Welcome to your first unit for this course!

This section offers you a "big picture" view of goals-based "backwards" design. The units that follow will take a closer look at the steps involved, and then prompt you to practice. You will also be introduced to some other related instructional design models, which you can consider in combination with the backwards design approach we will be using.

The ideal scenario is that you plan on creating your own class, and you can use the steps covered here as part of your process, actually designing and creating your class along the way. Designing and creating an online class can take a considerable amount of time, however, so you might choose to practice on only one or two items for each unit before moving on; you can then return to your own class's creation after completing all the learning units here.