Assignments workshop

Purpose

The purpose of the Assignments workshop is to enhance clarity and consistency in assignment instructions.

Clear and consistent assignments

1. Support student learning.
2. Clarify teacher work.
3. Emphasize the importance of transparency in assessment.

Outcome

The teacher

1. Gets to know the four phases of constructing a clear and consistent assignment.
2. Uses co-creation to strengthen clarity and consistency in own assignments.

The four phases of creating clear and consistent assignment instructions

Phase 1: Ideate

Reflect on assignments you have on your own courses and find answers to the following questions:

1. How can you make course learning outcomes concrete in the assignment?
2. How does the student demonstrate their skills and knowledge in the assignment?
3. What kind of assignments promote learning?

Phase 2: Break into four parts

Good assignment instructions consist of at least four parts:

1. Assignment purpose: Why does the student need to complete the assignment? How is the assignment related to the field of study?
2. Assignment outcome: What is the assignment learning outcome? Which course learning outcome is practiced/fulfilled in the assignment?
3. Instructions for student action: Which steps does the student take to complete the assignment? Add phases and numbered lists. Clarify. How is AI used in the assignment? Add the suitable traffic light image and describe in more detail if necessary.
4. Assignment assessment criteria: What are the requirements for achieving a passing grade/various grades/points?

When you as the teacher can determine assignment purpose and assignment outcome by answering the questions

1. Why does the student need to complete the assignment?
2. What is the assignment learning outcome?

You will have

1. Good reasons for including the assignment on your course.
2. A clear way to motivate your students to complete the assignment.

Phase 3: Clarify instructions for student action

1. Divide student action into phases.
   • Especially for extensive assignments, it is worth dividing student action into phases. Clear phases and working order helps also when estimating student workload.
2. User numbered lists.
   • A numbered list is easier to grasp than bullet points. If the numbered list is very long, check if you could divide the list into phases. It is more motivating to tackle points 1-5 in four phases than points 1-20 at once.
3. Check the vocabulary you use.
   • Make sure that you use the same terms consistently.
4. Illustrate and visualize.
   • Consider if you could present some challenging part of the assignment as an image in addition to text or if all the instructions of the assignment or a part of it needs to be presented as a video.

Phase 4: Test and improve

1. Use students’ questions while they are working on the assignment. If any phase of the assignment requires clarification, make the necessary adjustments.
2. Ask your students for feedback. Start an open discussion with your students on the assignments and how the assignments could be developed.
3. Co-create together with your colleagues.

Using co-creation to develop assignments

Level 1: With Copilot AI

Co-creation partner: Copilot AI

Duration: From a few minutes to hours, depending on how excited you get with Copilot AI.

• Give Copilot AI the assignment you have created and ask it to comment on the clarity and consistency of it.
• Ask Copilot AI to comment on the assignment from a student’s perspective. How does AI understand the assignment, what kidn of an answer would AI produce, or which parts of the assignment might be challenging for a student?
• Ask Copilot AI for different responses that a student might produce for the assignment. Based on these suggestions, you can consider improvements.
• Use Copilot AI to create examples or model answers to support your work or your students’ work.
• Use Copilot AI to help develop assessment criteria for the assignment. Provide AI with the course learning objectives, the course assessment criteria, and the assignment you have created, and ask AI to develop assessment criteria for the assignment based on this information.

Level 2: With a colleague

Co-creation partner: Colleague

Duration: From a few minutes to hours, depending on whether you send each other chat messages after reviewing each other’s assignments or book a meeting room for a 45-minute discussion session before a joint lunch break.

• Exchange assignments with a colleague. Examine the assignments based on the principles of clear and consistent assignment instructions and provide feedback to each other.
• Use each other’s content expertise and your experiences with different types of student groups and in different types of teaching situations.

Support for providing feedback:

• How would different types of students view this assignment? What if the target group consists of your own degree students who may be either fresh out of high school or adult learners with years of working life experience? What if the assignment is being completed by students from another university or by students from the Open university who may not have studied for a long time?
• Explain the challenges you have faced when using this assignment with your student groups, for example, in terms of workload. How could a teacher substituting you guide students in completing this assignment, or what kind of framework would they have for assessing the assignment based on the assessment guidelines that are provided?

Level 3: With your team

Co-creation partner: Your own team and an e-learning designer leading the workshop

Duration: 1,5 hours

• Schedule a team meeting with the topic Assignments.
• Each team member submits an example of an assignment used on some of their courses to the e-learning designer before the scheduled meeting.

Workshop progression:

• 15 minutes Introduction to the workshop and learning about the four phases of creating a clear and consistent assignment.
• 60 minutes Joint discussion on assignments based on the phases of creating a clear and consistent assignment, considering different student roles and teacher perspectives.
• 15 minutes Workshop summary and next steps in developing the assingments.