Assignment Tune-ups: Small Changes for More Meaningful Learning

As instructors, we design our assignments purposefully, and the questions we ask students to engage with through them have value. Unfortunately, the purpose of our assignments is not always transparent to students, and the values we’ve built in might not be ones that most animate their learning. This 30-minute session with TEP and UO Online aims to make that purpose and meaning more visible in assignments with two moves: 1) applying transparent assignment design principles and 2) identifying places for student agency within the assignment, with the goal of co-constructing value. We will give an overview of these strategies, share some examples of assignments in progress, and will stay from 10:30-11 a.m. for optional feedback and working time for anyone who would like to think through a particular assignment they are tuning up.