This course, in true meta fashion, is a series of asynchronous online learning modules with a goal of teaching you how to design and develop asynchronous online learning modules. These asynchronous online learning modules can be used in any number of situations, ranging from training colleagues in a company professional development setting to teaching a college course to offering a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC).

This course is split into five modules:
1) Introduction to asynchronous online learning modules and backward design
2) Learning Objectives and Bloom's Taxonomy
3) Assessments
4) Learning Resources
5) Canvas, Module Organization, and the "Connective Tissue"

Overall learning objectives:
- Use instructional design principles and best practices to design an effective learning module;
- Design assessments that allow you – and the learners themselves – to measure whether your learners have mastered the skills and concepts you consider important;
- Curate and create learning resources to guide your learners in gaining mastery of skills and concepts;
- Present your learning module asynchronously in a logically organized and explained manner;
- Code your learning module into the Canvas Learning Management System for your learners to access.

How we design professional development greatly impacts outcomes. This module addresses the incorporation of critical thinking and critical reflection skills into professional development sessions, with sections on cultural competency, incorporating participant self-assessment at the end of sessions using rubrics, and instructional design considerations when developing in-person sessions or online learning. It is intended to give an entry into these topics for anyone providing training in any setting.

This website will help you understand and apply the Understanding by Design (UbD) or Backward Design planning process to develop equitable units of math instruction. The UbD content will draw from the work done by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, digitalcommons@trinity.edu., OER Commons, other resources and from Granite State College math and methods instructors.

We will examine each of the 3 main stages of unit planning and apply these concepts to planning math instruction for K-12 students.

ABSTRACT: Backward course design is a compelling strategy for achieving results-based, student-centered learning. The backward course-design approach is first to identify student-learning outcomes, then the means of assessing the outcomes, and lastly the classroom activities that would support the learning outcomes. With demonstrated success at improving teaching and learning at K–12 levels, this design approach is receiving increasing attention at the college level. Yet college faculty, who receive comparatively little instruction in course design, may find it challenging to enact the principles of backward course design into day-to-day lecture planning. To help address this challenge, we developed a backward design-inspired lesson planner to assist in restructuring college course periods for more active, learner-centered activities that align with course goals. We describe the planner and its application to a non-majors college biology class, and we share student and instructor perceptions of classroom structure and use of classroom time before and after implementation. Benefits of implementing the backward design planner included enhanced ability to prioritize content delivery to students, better time management in and out of the classroom, improved experience of lecture preparation, more engaged students, and more frequent feedback on student comprehension.