Backward Design and Its Impact on Designing Complex Tasks

    Chapter Five of Rigor by Design, Not Choice by Karin Hess discusses the importance of performance-based assessments and tasks. Hess begins this chapter with a quote from Howard Garner and then delves into the evolution of performance-based assessments and what high-quality, performance-based assessments look like. She emphasizes that "Complex performance assessments not only apply multiple skills, concepts, and strategies but also must provide opportunities for disciplines inquiry and critical and creative thinking" (Hess 2023, p. 96). Authentic assessment requires students to exhibit near or far transfer skills. Near transfer involves students applying skills and concepts in the way they were taught, and far transfer involves using what they already know in ways they may have yet to be explicitly taught (Hess, 2023, pp. 95-96). Performance-based assessments share seven common characteristics, with the first four deepening authentic learning and the last three pushing students out of their comfort zones (Hess 2023, pg 96):

  1. Contexts are open-ended; therefore, solutions do not have a single correct solution path. 

  2. Students productively struggle with concepts by testing different approaches and exploring various solutions before arriving at a solution.

  3. An opportunity for students to form connections with their own thought processes and the ideas of a discipline. 

  4. Authentic opportunities to perform and reflect on real-world skills. 

  5. An opportunity for students to "stretch" their thinking by conducting and putting stipulations into what their learning will look like. 

  6. "Stretching" student thinking by deciding which skills and concepts to apply in real-world contexts and learning from the feedback or results (far transfer). 

  7. Applying their "stretch thinking" to metacognitive thinking by self-monitoring their learning and performance and taking what they learned to extend their own knowledge. 


    To better understand backward design and how I can utilize the approach for developing and validating performance-based tasks, I read Using Backward Design in Education Research: A Research Methods Essay. This article defines the steps of backward design and how it can be applied to research. The three steps to the backward design process are: "(1) Identifying the desired result, i.e., defining your learning outcome; (2) Determining the acceptable evidence, i.e., designing your assessments (3) Planning the learning experiences and instructional materials you will use" (Jensen et al., 2017). The authors further state, "The purpose of backward design is ultimately to improve student performance by following a purposeful designing process that allows instructors to align their teaching practices with the outcomes they are trying to achieve" (Jensen et al., 2017). Karin Hess mentions, "With colleagues, [she] used backward design to develop and validate performance tasks that showed that students were meeting the standards in different content areas. [She] called this period' PBA 2.0'" (Hess 2023, p. 94). The backward design framework prioritizes the intended learning objectives instead of topics and clearly aligns student learning with the work they produce. 



    Another critical component mentioned in both texts is the importance of the transfer of learning. In Using Backward Design in Education Research: A Research Methods Essay, the authors discuss the importance and need for individuals to participate in designing and assessing their own learning for active transfer. This coincides with the ideas presented in Rigor by Design, Not Chance, as Hess discusses PBA 3.0 and how this approach "[designs] assessment opportunities with student choice and voice as design features, especially for the more complex tasks" (Hess 2023, p. 94). When students are presented with a choice in how they learn and show their knowledge, they take greater ownership and pride in the process. 



    Referring back to Hess, "...all PBLs have similar design features: They're intellectually challenging; they offer an authentic, real-world context; they require project management skills; they involve collaboration and student voice and choice; they presuppose a public sharing of the products beyond the classroom; and they require students to reflect on what and how they have learning" (Hess 2023, p. 121). Performance-based assessments are supported by cognitive science and foster authentic learning. Backward design is a practical framework and can ensure educational rigor when implemented correctly. Ultimately, educators can maintain rigor by fostering a learning environment where students can transfer skills and concepts to different tasks; performance-based assessments foster these skills and produce successful learning experiences for students. 


References: 

Hess, K. (2023). Rigor by design not chance: Deeper Thinking through actionable instruction and assessment. ASCD.

Jensen JL, Bailey EG, Kummer TA, Weber KS. Using backward design in education research: A research methods essay. J Microbiol Biol Educ. 2017 Oct 5;18(3):18.3.50. doi: 10.1128/jmbe.v18i3.1367. PMID: 29854045; PMCID: PMC5976040.


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