Over the course of two sessions in May, a group of 42 professors from various years and academic programs at the University of Las Hespérides met on Zoom to learn how to design their course backwards ("backward design").
Over the course of two sessions in May, a group of 42 professors from various years and academic programs at the University of Las Hespérides met on Zoom to learn how to design their course backwards ("backward design").
The "backward design" is a course design process that turns the traditional approach on its head, centered on the teacher, and puts the student at the center of the learning process instead. In this way, the teacher asks themselves three consecutive questions in this order:
- What do I want my students to know how to do at the end of the course?
- How will they demonstrate their mastery in the subject matter?
- What experiences of learning will enable them to achieve the defined objectives?
The design begins with the end in mind and from there, all the instruction is aligned, it's all aligned. "The workshop helped me to focus on the 'backwards' process as a way to optimize the program development and understand it from the student's point of view," said one of the participants. "It helped me consolidate things I already knew and brought new ideas that will undoubtedly allow me to improve the classes I give to my students," was the reflection of another teacher.
The professors learned actively because they put the theory into practice and applied it to their own course in collaboration with others. Even though they were physically dispersed around the world (Spain, Colombia, Argentina, United States, Belgium, France, and Guatemala), there was a sense of closeness and desire to support each other and learn from one another.
This workshop is part of a continuous training program by the University of the Hesperides with which the institution and its faculty seek to reinforce active and collaborative learning methodologies.