Backward design is usually framed as a way to build better courses. It's also a good way to structure the prep work itself. Starting with outcomes creates a natural sequence, and helps avoid the common trap of building the course before the big questions are settled.
Month One: Clarifying Direction
Focus: learning outcomes, scope, priorities
Dr. Rivera, our fictional instructor, begins her prep by stepping back from content and focusing on direction:
Are the course learning outcomes still accurate and meaningful?
What do students need to be able to do by the end of the course?
Where have students struggled in the past?
Example: Dr. Rivera reviews her existing outcome: "Students will understand stakeholder theory." She realizes "understand" isn't measurable or action-oriented. She revises it to: "Students will analyze business decisions using stakeholder theory and justify recommendations based on competing stakeholder interests." This clearer outcome immediately suggests what evidence of learning might look like.
Month Two: Designing Assessments
Focus: major assignments, rubrics, sequencing
With learning outcomes in place, month two becomes assessment focused. Dr. Rivera revisits major assignments and asks:
What counts as strong evidence of learning?
How do assessments build across the term?
Where could expectations or rubrics be clearer?
Example: Dr. Rivera had been using a traditional research paper as her final assessment but realizes it doesn't align well with her revised outcome about applying stakeholder theory. She redesigns it as a case analysis where students must recommend and defend a decision for a real organization facing stakeholder conflict. She also creates a rubric that explicitly names "identification of stakeholder groups," "analysis of competing interests," and "justified recommendation" as criteria, giving students (and herself) clarity on what success looks like.
Month Three: Planning Weekly Learning Activities
Focus: weekly flow, engagement, learning activities
After outcomes and assessments are clear, Dr. Rivera turns to weekly planning. Each week has a purpose:
What practice prepares students for upcoming work?
Where should interaction or application be emphasized?
Which weeks can be lighter on content?
This is when learning activities, discussions, and media choices come into focus.
Example: Knowing students will need to analyze stakeholder conflicts in their final case study, Dr. Rivera plans Week 4 around practicing that skill with a lower-stakes scenario. She creates a discussion where small groups identify stakeholders in a brief scenario, then compare their analyses. This gives students structured practice before the final assessment and gives her a chance to see where they're struggling early enough to adjust.
Month Four: Building and Final Review
Focus: course build, clarity, accessibility
In her final month of course preparation, Dr. Rivera builds the course in ICON, updates content, checks accessibility, and reviews instructions from a student perspective. Because major decisions are settled, this phase is more about refinement than design.
Example: While building the Week 4 discussion in ICON, Dr. Rivera realizes her instructions assume students already know how to identify "primary" vs. "secondary" stakeholders, but that term hasn't been introduced yet. She adds a 3-minute video defining the distinction and links to a one-page visual guide. She also runs her assignment instructions through a readability checker and simplifies two sentences that were jargon-filled and complex.
Why This Works
Backward design ensures tight alignment between what students are expected to learn, how they'll demonstrate that learning, and what practice they'll receive along the way.
Instead of doing everything at once, the work unfolds as a series of purposeful decisions, all made at the right time.