Tune into Teaching: Designing Better Assignments

Facilitators:
Andrea Graham, Ph.D., Learning Strategist, Academic Success
Andrea Williams, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Director of Writing & Rhetoric, Innis College, and Writing-Integrated Teaching, FAS

Online

Assignments have been called the creative engine of teaching: they can increase student engagement and learning and make the grading process for instructors and TAs more meaningful. But what exactly are good assignments and how do we create or adapt them?

In this session we’ll review the principles and strategies of assignment design that apply to all disciplines and to both online and in-person environments. Participants will gain new tools and resources they can use to improve their own assignments.

Through discussion and activities, such as analyzing sample assignments and rubrics, we’ll consider how and why to:

• sequence and scaffold assignments throughout a course
• build in feedback at key junctures
• communicate evaluation criteria to students
• foster academic integrity
• provide resources to guide students through assignments