titled "Backward Instructional Design" explores the application of backward design in the context of life coaching and instructional design. Backward design is a systematic approach that involves designing learning goals, setting desired learning outcomes, and designing instructional materials. It ensures that instructional materials are aligned with the desired learning outcomes.
Meaningful Engagement: Backward design is used to purposefully develop meaningful engagement in learning environments. It encourages creative and collaborative approaches to instructional design, fostering personal and professional growth. Backward instructional design is a learner-centered approach that starts with identifying the desired learning outcomes and then designing instructional materials to achieve those outcomes. It emphasizes the importance of aligning instructional materials with the desired learning goals. This approach…
Peer Response to Backward Instructional Design blog post by csjohnston
Checklists as Essentials
In instructional design, checklists serve as invaluable tools to ensure the alignment of learning objectives, content structure, and assessment strategies with desired learning outcomes (Tawfik et al., 2021). These checklists prompt designers to consider essential elements at various stages of the instructional design process, fostering systematic and purposeful development of learning materials. Additionally, the concept of reverse checklists guides designers from desired outcomes to identifying necessary elements, facilitating a comprehensive design approach.
Checklists are indispensable tools in instructional design, assisting educators in navigating the complexities of online teaching environments (Tawfik et al., 2021). Tawfik et al. (2021) identify first and second order barriers to teaching in K-12…
Experienced Learners Have Goals
In the Air Force, there are different levels of experience for each career field. If you just joined, you are 1-Level. You will go to your selected career’s technical training school and become a 3-Level upon graduation. The 3-Level will go to his next base and receive additional training and on-the-job training to become a 5-Level. Once the person earns higher rank and earns the position of a supervisor, he will then receive additional training to become a 7-Level. By this time, the Airman is experienced learner and will have different motivations to learn. There really isn’t the need to perform a traditional ADDIE model for learning and backward course design may be the most efficient…