This article discusses a systematic approach to designing significant learning experiences, often referred to as the "backward design process," which has been popularized by Wiggins and McTighe (1998) and is included as a central feature of L. Dee Fink's model for integrated course design (Fink, 2003). The process is referred to as backward because it starts with a vision of the desired results. The design process then works backward to develop the instruction. The design choices that constitute the beginning of the process in the common model of course design would be made toward the end of the backward design process and would not drive the curriculum. This article also describes the new design model developed by Fink: integrated course design. The integrated model expands the course instructional design process by first considering the multifaceted realities of the designer's situational context. It then goes on to integrate specific learning experiences into an entire course and concludes by addressing such pragmatic matters as the messages conveyed in the course syllabus. However, this model still maintains the powerful backward design process as its core. The Wiggins and McTighe backward design process focuses more on particular lessons and units of instruction, while acknowledging the influence of national and local science education standards on decisions that are made about desired outcomes. The integrated course design process of Fink incorporates three distinct phases, each of which in turn includes at least several discrete, sequentially building steps in the design or redesign of a course. These phases are briefly described in this article. (Contains 1 table.)