Backward Design Stage 2

Instructional Design MDSK 3151

Purpose: This activity is designed to help you conceptualize the second phase of the backward
design process, which is evidence of understanding or assessment.
Directions: Copy this page and paste it in a word document. Then complete the questions listed
below in each of the four sections. Be sure to type your responses in a different color other than
BLACK. You will find that answering the questions will guide your development of evidence
of understanding or assessment. You will need your standard course of study along with your
Understanding by Design text. You will continue to work with your topic and group as were
identified in Stage 1 of the design process.

Group Members____________________________
Date ________________________

STAGE 2
These are assessor’s questions.
What is evidence of in-depth understanding, as opposed to superficial or naïve understanding?
Where should we look, and what should we look for to determine the extent of student learning?
What kinds of assessment evidence will anchor our curricular units and thus guide our
instruction.

Evidence of Understanding
When planning to collect evidence of understanding, consider a range of assessment methods.
• This includes such checks for understanding as
o oral questions, observations, dialogues, student logs, self-assessments, and peer
assessments
o traditional quizzes, test, and open-ended prompts
o performance tasks and projects.
• They vary in
o scope
ƒ from simple to complex
o time frame
ƒ from short-term to long-term
o setting
ƒ from decontextualized to authentic contexts
o structure
ƒ from highly to ill-structured.

Types of Assessment
Quiz and Test Items
• Consists of simple, content focused questions that…
o Assess for factual information, concepts, and discrete skills
 o Use selected-response or short-answer formats
o Are convergent—typically have a single, best answer
o May easily be scored using an answer key or machine scoring
o Are secure or not know in advance
Academic Prompts
• Open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and to prepare
a response, product or performance
o Are open, with no single best answer or solution
o Are often ill-structured, requiring the development of a strategy
o Involve analysis, synthesis, evaluation, or a combination of these
o Require an explanation or defense of an answer and methods used
o Require judgment-based scoring, using criteria and performance standards
o May or may not be secure
Performance Tasks and Projects
• Involves complex challenges that mirror the issues and problems adults face
• Challenges are authentic
o Range in length from short-term to long-term
o Require tangible product or performance
o Use real or simulated settings with the kinds of constraints, background noise,
incentives, and opportunities an adult would find in a similar situation
o Require students to address an identified audience
o Are based on a specific purpose that relates to the audience
o Allow students greater opportunity to personalize the task
o Are not secure
o The task, criteria, and standards are known in advance and guide student work

Task 1
Write the targeted understanding and core performance task in the middle box—what students
should understand and be able to do. Then, brainstorm types of evidence that might be most
useful, insightful, and fair for rounding out the picture to produce sufficient evidence or
understanding.
 Formal observations or interviews of  Public performances  
students  

Targeted 
Written, oral, or visual  Understandings  Student self‐assessments, 

(displayed) products in    Logs, and peer reviews  

response to prompts      

   

Core Performance Task  
Student exhibits or   Short‐answer quizzes 

models   And tests  

Designing Performance Tasks

Task 2
Assessing Understanding Using the Facets: Use the following hints to generate ways that
students can reveal understandings of a topic within a unit. The goal is to consider ways that
understanding can be demonstrated, not to use every prompt in every fact. You may find that not
all facets or prompts are applicable.

You really understand _____________________ (unit topic) when you can…

Facets of
Hints Application to Unit
Understanding
• Explain/teach
Explanation
• Give examples of
 • Make connections with
• Offer a sophisticated
theory of
• Describe how
• Justify/support
• Prove/verify
• Avoid common
misconceptions, such as
• Interpret
• Make sense of
• Tell a revealing story of
• Provide an apt analogy for
Interpretation • Show the importance or
meaning of
• Translate
• Relate ____________ to
your experience or the
experiences of others.
• In a new situation, apply
• Show or demonstrate
• Use in the context of
Application
• Design/invent
• Overcome a challenge or
constraint, such as
• Analyze
• See from the point of view
of
• Compare and contrast
• Critique
Perspective
• Critically examine
assumptions such as
• Show how___________
fits in a historical context.
• See the limits of
• Walk in the shoes of
• Experience directly and
see
• Reach a common
Empathy understanding with
___________ concerning
_______________.
• Entertain the seemingly
odd or alien view that…
Self-Knowledge • Recognize your prejudice
 about
• Identify the lens through
which you view
• See how your habits
influence how you
approach
• Explain how you came to
understand
• Realize that even with all
you now know, you don’t
really understand