Backwards Design

In their paper, Ashford-Rowe, Herrington and Brown  (2014), examined the 8 elements of authentic assessment from literature, which look at the connections between school-based ideas and real-world experiences. Again, the theme of real world practice comes into play. For teachers, what this means when developing authentic assessments, is planning. The idea of backwards design is critical in creating authentic assessments. Thinking about the end result before scaffolding the units and lessons themselves, helps educators plan the trajectory in which they intend to go and then work backwards to consider the many ways that instruction needs to take place in order for students to meet their end goals.

Understanding by Design (2005), looks at the importance of "backwards planning". Wiggins and McTighe raise an interesting point, when they state that you cannot start planning how you are going to teach until you know exactly what your students want to learn. Student input helps to develop content-rich curriculum that is rooted in student interests. They develop their ideas further to discuss the importance of transfer tasks, which allow for students to use the knowledge that they have gained in a scope much larger than a specific subject or strand. This approach to planning calls on the instructor to think of meaningful forms of student engagement and ways to accurately capture student understanding and successes.

http://www.ascd.org/Publications/Books/Overview/Understanding-by-Design-Expanded-2nd-Edition.aspx