Understanding By Design

After reading the Understanding by Design article these are some things I thought about:

Are students really learning if they cannot apply the knowledge outside of the classroom. Example: I know that students in English learn capitization, punctuation, spelling and sentence structure; why can they not apply this knowledge to a simple letter writing activity in Computer Technology class.

We have been in a teaching frame of mind to cover subjects a mile wide, inch deep. We need to incorporate more critical thinking skills in the curriculum and move to focusing on the "Big Idea" or inch wide, mile deep instruction. Unfortunately some state standards, objectives and competency tests force us to cover so much in so little time, we must gloss over the information as fast as possible to get it all in before time runs out.

When investigating Understanding by Design further, I found a presentation about UbD and the addition of technology in the classroom. It states that UbD + Technology = Goal of Education. Learners need many types of learning strategies and should be using technologies that they are familiar with such as: digital presentations, podcasts and electronic portfolios. Students should be involved in their own learning by learning to frame and ask meaningful questions about the subject and about their understanding of the subject.