Transparent Assignments

The transparent approach to assignment design (TAD) involves increasing the clarity of three key elements:

The purpose of the assignment including its relevance to other coursework, course and program learning outcomes, and students' lives.
The task that the students are expected to perform or complete.
The criteria that will be used to evaluate their work.

Studies have shown that when instructors revised two take-home assignments in a term to make them more transparently designed (accessible) and problem-centered (relevant) for students, students’ academic confidence and sense of belonging increased, as well as their mastery of skills that employers value.

When TAD is combined with integrated course design:

Refer to your Big Dream to ensure your purpose statements are learner-centered and address the assignment's value beyond the course.
Identify the skills students will practice or gain in completing this assignment that are essential to success in the course, in this field, and/or in life beyond school (professional and personal).
Describe the knowledge students will practice or gain in completing this assignment that is essential to success in the course, in this field, and/or in life beyond school (professional and personal).

As you clarify the task:

Consider how the steps required align with the significant learning goals. In other words, if students carry out the task successfully, will they have demonstrated mastery?
Break the assignment down explicitly into all of its component steps. (Solicit feedback from a colleague to see if you've missed anything.) Are you confident that your students already have the skills and knowledge necessary to complete the task?
Be sure to address common mistakes or extraneous steps students are likely to make.
Consider breaking the assignment into multiple assignments if the number of steps becomes unmanageable.

There are a number of strategies for ensuring that students understand the standards that they are being held to for their work:

Involve students in drafting or revising a rubric.
Provide students the opportunity to practice some of required steps together in class.
Facilitate peer review that goes beyond superficial encouragement into a deeper assessment of how well the work product matches the established standard.
Share numerous examples of prior good work — a variety of samples will reduce the tendency to copy a single model.

Transparent Assignment Design Template (source: Transparent Assignment Template)

TAD Peer Review Template (source: Self-guided Draft Checklist for Designing Transparent Assignments)

Read about Mary-Ann Winkelmes' work leading this research. Note that in the latest developments in TAD research, she recommends using real-world examples as opposed to exemplary student work in the TILT Framework for faculty and TILT Framework for students that students "evaluate (with the teacher's guidance) in a discussion that brings all students to the same starting-line of understanding about what the criteria for their own upcoming work look like in practice in the real world. Several examples (as opposed to one) help students to not cling too closely to a single example, and allow students to see a range of creative approaches as well as a range of effectiveness." (email to CATL 11/12/19)

Find resources and examples at TILT: Transparency in Teaching and Learning in Higher Ed. (Consider submitting a "before and after" assignment to the TILT repository.)

Check out examples of "before and after" assignments developed at SOU.

Sample assignments, checklist for transparent assignment design and bibliography.

Slides from SOU transparent assignment design workshop.

“Ridiculously Simple and Very Successful”: How Faculty in Virginia Are Making Assignments More Transparent and Equitable (AAC&U, May 2021)

Word version of TAD Overview.

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