Beyond backward design, or, by the end of this article, you should be able to imagine some alternatives to learning objectives

Abstract

If the challenges of teaching and learning do not amount to simple empirical questions about effective pedagogical strategies but are instead complex “wicked problems” that may be impossible to solve, where does that leave the practice of backward design? Drawing on the intellectual history of instructional design, I argue that the use of learning objectives, in particular, may not meet the comprehensive challenges of educational development today. Rather than rehashing perennial critiques that learning objectives overly instrumentalize the educational process or are not sufficiently student-centered, I ask what is missed by focusing on what students will know and be able to do by the end of a course. Especially in times of tragedy or crisis, the forward-looking nature of goals and objectives can obscure the importance of learning to be in the present moment and to recognize what is already known. I conclude by suggesting that a pedagogy of non-striving is able to bring intentionality to the time students and teachers spend together without relying on an explicit enumeration of aims.