I’m very pleased to say that after some up-skilling on my part, and work with Jay McTighe, that I will be able to add Understanding by Design® training to the consulting services I offer schools and organisations.
I’ve written a reflection on my decades-long relationship with UbD, but the main point is that Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe’s work provides the best approach to really achieving the transformation today’s schools must undergo. What transformation? Before 1:1 access to digital learning, a teacher-delivered, seat-time-based, one-size-fits-all curriculum worked reasonably well. However, now that rich individualized learning is in the hands of every student, this approach fails – why would we want to make learning wait or base our goals on a random idea of “normal?” Today, our curriculum must be student-driven, accomplishment-based and personalised. Of course such changes require time and effort, but more than this, they require a well-reasoned and time-tested process. Fortunately, Grant and Jay’s work, designed and conducted over decades and across international borders, provides extensive guidance to achieve these goals. I appreciate the opportunity to join this team, support their work, learn from these leaders and contribute to the development of schools in Australia, the US and Asia.
As someone who believes in the power of technology to empower positive change, it’s only natural that I champion ICT solutions that can make this transformation (and my contribution) even more likely to succeed. In the past I have used a range of software programs to facilitate curriculum mapping and lesson development. I believe such software increases teacher productivity and professional collaboration as well as facilitates the continuous improvement of teaching and learning.
Although I can support schools using any curriculum development solution, I’ve decided to specialize in and support use of Edutect’s UnitPlanner. The reason for this is that the UnitPlanner is completely based on the Understanding by Design® framework. Thus while other software can be used for UbD, Edutect’s close association with Jay McTighe means that the UnitPlanner will always reflect the latest thinking and strategies to promote a curriculum focused on understanding and rich transfer goals.
Understanding by Design® and Edutect’s UnitPlanner are both natural extensions of the work I’ve always done, but also allow me to engage schools in the deeper critical work of continuously improving their curriculum to support their visions for student success.
Please contact me directly or work through your school’s previous relationships with Eductect or McTighe and Associates to arrange support or discuss the options.