The Understanding by Design Guide to Advanced Concepts in Creating and Reviewing Units

Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

Table of Contents

About the Authors  |  Comments

About This Book

The Understanding by Design Guide to Advanced Concepts in Creating and Reviewing Units offers instructional modules on how to refine units created using Understanding by Design® (UbD™) and how to effectively review the units using self-assessment and peer review, along with observation and supervision. 

The guide builds on its companion and predecessor, The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units, and like the earlier volume, it presents the following components for each module:

• Narrative discussion of key ideas in the module.
• Exercises, worksheets, and design tips.
• Examples of unit designs.
• Review criteria for self- and peer assessment.
• References for further information.

UbD is based on a backward design approach and is used by thousands of educators to create curriculum units and assessments that focus on developing students' understanding of essential ideas and helping students attain important skills. 

The guide is intended for use by individuals or groups in K–16 education (teachers, school and district administrators, curriculum directors, graduate and undergraduate students in curriculum, and others) who want to further develop their skill in UbD. Users can work through the modules in order or pick and choose, depending on their interests and needs.

Additional resources, including worksheets, examples, and FAQs, are available as downloadable forms (including fillable UbD templates that can be saved electronically), making it easy for UbD practitioners to advance their understanding and their ability to create curriculum that leads to deep, meaningful learning.

See the book's table of contents and read excerpts.

Get this title at a discount when you buy it as part of a two-book set that includes the companion book, The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units.

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About the Authors

GRANT WIGGINS (1950–2015) was president of Authentic Education in Hopewell, New Jersey. He earned his EdD from Harvard University and his BA from St. John’s College in Annapolis. Wiggins, along with his colleagues, consulted with schools, districts, and state and national education departments on a variety of reform matters. He and his colleagues also organized conferences and workshops and developed print and web resources on key school reform issues.

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JAY MCTIGHE brings a wealth of experience developed during a rich and varied career in education. He served as director of the Maryland Assessment Consortium, a state collaboration of school districts working together to develop and share formative performance assessments. Prior to this position, Jay was involved with school improvement projects at the Maryland State Department of Education where he directed the development of the Instructional Framework, a multimedia database on teaching. 

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