Assignment Design
Nearly every class has some type of assignment. Sometimes the
assignments are brief and may be assigned overnight while other
assignments are more encompassing and may need several weeks or
months to complete.
There are many considerations when one designs assignments. We have
many goals and expectations for what assignments intend to
accomplish. Below, you’ll find a discussion of the role of assignments
in a course and what they should be able to do in terms of student
learning.
Goals of Assignment Design
Assignments should:
 help students become more intentional about their learning
 play an integral role in the development of learner autonomyi
 help students apply content knowledge in a meaningful way
High-quality Assignment Characteristics
If one begins with the premise that learning is about change, then
assignments help faculty:
1) Monitor change in student understanding/skill
2) Place the onus of learning in the lap of the student
3) Ensure faculty are assessing what they want students to
learn/be able to doii
4) Are authentic – authentic here means similar to how one might
demonstrate knowledge/skill in the workplace. (see next page)
a. At Hogwarts (pre and post Delores Umbrigde), students
symbiotically learned and demonstrated skills and content
rather than mastering content before attempting skills –
and then only being assessed on content
b. In Philosophy, an authentic assessment is one that helps a
student work like a philosopher. While it is unlikely that
every (any?) student in PHIL 101 will become a
philosopher to rival Bacon, PHIL 101 students can still do
the work of a philosopheriii
c. In BIOL, a scientist uses the scientific process to test a
hypothesis and students in BIOL 191 can do the same –
though the degree to which the student has autonomy over
the process will be far less than an independent scientist
d. One need not know precisely how the student will use the
information, only that the student learns/demonstrates a
skill like an expert in that discipline would/does
5) Articulate why/how the assignment leads the student to
developing key knowledge/skill. This ensures that the reason
behind the assignment matches the goals of the course and the
means by which the student interacts with the material prior to
assessment
Assignment Design Questionsiv
As you think about a particular assignment, these guiding questions
may help you frame the role of the assignment in helping students
achieve the big picture learning outcomes for the course. Each
question won’t apply to each assignment. Rather, as you consider the
assignment – and perhaps the struggle students will have with the
assignment – select the question(s) that help you redesign the work
students will do outside of class time.
A. What do you REALLY want your students to be able to do as
a result of your course?
B. How happy are you, on average with the work product
students submit?
C. If students are not excelling or progressing towards excellence,
what changes in the types or goals of the assignments might
help them make the progress you’d like to see?
D. How do situational factors (like size of class, type of
assignments typical for your course, etc.) affect the
assignments?
E. If situational factors were optimal (a class of 12 eager and
energetic students), what would you have students do to
master the material? What parts of the ideal assignment might
transfer to your actual class?
F. How much set-up information or how much detail about the
assignment is enough without becoming too much – and is
that the same for all students?
IV.
V.
Authentic Assessmentv
Authentic assessments, on the surface, seem easiest for those teaching
professional courses (nursing, teaching, social work, etc.). Nonprofessional courses, however, can also be assessed authentically.
Authentic assessment doesn’t have to use the same lab equipment or
always involve a test of skill; rather it could be a multiple-choice test, a
homework set, etc. that asks students to think like a professional in that
field. Authentic assessments share the following characteristics:
I.
II.
III.
Are realistic (look like real-world applications of a person who
works in that field)
Require judgment and innovation (requires the student to discover
what the problem is before finding a solution to it – and finding
the solution is more than using a cookie-cutter solution already
prepared in advance; rather the student may have to develop a
novel solution to an old problem)
Asks the student to apply the subject (rather than listing the
elements in the periodic table, students do something with the
elements – this may be a mental exercise, but we do hope that
budding chemists think about what happens when acids and
alkalis mix before they do it; rather than answering a question
about who was the protagonist or antagonist, students write a
story with a protagonist and an antagonist or they analyze the
VI.
underlying characteristics of the antagonist as a profiler might do,
etc.)
Replicate or simulate the contexts in which adults are tested in the
workplace, in civic life, and in personal life (very few of our
students will ultimately take tests for a living; so instead of giving
tests void of context, provide a context for a problem {if you’re
using a multiple-choice test} that provides some backstory behind
the setting of the problem and let the student select the best
answer rather than the right answer)
Assess the student’s ability to use a repertoire of knowledge and
skill efficiently and effectively (students rarely synthesize
information/skills without instructor guidance as an
undergraduate student; creating progressively more complicated
contexts that require students to synthesize various concepts and
skills more like an expert in that field might do can improve
effectiveness and speed at which they can accomplish such tasks)
Allow appropriate opportunities for students to rehearse, practice,
consult resources, and get feedback on and refine performances
and products (tests are mostly likely to be representative of future
success when the process used to teach the skill and concept
provides positive and corrective feedback with several
opportunities to improve/remediate content and skill mastery)
from Cullen, R., Harris, M. & Hill, R.R. (2012). Learner-centered
curriculum: Design and implementation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
ii from Walvoord, W., & Anderson, V.J. (1998). Effective grading: A tool for
learning and assessment. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
iii Cullen, ibid
iv Walvoord, ibid
v from Wiggins, G. (1998). Educative assessment: Designing assessments to
inform and improve student performance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
i