Teaching with Purpose: Why “Understanding by Design” is a Game-Changer for Public Safety Instructors

Key Takeaways

• The Understanding by Design (UbD) framework helps instructors shift from “covering content” to delivering transferable learning outcomes.
• UbD starts by identifying desired student results, then builds assessments and lesson plans backward from that.
• For public safety educators—many of whom were thrown into the classroom without formal training—UbD offers a structured way to think like a teacher.
• This method helps both new and experienced instructors design better courses, lead more meaningful classes, and improve student performance.

From the Field to the Front of the Classroom

If you’re like us, your journey into teaching didn’t begin in an education department or college of pedagogy. It started with a call—maybe literally. We spent years responding to emergencies, making life-or-death decisions in seconds, and training on repetition, realism, and responsibility. Then, one day, someone said, “Hey, can you teach this?” And just like that, we were in front of a classroom.

Most of us in public safety education learn how to teach the same way we learned how to survive a scene: trial by fire.

We’re handed PowerPoints, instructor guides, maybe a lesson plan, and expected to “cover the material.” And while instructor certification courses are important, they often focus more on compliance and less on actual learning design. That’s where Understanding by Design (UbD) comes in—and why we believe it’s the framework we’ve been missing.

What Is Understanding by Design?

Developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, UbD is a planning framework that helps instructors design courses backward from desired learning outcomes. Instead of starting with activities or a textbook, we start by asking:

• What do we want our students to be able to do with what they’ve learned?
• How will we know they understand it?
• What experiences will help them get there?

In the public safety world, this maps directly to what we value: actionable competence. It’s not enough for someone to recite signs of a stroke—they need to recognize it in the field, communicate clearly, and initiate appropriate treatment or response. That’s transfer. That’s UbD.

The Three Stages of UbD (And Why They Matter)

Stage 1: Identify Desired Results
Start with the end in mind. What should students walk away able to do? This might mean delivering a pediatric dose without hesitation, reading a smoke column from a mile out, or knowing when not to act. UbD encourages us to define enduring understandings, not just knowledge. What’s the bigger idea that will stick years later?

Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence
How will we know they got it? We don’t just mean quizzes—though those have a place. We mean authentic, performance-based evidence. Can they teach the concept to a peer? Can they apply it in a scenario that doesn’t mirror the one from your lecture? This phase invites us to think like coaches, not just content deliverers.

Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction
Only after defining the goals and evidence do we build our plan. This ensures every exercise, scenario, or lecture is intentional—not filler. It prevents the all-too-common drift into “activity for activity’s sake.” As Wiggins and McTighe put it, textbooks become resources, not the curriculum.

Why UbD Matters for Us

1. It makes our teaching more intentional.

We’ve all seen lessons that felt more like checking boxes than real learning. UbD forces us to ask, “What’s the point?”—and that’s a good thing. When you teach from the back (the result) forward, your time becomes better spent, and your students get more out of it.

2. It helps us teach like we coach.

Public safety instructors are natural coaches. We give feedback, correct technique, and train for the real thing. UbD formalizes that instinct. We stop assuming learning happens just because we taught something, and instead start checking for meaning-making and application.

3. It supports continual improvement.

UbD isn’t a one-and-done. It’s a mindset of reflection. After a course or scenario, we can look at student performance and ask, “Did they learn what we intended?” And if not—where did the plan go off track?

Common Objections (And Why They Don’t Hold Up)

“I don’t have time for this.”
Truthfully, UbD saves time in the long run. When your course is focused and aligned, you spend less time re-teaching, clarifying, or correcting. Your evaluations get better. Your learners retain more. Everyone wins.

“This sounds academic—our world is practical.”
Exactly. UbD is rooted in performance and transfer. It was made for real-world application. The Six Facets of Understanding—like applying, explaining, and seeing multiple perspectives—map perfectly to what we need from medics, firefighters, and safety professionals on scene.

“But I already have my lessons built.”
That’s fine. Start small. Use the UbD lens to reflect on one unit, one test, or one skill block. Ask: “What’s the transfer goal here? Are my assessments aligned with that goal? Are my activities preparing students for it?” Even that shift can elevate your teaching.

Final Thoughts: You Can Teach Like a Pro—Even Without a Degree in Education

We didn’t go into EMS, fire, or law enforcement because we wanted to write lesson plans. But somewhere along the way, we picked up the responsibility to prepare the next generation. They deserve better than “covering content.” They deserve instructors who are deliberate, reflective, and results-driven.

The Understanding by Design framework isn’t just for “teachers.” It’s for leaders who teach. It’s for us.