Gathering assignment data
STEP 6. Creating the assignment
Prepare your students
Students should not be forced to guess how to complete an assignment or how it will be evaluated. Therefore, make sure you specify the content, format and organization of any assignment you give. Be sure to clearly state the due date for the assignment and any policy for accepting late work. You should also provide a copy of the evaluation rubric you will use to score or grade the assignment.
View an example rubric for an assignment
Monitor progress
Providing feedback and guidance as students work on their assignment is important. Monitor assignment progress by:
- Requiring students to turn in drafts of work – this ensures that students begin on their assignment early and allows you to see their learning progress. Scoring or grading drafts will help to convey the importance of the process as well as the final product.
- Allowing students to review each others’ work – students may find this less intimidating than having the instructor see unfinished work while ensuring that students begin their assignments early.
- Designing multiple assignments that build on each other – this assignment structure helps to spread out the workload for students and for you (grading) since it substitutes multiple smaller assignments for one large assignment. This strategy is especially useful for teaching concepts or processes that build on prior knowledge.
Provide examples
Providing examples of exemplary final products can help students to understand your expectations. It is best to use examples of previous students’ work but instructor created examples are fine if student work is unavailable. Be sure to remove any identifiers (names, id numbers) from any student examples you use.
