Wiggins and McTighe's three-stage backward design framework as a guiding strategy for educational app development¶
Design · All designs
Evidence · no claims cited
Description¶
Backward design is a curriculum design methodology in which learning goals and assessment are established before instruction is planned. McTighe and Wiggins "formalized the backward design process into three consecutive stages": Stage I identify desired results, Stage II determine acceptable evidence, and Stage III plan learning experiences and instruction. The authors applied all three stages to develop the CityHacks app, arguing it ties learning-goal identification, assessment design, and app feature design into one coherent process.
Design Implications¶
Context¶
Requirements¶
- Learning goals and acceptable evidence of understanding must be established before learning experiences and instruction are planned
Constraints¶
- The authors note design should also involve evaluation and other research theories and practices, so backward design alone is beneficial only "to a certain extent"
Target Learners¶
- K-12 students
- educational app developers
- instructional designers
Learning Goals¶
- aligning app design with learning goals and assessment
Claims¶
- Cityhacks Prepost Sleep Knowledge Gain [+W]
Related Designs¶
Examples¶
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Key Sources¶
- Kantorski, B., Sanford-Dolly, C. W., Commisso, D. R., & Pollock, J. A. (2019). Backward design as a mobile application development strategy. Education Tech Research Dev, 67, 711–731. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-019-09662-7
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
design |
id |
backward-design-three-stage-app-development |
title |
Wiggins and McTighe's three-stage backward design framework as a guiding strategy for educational app development |
description |
Backward design is a curriculum design methodology in which learning goals and assessment are established before instruction is planned. |
status |
review |
generated |
by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-29 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — kantorski-2019 |
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