Understanding by Design: Implementation in Music Education

1. Music Teacher Educator’s Comprehension and Implementation of Wiggins and McTighe’s  “Understanding by Design” Framework NAfME Music Research and Teacher Education National Conference Daniel Johnson, The University of North Carolina-Wilmington Amber Dahlen-Peterson, Carl Sandburg College Amy Spears, Florida Atlantic University Johnathan Vest, The University of Tennessee--Martin

2. Problem • The National Coalition for Core Arts Standards (NCCAS) based the new P-12 standards for music education on Wiggins & McTighe’s  “Understanding by Design” curricular framework. • This framework may be unfamiliar to music teachers educators at the university level.

3. What is “Understanding by Design”? • Created by Wiggins and McTighe in 2005 • Concept of backward design (beginning with the end in mind) • Enduring Understandings (knowledge + skills) • Essential Questions (aimed to stimulate thought and provoke inquiry; not answerable in brief statements)

4. What is “Understanding by Design”? • Created by Wiggins and McTighe in 2005 • Concept of backward design (beginning with the end in mind) • Enduring Understandings (knowledge + skills) • Essential Questions (aimed to stimulate thought and provoke inquiry; not answerable in brief statements) • Six Facets of Understanding

5. 6 Facets of Understanding

6. Purpose • Determine how familiar music teacher educators are with UbD • Determine how and to what extent UbD is currently incorporated into the university curricula • Develop a network of collegiate and P-12 music educators who already implement UbD • Create a database of lesson plans to assist music teachers less familiar with the framework

7. Survey • A survey was created and distributed electronically to music teacher educators who are members of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). • The survey included three questions about university demographics, as well as yes or no questions, Likert-scale items, and short answer items.

8. Type of Institution n=193 n=107

9. Programs/degrees offered by respondents’ institutions n=233 n=167 n=71 n=64

10. Respondents’ School Enrollment Size n=35 n=73 n=71 n=121

11. “How well do you understand UbD?” No response =48 n=128 n=42 n=62 n=49 n=19

12. “Our music education faculty work to address the UbD model in undergraduate music teacher education.” No response =48 n=75 n=225

13. Of the 75 that responded “yes” to this question, 39 gave additional information about how they currently use UbD in their undergraduate curriculum.

14. Current use of UbDHOW • Methods – (24/300) 8% • Elementary Methods (8) • Methods of Teaching Elementary Music • Elementary Music Methods for Elementary Ed. Majors • Integrated Music Methods (P-6 General Music) • General Music Methods • Methods (Unspecified) (6) • Secondary Methods (5) • Secondary Choral Music Methods • Middle/Secondary Methods • Music Education Methods (3) • Instrumental Methods (1) • Upper Level Music Methods (1)

15. Current use of UbD HOW Other Undergraduate Courses (32/300) 11% • Student Teaching (7) • Introduction to Music Education/Foundations (5) • Education (Non-music) classes (4) • “Most courses” (Unspecified)/Throughout curriculum) (4) • Music Education classes (Unspecified) (2) • Other (10) Assessment of Music Education Curriculum Project Designing Curriculum & Instruction in Music Elementary General Music Historical & Philosophical Foundations in Music Education Music & Literacy Music & Movement for Early Childhood (for early childhood education majors) Practicum Rehearsal Techniques Standard Based Education

16. Current use of UbDWHEN • Student Teaching (7) • Senior Year (4) • Junior Year (3) • Upper Level/Division (Junior/Senior) (2) • Freshman (1) • Sophomore (1) • All levels (1)

17. Current use of UbDWHAT • Lesson Planning (13) • Curriculum Development/Mapping/Design (5) • Unit Planning/Design (5) • edTPA experience (2) • Course Design (1)

18. “I know at least one in-service music teacher who is already using the UbD model in his/her classes and I would be willing to ask him/her to share UbD lesson plans. ” No response = 247 n=281 n=19

19. “I would be willing to lend my expertise and help disseminate information about UbD to other music educators. ” No response = 245 n=33 n=267

20. “Although I do not use UbD now, I plan to adopt it.” No response = 169 n=42 n=258

21. How do you plan to use UbD (e.g., in which classes and for which levels) •  Not sure how to implement (3) • “Steep learning curve for me. Unknown at this time.” • Do plan to implement (42) • “Once the final version of the new standards are approved, we will look at those and make some decisions about how these will be incorporated.” • “If the new National Standards work well with UbD, then I will implement it into every class I teach.”

22. Frameworks currently used by music education faculty • 83 written responses indicate a wide interpretation of the term “framework.” • Responses include: • Don’t know/don’t understand the question (16) • Music education methods courses (7) • Charlotte Danielson (6) • Accrediting body, including NASM and NCATE (5) • edTPA (4) • National Standards (4) • State guidelines (4) • Kodály (3) • Constructivism (2) • UbD (2) • Other (18)

23. Additional Comments • Wrote additional comments: (57/300) 19% • Not familiar with it (15/57) • Suggestions for more familiarity: • A repository for sample lesson plans • professional development: webinars, blogs, online videos, state/national conference presentations • “Perhaps also having an educator/ director of curriculum help from outside the discipline to give feedback on assessment and student experience.”

24. Additional Comments – Some Concerns • 11 showed concern about the model • “Get back to the traditional, tested, and successful methods of teaching music in the schools. Of course, I'm retired; however, why do so-called music educators keep coming up with new teaching strategies? Quit trying to reinvent the wheel and study the successful methods of teaching music that have been successful for many years. The Tanglewood Symposium was a milestone, can you youngsters match that?” • “The current time allotments in many schools (30 minutes per week for general music on the elementary level) [may] not provide adequate time for the students and teachers to even come close to reaching the specific goals for music composition and performance.” • “My main concern is that the integrity of the music learning sequence is maintained.”

25. Additional Comments – Already utilizing UBD to some degree • 7 have been doing backwards design but did not think of it as UBD model • “It seems to me we are now defining or adding terminology to different approaches we, as music educators, have been already doing for years. I am not sour or upset - just amazed and observant.” • “How is this model different than assessment embedded instruction or backwards planning?”

26. Additional Comments – Already utilizing UBD to some degree • 4 elaborated that they have been doing UBD and find the method beneficial • “New Jersey schools mandate backwards design and it seems that most practicing teachers and administrators follow the guidelines automatically.” • “I currently work in Curriculum and Instruction and we often have to provide lesson plan examples for these templates. While they differ on minor areas, most are UbD models.” • “I used to work in Montgomery County, MD. They following Baldridge, which incorporates enduring understandings, etc. . . .they may or may not be talking about this in terms of UbD as outlined by W&M. This large school district references backward design planning and wrote curriculum accordingly.” • “Music education majors [at my university] have been writing plans this way for at least 2 years before graduation. The fact that this is published and being adopted by NAfME is validation for my teaching. Most of my former students realize that this is a very effective way of getting ensemble members to function as independent musicians.”

27. Implications • Data from this survey indicate a low level of understanding of UbD at the collegiate level. • Data also indicate no consesus on how “framework” is definied (curricula, methodologies, standards, etc.) • Written responses indicate a level of frustration with communication about the standards framework, as well as an interest in creating a resource network for music educators.