Understanding by Design is not merely a curriculum planning framework; it's a transformative tool. It's designed to focus on developing curriculum and learning experiences that will empower students to develop and deepen their understanding of important ideas. Ultimately so they can transfer they're learning.
In a world in which we can Google much information on a smartphone and is changing rapidly and increasingly unpredictable, it makes sense for modern education to not just develop basic skills or basic information in students but to help them understand the larger transferable ideas. So they can transfer what they're learning and apply what they've learned to new situations. That's one of the significant areas of focus in Understanding by Design.
Another part of Understanding by Design is gathering evidence of learning. If we say we want students to be able to transfer what they're learning and we want them to develop and deepen their understanding of important ideas, we need evidence of their ability to do those things. So, a big part of the UbD is gathering evidence of student understanding and transfer.
And finally and perhaps most importantly, one of the underpinning goals of Understanding by Design is to help teaching and learning become more engaging for students and more relevant and meaningful. Many teachers have tried to make their teaching and learning more engaging for students over the years, but there are ideas in the UbD that make it more likely by design.
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