Formal writing requires sustained focus on content and close attention to detail. For these reasons, written assignments can be an effective assessment tool in graduate courses when they are thoughtfully and purposefully designed. This guide provides recommendations for faculty who are looking to harness the pedagogical benefits of written assignments.
Written assignments can take a variety of forms and help students develop a variety of valuable skills. Some types of written assignments include:
- Reflection: Written reflections can empower students to evaluate their own learning, improving their self-regulation. Reflection techniques, such as free-writing and journaling, can also be utilized in online learning to assess student understanding and progress (Beebe, Vonderwell, & Boboc, 2010, p. 10). When incorporating a reflection assignment in your course, be sure to clearly communicate the goals and benefits of reflection to increase student buy-in. Additionally, consider the nature of questions asked and the intended audience when dealing with topics of a personal nature so that students can feel comfortable.
- Application: Authentic assessments are distinctive in that they include the application of course concepts to specific real-world situations, such as memos and reports. If you opt to include an authentic assessment as a writing assignment in your course, it’s best to adhere as closely as possible to practical expectations in terms of coverage, scope, format, etc. Oftentimes, a template is an appropriate starting point for these types of assignments.
- Analysis: Written assignments that require students to analyze a text (or texts) offer a purposeful opportunity to deeply engage with course materials. When providing students with texts to analyze, be sure to clearly indicate the aspect(s) of the text on which students should focus.
- Research: Many written assignments require support from external sources, whether course texts or otherwise. To support student success, indicate the minimum number of sources required and specify the type of resources that are appropriate for the assignment, including if students should use materials from the course itself. Similarly, required formatting style for citations should be indicated.
Course Design Considerations
When designing a written assignment, course authors and instructional designers should consider how the assessment aligns with module- and course-level objectives. The intentions of the written assignment should be clearly articulated and the format should flow logically from the purpose. Other best practices for written assignment design include:
- Clear and consistent requirements and evaluation criteria
- Framing text, including helpful hints and common pitfalls
- Scaffolding for larger assignments
- Scaffolding resources such as samples of student work, tutorials, and targeted (and thoughtful!) rubrics
Student Success
To successfully complete a written assignment, students require targeted support. An overview of written assignments should be provided in Module 0 so students can prepare for them accordingly. If written assignments are a frequently employed assessment method and are featured in many modules across your course, requirements and format should remain consistent to ease cognitive load.
If students are required to compose a lengthy written project due at the end of the term, consider issuing reminders and/or using scaffolding techniques to break the project into smaller, more manageable parts. Per Beebe, Vonderwell, & Boboc, “assessments for continuous and improved learning are important for the development of an engaged community of learners in the online environment” (2010, p. 1). Scaffolding provides students with opportunities to progress from writing proficiency to mastery, preparing them for written communication in professional roles after college. If students are asked to write a research paper, for example, you might consider treating individual tasks such as formulating research questions and outlining as separate assignments, and giving students targeted, personalized feedback along the way. Written assignment rubrics provide a vehicle for targeted and timely feedback that encourages students to reflect on their learning, dialogue with peers about assessment criteria, and apply new understandings to improve specific skills throughout the course (Rembach & Dison, 2016).
By their nature, written assignments necessitate some consideration of expression. With that said, faculty should determine if it makes sense to include a thorough evaluation of student writing as part of formal grading. In many contexts, grammatical errors may not preclude the successful completion of a written assignment. For more on this subject, see the Envision piece Five Ways to Combat Linguistic Bias in the Classroom.
Faculty Foundations
Assessment for learning is “both a process and an understanding” (Beebe, Vonderwell, & Boboc, 2010, p. 10). In developing your written assignment, it is important to specify what students will be required to do and produce and what kinds of content they will be required to explore. If the assignment involves research, specifying the types of resources students will need to complete the assessment (e.g., whether course materials are appropriate or students will be required to conduct their own research) will be key. The more clarity you can provide, the easier grading will be for you and anyone else who is tasked with facilitating your course.
You might also consider creating scaffolding resources like rubrics, video tutorials, webinars, and links to exemplary writing models. These resources benefit students and faculty alike, helping students develop their knowledge and skills, faculty align their expectations with the stated criteria for grading, and, generally, increasing the quality of the work that faculty receive. Faculty have documented that implementing scaffolding “[leads] to improvements in the quality of . . . end-term papers regarding logical writing style, clarity, and professional writing standards” (Fincham, Eti, Thatcher, & Nguyen-Truong, 2021, p. 22).
References
Angelo, T. A., & Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Beebe, R., Vonderwell, S., & Boboc, M. (2010). Emerging patterns in transferring assessment practices from f2f to online environments. Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 8(1), 1-12.
Fincham, S.J., Eti, D. U., Thatcher, J., & Nguyen-Truong, C.K.Y. (2021, January 2). Implementing educational scaffolding methods to facilitate scholarly writing. Nurse Educator, 46(1), 22.
Rembach, L., & Dison, L. (2016). Transforming taxonomies into rubrics: Using SOLO in social science and inclusive education. Perspectives in Education, 34(1), 68-83.