Robert:

Your students are fortunate to have UbD as a text. It seems like it would be much easier to learn to teach using UbD, than to learn a different format/style and then have to reprogram your planning style later in your professional career. UbD will help young professionals avoid planning 'activities' and teaching key topics without focusing on understanding and transfer. I hope more university professors read your post and follow your practice. Your students will become more thoughtful practitioners and I believe they will enjoy teaching more because UbD will support their goals more than other planning templates or frameworks.

hello colleagues,
Another Australian connection- Hi Warrick! Jay worked with our Faculty Leaders from our 3 campuses a few weeks ago, and we had a curriculum mapping day a week later. Our Leaders really took the notions of cornerstone assessments back to the teams and the level of activity was amazing. I think the UbD framework works so well with the mapping- especially when folks start getting the ideas and practices around alignment.

Jay and I have submitted the latest publication - A Design Guide for building units - to the editors. Look for it next school year! In the mean time, for those of you interested in moving ubd forward, please go to my website for free materials on ubd - www.authenticeducation.org

I'm back in Australia from ASCD10 and planning a presentation to staff on UbD. Some staf know a lot, others not so much. I've been looking for a short video introduction to the concepts online and I'm surprised that there doesn't seem to be much there. I was hoping for Wiggins or McTighe introducing the main features in a couple of minutes or so. If anyone can point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it.

UbD is something that is being incorporated into international education around the world. Grant Wiggins is a highly respected presenter at European conferences who has generated some very interesting and lively discussions within the European international community. A few weeks ago I was in Greece where some educators I spoke with were talking about Grant's recent workshop in Athens with some interesting insights. I am attending the Swiss Group of International Schools (SGIS) where Grant has been a past keynote presenter and workshop leader and look forward to hearing how the UbD concepts are being incorporated into international school curriculum in these schools.

It would be interesting to hear from other parts of the world how Understanding by Design is changing or not changing education.

Hi, I'm a new member. Jay I was at your session at ASCD 2010. I loved the child about the "frican" elephant.

I think this is a great group where I can learn from colleagues around the globe.

I continue to work with UbD and teachers in Macomb County Michigan. I have had some success and of course lots of frustration.

Understanding by Design is a classic book. I am excited to be part of this group. One thing I am interested in learning is how other districts are identifying student misunderstandings. The book says, "Teaching for understanding must successfully predict potential misunderstandings and rough spots in learning if it is to be effective." Our school district would like to begin this process. If you have templates that your school district has designed or if you have embedded the "potential misunderstandings" into your curriculum maps, I would like to see an example from a school district.

Hi, everyone - like Jay, I am now in the Edge community and a member of the ubd group. Please don't hesitate to run ideas, questions, comments, and feedback by us.

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