Assignments are among the most important aspects of any course. While readings and lectures might provide students with information about your discipline, and exams might assess their recall of information, assignments provide students with opportunities to engage in higher-order thinking, practice complex skills and processes, and apply concepts in authentic ways.
Out of habit, many instructors instinctively default to a handful of conventional assignment types (e.g., term papers, problem sets, lab reports) without considering what type of assignment might best demonstrate students’ understanding and abilities. The strategies below can help maximize the impact of your assignments.
Align your assignments to your desired learning outcomes
The best place to begin the process of creating an assignment is at the end. What do you expect your students will be able to do by the end of your course? These expectations are your learning outcomes and should drive the way you design your assignments. Aligning your assignments around outcomes helps focus your students on the things you want them to learn.
Students often perceive assignments that lack an explicit connection to course outcomes or goals as “busy work.” Aligning an assignment to your course learning outcomes — through a process often referred to as “backward design” — will help students (and you) comprehend the value of the assignment in the broader scheme of your course.
Learn more about aligning your assignments to course outcomes.
Scaffold assignments to support learning
Complex assignments often require students to draw upon and integrate a suite of concepts and skills. Breaking complex assignments into a sequence of smaller activities, tasks, or mini-assignments—a process often referred to as scaffolding—can help your students build skills and knowledge over time and incrementally work toward becoming proficient at the more complex task.
Learn more about scaffolding assignments.
Increase student motivation with “authentic” assignments
Students often find the most value in assignments that replicate the kind of work they are likely to encounter once they graduate. Whenever possible, consider how you can mirror your assignments to the work that you and/or others in relevant fields do—which will make your assignments feel more authentic.
Learn more about creating authentic assessments.
Share a rubric when you introduce the assignment
A rubric can be used to both guide and evaluate student performance on an assignment. While most of us are familiar with using rubrics to grade more efficiently and effectively, sharing the assignment rubric in advance will help students better understand how to succeed.
Learn more about using rubrics.
Practice Universal Design for Learning
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) provides students with multiple ways to access concepts and engage in learning. This increases the likelihood that a more diverse range of students can succeed.
Learn more about Universal Design for Learning.
Align your activities to your assignments
The same principles underpinning effective assignments also apply to successful class activities, such as active learning and group work.