The design model we have adopted for Designing for Online Learning is a backward design model. You will read about backward design in Moodle in DOL Units 1 and 2 and practice it yourself as you fill out the Analyzing forms.
Here are some other links related to backwards design.
Understanding by Design (UbD) white paper (McTighe and Wiggins)
Overview of Backward Design (from IU)
Resources for Backward Design (from IU)
Writing Course-level Learning Outcomes (from TTU)