[image from Wentworth Institute of Technology, "Backward Course Design," https://wit.edu/lit/develop/backward-course-design]
Backward design is a framework to help instructors plan workshops, courses, and sessions, with an end-goal in mind. While keeping in mind any key situational factors for your planning (e.g. Are the learners undergraduate students, graduate students, first-year students, seniors? What's the research assignment, and where are students in the process? Are you providing in-person or online instruction? Will you be meeting with students over several sessions, or just once? Do you have 50 minutes, 75, 15?), consider the following as a design framework:
1. Identify your goals. Questions to consider: What do you want students to be able to do or understand after? What are big ideas and important understandings participants should retain?
2. Identify how students will demonstrate their learning. Questions to consider: How will students demonstrate what they've learned? How will you know if learners have achieved the learning goals?
3. Design learning activities / experiences. Questions to consider: What will you design to help students learn? What activities will equip learners with the needed knowledge and skills? Does your plan align with your learning goals / outcomes?