Assignments

Well-designed course assignments provide "deep learning" opportunities because students apply what they are learning.

Such experiences are especially helpful if students receive detailed guided feedback on their assignments in a timely fashion (students consider "timely" to be within a week of submission, on average, according to the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), in which UNB participates.

Assignments: If you teach large classes without Teaching Assistant support, providing assignments and guided feedback may not be possible.

However, grading rubrics can both set expectations and speed up evaluation feedback by providing standardized feedback at different performance levels: (See Winona State University and University of Scranton)

This Assessment Guide has valuable information about setting up and evaluating assignments. It shows how to determine the learning level required for topic mastery and suggests types of assignments and evaluation methods.

Examples:

To encourage learners to think critically and make judgments, discussions or analytical papers could be used.

To demonstrate or apply skills or knowledge, learners could develop an interactive website, create a portfolio, create a lesson plan, complete and annotate a work-related task or project, or create a video demonstration.

Other assignment ideas include writing case studies, engaging in role-play, reporting on a conference attended, conducting literature reviews, or interviewing experts.

Resources:

• Tips for Designing Assignments (York University).
• Assignments - Tips for Designing Assignments (University of Washington)
• Designing Writing Assignments (Case Western) and (University of Minnesota)
• Academic integrity in assignments (Dalhousie)