Last week, we looked at Fink's (2003) model of Aligning Outcomes, Assessment, and Activitieswhich included a three-column table to make sure that the desired learning outcomes of a course or lesson are consistent with the assessment and activities are being administered or facilitated by the teacher-coach. This week, we will be using Wiggins and McTighe's (2005) concepts and template of Understanding by Design to develop a lesson plan, which also uses backward design concept with the intent of aligning activity and assessment with eh desired outcomes.

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Below is the UbD for the first steps for the football staff in my Disruptive Innovation, of incorporating a virtual reality football simulator into the standard training protocol of a major college football team. Because the environment of this project is not in a classroom and the learners are football coaches (not their student-athletes), this design will not look like a lesson plan, but more like a plan of action. Please keep in mind the Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG): By the end of this module the coaching staff will adopt a sustainable training program that incorporates a virtual reality football simulator, encouraging personal growth and intrinsic motivation to advance player performance and team achievement.

 

Stage 1 – Desired Results

 

Unit Title: VR Football Simulator – Designing and Loading the Content

• Learners will define and design the installation for the student-athletes, along with the relevant opponent schematics.

• Learners will load their unit playbooks and installations to the virtual reality system, and build a sustainable training module for the student-athletes to follow.

 

Understandings

Learners will understand that:

• Having an organized system of content and delineation of duties will help expedite the process, while making sure the work is done properly.

• Consistent nomenclature within the system will allow for better learning and organization throughout the process.

• There are many people to help the upload to virtual reality, but not everyone works on the same timeline. Try to organize questions and needs with enough lead time for people to work in a hurried but not rushed manner.

• The more detail the staff puts into creating the database and template, though time-consuming initially, the more efficiency in the long-run for creating and adjusting training modules.

• Students are motivated in different ways, i.e. intrinsic vs extrinsic. Know each student and adjust accordingly.

 

Essential Questions

• What are the steps necessary to load a play into the virtual reality program?

• Who is the person/department responsible for troubleshooting hardware vs software vs network issues?

• Is the play in virtual reality both spatially and schematically accurate?

• What motivates the students I work with?

 

Learners Will Know (as a result of this unit)

• The process to load content into the virtual reality training simulator

• How to be better leaders and followers.

• Who to go to for various troubleshooting needs.

 

 

Learners Will Be Able To (as a result of this unit)

• Work together to build a well thought-out playbook and installation schedule.

• Upload diagrams and information into the virtual reality system.

• Troubleshoot some issues on their own.

• Better understand what motivates their students.

 

Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence

 

Performance Tasks

• Playbook and installation schedule completed

• Playbook and installation schedule loaded to virtual reality

• Training module expectations given to students

 

Other Evidence

• Daily unit meetings to discuss duties and progress

• Weekly staff meeting to discuss progress, successes, criticisms, and troubleshooting

• Staff quality control to assure spatial and schematic accuracy

• Students using the virtual reality simulator on their own time

• Practice and meeting efficiency in training camp

Stage 3 – Learning Plan

 

Learning Activities

 

Key

W = Where and What is expected:

H = Hook and Hold interest:

E = Equip students, help Experience ideas, and Explore issues:

R = Rethink and Revise work:

E = Evaluate work:

T = Be Tailored to individuals:

O = Be Organized to maximize engagement and learning:

 

1. First full-staff meeting to give clear expectations of the project and timeline (W, H, E, O)

2. Introduce compelling scoreboard (H, O)

3. Break into offensive and defensive unit meetings to discuss unit plan and installation schedule (W, H, E, O)

4. Design and organize unit installation schedule using video study to reinforce ideas (E, R, O)

5. Discuss unit delegation of duties (E, T, O)

6. Begin template upload to virtual reality system (E, R)

7. Assigned staff member(s) quality control program to assure spatial and schematic accuracy (E, R, O)

8. Team meeting to discuss student expectations and goals regarding virtual reality (W, H, E, T, O)

9. Unit meeting with students to discuss installation schedule (W, H, E, T, O)

10. Position meeting with students to discuss position specific expectations and assignments (W, H, E, T, O)

11. Daily unit meeting (Staff only) to discuss progress and pitfalls (R, T, O)

12. Weekly full-staff meeting to discuss progress on compelling scoreboard and summary of unit progress and pitfalls (E, R, T, O)

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Reflection: UbD and the Three-Column Table

Both ​the Understanding by Design model of Wiggins and McTighe (2005) and the Three-Column Table used by Fink (2003) utilize the backwards design method where you decide what your desired goals are first, then you create the lessons and methods to display learning accordingly. From my experience using the two, it seemed to me that the Three-Column approach placed more emphasis on the taxonomy of learning and making sure the assessments and activities were on a direct line from the type of learning occurring. The UbD model did not feel as stringent towards the alignment of the goals, assessments, and activities, but allowed for greater detail in activities being used.  Perhaps the three-column table has better cognitive detail, while UbD has better organizational detail, and I can see the need for both.