Learning the Best Ways to Teach: Faculty Training in Curriculum Design

In the spirit of lifelong learning and the TAS faculty's never-ending quest for continuous improvement, teachers trained in workshops on the Understanding by Design (UbD) method of planning curriculum.

The workshops were led by Janelle McGann of McTighe & Associates. A global educator and consultant with over 25 years of experience in public and private schools in Australia, Ireland, and the US, Ms. McGann focuses on supporting teachers in their roles as curriculum designers and instructional leaders, so they can design more effective lessons and pedagogy to meet the needs of students today and into the future. In her introduction, Ms. McGann shared that UbD reflects how current research on learning and cognition highlights the importance of the centrality of teaching and assessing for understanding as a process for writing curriculum.

This schoolwide professional development event in the Upper School Gym began with a welcome from Head of School, David Frankenberg, followed by a brief introduction by Director of Teaching and Learning, Amanda Jacob. Ms. Jacob established the context for the UbD training as a natural progression from the TAS Mission, Schoolwide Learning Outcomes, Definition of Learning, and the recent recommendations that resulted from our extensive WASC Self-Study process.

The Understanding by Design (UbD) workshops mark an important step in Taipei American School's dedication to fostering an environment of purposeful and innovative teaching. Our faculty continues to refine their approach to curriculum design, ensuring that every lesson meets the learning needs of our students while aligning with our mission and values. By embracing UbD's design framework, TAS educators are better equipped to create learning experiences that inspire and prepare students for the future.

The traditional "forward design" curriculum writing process begins with deciding how to teach content, developing assessments around it, and then drawing connections to the course's learning goals. An Understanding by Design approach holds that lessons, units, and classes should stem from the desired results; in short, the best designs derive backward from the desired outcome. 

The backward design framework holds that instructors should consider learning goals and how students will be assessed before deciding how to teach the content. For this reason, the backward design of UbD is regarded as a more intentional approach to course design than traditional methods.

Over the coming months, all teaching teams and departments across the school will be tasked with exploring their objectives, processes, and outcomes through planning and instruction as viewed through the UbD lens. This focus will lead to students developing skills while gaining an enduring depth of understanding over the breadth of content.