Reflections and Realizations on UbD and Course Design

As I continue to explore my thoughts on creating my online course, I am learning more about myself. I mentioned in my Designing for Understanding post that I always had pictured myself designing backwards but I realized through reading Wiggins book that I was missing some elements. After I created my Understanding by Design (UbD) template utilizing the missing elements for the Marketing portion of my Entrepreneur course, I figured creating the course would flow nicely.

This week I began that process in earnest I started to fall back into my old habits without even realizing it. I started to gather my materials, create EDPuzzles and construct projects. I was cruising along feeling good about myself. Then about halfway through this week I looked back at my UbD template and realized I had gone off the rails again. One of the big advantages of utilizing the UbD template is to start with your goals and find resources and assessments that fit those goals instead of the other way around.

Start with your End Goals

So towards the latter part of this week I reassessed my class and started with the end goals. For example in my Marketing Mix Challenge I thought about what were the UbD goals I was trying to accomplish and placed those in front of myself.

1. Marketing Mix Challenge
   1. UbD Goals
      1. What essential questions will be considered?
         1. What are the possible marketing outlets for your startup?
         2. What are the demographics of your startup’s target audience?
      2. What understandings are desired?
         1. The value of business demographics to customize marketing efforts
      3. Learners will be able to …
         1. Do basic market research
      4. Learners will know …
         1. How to identify their target demographic  

Now Build Backwards to Accomplish Those Goals

With these at the forefront of my mind I thought about what resources, projects and assessments did I need to accomplish these goals.

Resources

Finding resources is relatively straightforward at this point. I knew I wanted to talk about the Marketing Mix and demographics so I curated the best, most concise items I could find. It is always a push and pull to supply information but encourage the students to discover their own. Then I had to move onto how would I add formative assessments into the learning.

Assessments

So I knew I had to create assessments a little differently since this was an online class. I like using things like Quizlet, Socrative and discussions in class to check-in and make sure we are all on track. I did see though how one of my favorite tools could be used in the online format though. EDPuzzle is one of my favorite ways to flip the classroom and I believe it will also be a great way to let students think about their own experiences while learning from the examples and information given. The other big portion involves designing the projects where each student can construct their own knowledge and not simply give the correct answers.

Projects

To stick with my Constructivist leanings, I had to make sure that the projects didn’t all come back with the same answers. Students need to understand what is at the heart of the Marketing Mix and demographics; however, their interpretation to our coffee shop shouldn’t all be the same. That is one of my favorite parts of working with students on Economics and Entrepreneurism. There are no hard and fast answers and it is based on each individual’s interpretation. So I created a project that allowed students to define their own Marketing Mix. Each student should have their own answers so I am not looking for multiple choice answers.

It is also extremely important to me when designing courses that we leave time for reflection. As part of the first week of class, students create an ePortfolio or blog. Then each week students will spend time doing what I am doing now and reflect upon their learning. Reflection really helps cement our learning and seems to be the first element we drop when we get concerned about time constraints. I am committed to making sure reflection stays in every new course I develop.

Here is the outline of the tasks that will be completed in the Marketing Mix Challenge

1. Tasks
   1. Complete the Marketing Mix EDPuzzle
   2. Watch the Starbucks Video
   3. Read the In-N-Out article
   4. Read Market Segments
   5. Complete the Marketing Mix Worksheet
   6. Write a reflection on your ePortfolio/blog on your learning this week

I look forward to continuing to build out the class focussed on the learning goals I laid out in my UbD. I think once again reflecting on my learning is solidifying my understanding of Designing for Understanding 🙂