Understanding by Design in Higher Education: Designing Coursework for Deeper Learning

Understanding by Design® (UbD) is an internationally renowned curriculum development framework that has been used by educators across the world for more than three decades. The key ideas of the UbD framework are contained in its title: 1) prioritize the development of in-depth understandings to facilitate transfer for real-world applications; and 2) apply a three-stage design process for creating curricula toward those ends.

Though most widely used in K-12 schools, UbD can be applied to gui...