Backward Design: Aligning learning objectives and assessments

The advice: “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start,” immortalized in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music, can seem infallible. To go from point A to point B, one should start at point A and work forward from there. The term backward course design can feel counterintuitive. It implies that you are starting at the end, at the destination. In a sense, that is correct. Backward design starts with the desired outcome for your learners. It then aligns the assessments to those learning outcomes, ensuring a cohesive and clear learning experience. Only then does it look at the instructional content required to support students in completing the assessments and mastering the learning objectives.

Backward design was originally developed as a framework for course design for K-12 education by Wiggins and McTighe [1]. The goal was to move away from covering a specified set of materials and to instead focus on the outcome of the learning experience. Backward design has since been accepted and adapted by the higher education community, particularly instructional designers who develop online learning experiences [2, 3].

Before describing backward design, it is helpful to describe forward course design. Forward course design begins with the content the instructor plans to cover, often in the format of developing a syllabus with topics for each class meeting or lecture [3]. Once this schedule of content delivery is established, instructors will then determine the assessments they will use for the learning experience. The instructor may or may not then create learning objectives that fit the existing course content (see Figure 1). The challenge here is that the design is centered around what one wants to teach, and not around what learners will be able to do at the end of the learning experience [4]. 

Figure 1. Forward course design.

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Backward design asks you to start not with your instructional content, but instead with your learning objectives, as shown in Figure 2. This can feel counterintuitive; how can one develop a course before they know what will be taught? The answer is that backward design is focused on the skills the students will acquire through the learning experience, not the specific content covered [2].

Figure 2. Backward course design.

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Backward design anchors the course development. By starting with the learning objectives, backward design centers the learners and emphasizes what they will be able to do, rather than just what they will know [4]. It also creates a structure around learning design, which can help ensure that the course does not get too broad to the point where the content cannot reasonably be covered.

Learning Objectives

Learning objectives are a critical piece of backward design. For those not familiar: “Learning objectives state what students should know and be able to do following a period of instruction" [4]. They are the intended destination for the learning journey. To be effective, learning objectives must be clear and measurable.

“Clear” learning objectives should use simple language and have one thought per objective. For example, stating: Describe the process for and develop a communications plan for program evaluation, combines two separate ideas. A clearer way to communicate these objectives would be to break them into two: 1) Describe the process for program evaluation, and 2) Develop a communications plan for program evaluation. In this way, the learners can be sure of what is expected of them to achieve the objective.

“Measurable” learning objectives are the key to backward design. They necessitate that the instructor be intentional about the goals of the learning experience and create alignment in the assessments and instructional content [5]. To make learning objectives measurable, one should focus on the verb in the objective. In the example above, the verbs used are “describe” and “develop.” It is straightforward to develop an assessment that measures a student’s ability to describe or create something. Measurable learning objectives create an explicit relationship between what the students are learning (the instructional content) and how they are being assessed on that learning. If the design is set up with clear and measurable learning objectives, the rest of the course development will clearly unfold.

It can be helpful to develop weekly or module-level learning objectives in concert with course-level objectives. This allows the instructor to go into more granular detail on exactly what students should be able to do at the end of each week/module. It also helps to ensure the content is aligned with supporting those objectives.

Developed in the 1950s by Benjamin Bloom, an educational psychologist and theorist, with collaborators Max Engelhart, Edward Furst, Walter Hill, and David Krathwohl, Bloom’s taxonomy is a framework that can be used to design clear and measurable learning objectives [6]. It is often represented as a pyramid with increasing levels of difficulty in meeting objectives.

Figure 3. Bloom’s taxonomy pyramid.

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Bloom’s taxonomy is useful for developing learning objectives because it focuses on the specific verbs associated with those objectives, which can help ensure that the learning objectives remain measurable. Referencing the different levels of Bloom’s taxonomy can also help instructors ensure that their learning objectives are at the correct level for their course. For example, in an introductory course, one would probably not want all the course level objectives to be at the level five—create. It would be more appropriate to be at the lower levels of Bloom’s pyramid. Conversely, for an advanced doctoral-level course, it would be entirely appropriate to have course-level objectives at the top tier of Bloom’s taxonomy.

Alignment of Learning Objectives to Assessment

As referenced above, the next critical piece in backward design is aligning the learning objectives with the assessments [5]. Aligning learning objectives with assessments ensures that students are being evaluated on what the instructor believes they should be able to do at the end of the learning experience. It also ensures that they are not being assessed on information that was not covered.

To continue the example from above, an assessment of the learning objective “Describe the process for program evaluation” would need to measure the student’s ability to “describe.” Describe is in the first level of Bloom’s taxonomy—remember. An appropriate assessment could be a short-answer question, a discussion board post, or a learning activity/worksheet. The second learning objective, “Develop a communications plan for program evaluation,” is at the second level of Bloom’s taxonomy—apply. An appropriate assessment might be a discussion board post, a learning activity/worksheet, or even a short presentation. If the learning objectives are not clear and measurable, it would be very difficult to develop an assessment that allows students to demonstrate mastery of those objectives.

Course mapping can be used to determine if the learning objectives are aligned with the assessments [7]. To create a course map, create a grid with the learning objectives along the left-hand side and the assessments across the top row. Place an “x” to indicate which assessments are aligned to each learning objective. If the course has weekly/module-level objectives, these can be included on the course map with each weekly/module-level objective aligning to a course-level objective (see Table 1).

Table 1. Course map example.

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Course mapping also allows instructors to ensure that the correct content is included so as to meet the instructors’ goals for the learning experience [8]. It allows one to be sure that the course is teaching and assessing what is intended. Ensuring alignment between the learning objectives and the assessments closes the loop on course mapping and is a critical step in backward design [5].

Conclusion

Backward design is an important strategy in learning development. It centers what students will be able to do at the end of the learning experience and ensures the crucial alignment between the learning objectives and the assessments. Using backward design allows one to first focus on the learning outcomes and then introduce the instructional content that will support those outcomes. It also allows one to ensure that the assessments are at the appropriate level for the learning objectives and that they assess what was covered in the course. Backward design is critical for creating strong alignment across the learning experience, which supports students in mastering the course objectives.

References

About the Author

Dr. Melissa Kaufman is an accomplished educator and administrator with a robust background in public health education and instructional design. Currently serving as the Associate Dean for Education at Drexel University's Dornsife School of Public Health, she oversees the strategic direction of continuing education and educational operations. Her leadership has been instrumental in expanding online learning offerings, including the successful launch of multiple online master’s degrees and certificate programs. Kaufman is committed to enhancing educational accessibility and quality through innovative approaches and technology integration.

She holds a doctorate in education leadership and management and a Master of Science in human resource development, both from Drexel University’s School of Education. Kaufman has presented at numerous conferences, including the 2024 Convergence Conference and the CEPH 50th Anniversary Forum. She has also published articles in the Journal of Health Administration Education and the Journal of Educators Online.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License.