This title presents perspectives on the relationship between curriculum research and instructional design, as well as new developments in the use of information and communication technology.

What is understanding and how does it differ from knowledge? How can we determine the big ideas worth understanding? Why is understanding an important teaching goal, and how do we know when students have attained it? How can we create a rigorous and engaging curriculum that focuses on understanding and leads to improved student performance in today's high-stakes, standards-based environment? Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have greatly revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K-16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum. Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, this new edition of Understanding by Design offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.

This updated third edition of Curriculum Planning and Instructional Design for Gifted Learners:

Basic principles and practical strategies to promote learning in any setting! From K-12 to corporate training settings––the Third Edition of Patricia Smith and Tillman Ragan’s thorough, research-based text equips you with the solid foundation you need to design instruction and environments that really facilitate learning. Now updated to reflect the latest thinking in the field, this new edition offers not only extensive procedural assistance but also emphasizes the basic principles upon which most of the models and procedures in the instructional design field are built. The text presents a comprehensive treatment of the instructional design process, including analysis, strategy design, assessment, and evaluation.

The Essentials of Instructional Design, 3rd Edition introduces the essential elements of instructional design (ID) to students who are new to ID. The key procedures within the ID process—learner analysis, task analysis, needs analysis, developing goals and objectives, organizing instruction, developing instructional activities, assessing learner achievement and evaluating the success of the instructional design—are covered in complete chapters that describe and provide examples of how the procedure is accomplished using the best known instructional design models. Unlike most other ID books, The Essentials of Instructional Design provides an overview of the principles and practice of ID without placing emphasis on any one ID model. Offering the voices of instructional designers from a number of professional settings and providing real-life examples from across sectors, students learn how professional organizations put the various ID processes into practice. This introductory textbook provides students with the information they need to make informed decisions as they design and develop instruction, offering them a variety of possible approaches for each step in the ID process and clearly explaining the strengths and challenges associated with each approach.

Merging the Instructional Design Process with Learner-Centered Theory brings together the innovations of two previously divided processes — learning design strategies/theories and instructional systems development — into a new introductory textbook. Using a holistic rather than fragmented approach that includes top-level, mid-level, and lower-level design, this book provides guidance for major topics such as non-instructional interventions, just-in-time analysis, rapid-prototype approaches, and learner-centered, project-based, anytime-anywhere instruction. Informed by the authors’ considerable experience and leadership throughout dramatic shifts in today’s learning landscape, this book offers the next generation of instructional designers a fresh perspective that synthesizes and pushes beyond the basics of design and development.