Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

When Developing A Course Goal Becomes Developing Shared Norms, Brian J. Bowe

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

Having just arrived in Washington from my longtime Michigan home a few days before, the Backwards by Design retreat was the first formal activity of a new adventure on the faculty at Western Washington University. It was a great opportunity to get to know other faculty across departments. But, even more importantly, it was an open environment dedicated to fostering the creation student-centered learning environments. I learned many things — including a much more enthusiastic approach to using sticky notes to storyboard activities. I hope I was able to contribute as well.

Actionable Learning For A Living Earth: Backwards By Design 2015-16 Project Report, James Loucky

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

During the summer 2015 “Backwards by Design” working retreat, I explored the intricate pairing of knowledge and action as central to efforts to bridge anthropology and environment. The retreat initiated a focus on “actionable learning” as a threshold concept that would come to underlie my seminar on “Ecocultural Ethics” in Winter 2016.

Postcolonial Critique: A Threshold Concept In Organizational Communication Studies, James Fortney

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

In 2014, I attended the Backwards By Design professional development retreat as a way to enhance my writing instruction in the field of communication studies. The retreat workshops provided an opportunity for me to create and transform one of my courses by envisioning where I wanted to end up and working backwards on how to get there. By giving attention to design, enactment, and result, I was able to re-consider the overall learning goals of the course, with particular attention to the core concepts that potentially hold the power to transform student perception of communication studies. Below, I provide a …

Writing Instruction Report Regarding Activities Stemming From Summer 2014 Backwards By Design Retreat, Catherine Riordan

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

In the retreat I sought assistance as I developed a new course, a senior seminar in industrial/ organizational (I/O) psychology, a writing intensive course. The field is an applied one with many practitioners working as consultants. During the workshop I decided to use the consultancy relationship as the foundation for the writing assignments.

Students selected one case of many I shared with them as their focus. After doing research and interviewing professionals with knowledge of this content area, students proceeded through a series of writing assignments (Table 1), focusing on ‘business writing’ and switching back and forth between two audiences, …

Sequencing A Literature Review Paper, Peter Smith

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

In Fall 2013, I attended the Backwards by Design workshop sponsored by the Writing Instruction Center and led by Carmen Werder and Shevell Thibou. At that time I was just beginning to think about a new course, LIBR 320: Archives and Special Collections Studies. The purpose of the course is to engage students with the primary sources available in the Heritage Resources unit of Western Libraries, including the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Special Collections, and University Archives. Using the collections, students gain knowledge of and respect towards the institutions of special collections and archives globally, experiencing them locally.

Learning …

Backwards By Design 2013/2014 Assessment Project, Jasmine Goodnow

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

The Backwards by Design workshop inspired me to think deeply about how to construct meaningful assignments that would help students learn not only content and knowledge but application and deep understanding. I wanted to create enduring understanding that students would apply in their careers. Tourism can be a tool for social, environmental, and economic justice; however, this is not part of the current tourism industry’s paradigm. Thus, my task is to teach course curriculum through the lens of justice, not capitalism. REC 379 Foundations of Ecotourism is a course about the history, concepts, principles, marketing, and planning of ecotourism. I …

Backwards By Design Assessment Project, Linda Keeler

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

Currently, KIN 321 Sociology of Sport is the only sociocultural class in the kinesiology program and perhaps, one of the only sociology courses that kinesiology students will ever take. It is quite common that a sport sociology course is the first (and unfortunately only) upper class course that forces the students to critically analyze the underpinnings and values of the sport institution in which many are working so hard to promote. Since the class is approached from a conflict theorist approach (i.e., what I like to call the nitpick theory) and often challenges long held beliefs, a key threshold concept …

Using Service-Learning To Teach Threshold Concepts, Helen Morgan Parmett

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

The course I chose to focus on for the Backwards by Design retreat and for this particular study is Communication 244: Advocacy through Media. This course enjoins students to critically consider how media can be used as a tool to advocate for social and political change, and, especially for social justice. Students engage with scholarly and activist literature on theories of media, social change, and advocacy as well as case studies of media makers who intervene in the process of social change. Students’ critical acumen is sharpened through participating in a service-learning project, where students learn how to apply theories …