Improving Student Success With Transparent Assignments

Ann Lichliter, Winona State University

Mary Kirk, Winona State University

Keywords: Equitable, Transparent, Assignments

Key Statement: To benefit all students, faculty redesigned course assignments using the transparent assignment framework to increase student efficacy and improve learning outcomes.

Background

Higher education faculty are expected to assess their teaching practices to better meet the needs of college students, including students from underrepresented populations. This is even more important as colleges explore how to make education more accessible and equitable. Studies indicate that in both community college and four-year institutions students from diverse backgrounds and those who are first-generation college students have lower course completion and graduation rates (Blom & Monarrez, 2020; Bowman & Denson, 2020; de Brey et al., 2019; Lin et al., 2023; U.S. Department of Education, 2019). One evidence-based classroom strategy to help address these problems is the usage of transparent assignments (TILT: Higher Ed, 2023a).

Image courtesy of Wix.

Relevance

We know that college is challenging; for students who have never learned or been presented with college success strategies, it can even be more difficult (Winkelmes, 2013). When students are given an assignment that entails multiple steps and requires critical thinking, it can feel overwhelming for the student who does not have the skills on how to approach the assignment.

To address this, we (Lichliter and Kirk) have reworked our syllabi and created assignments that are transparent using Winkelmes’ transparent assignment format (TILT Higher Ed, 2023b). Courses with transparent assignments are an effective teaching method that benefits all students, especially those who are marginalized or who are first-generation college students (Winkelmes, 2013; Winkelmes et al., 2016).

Faculty willing to implement transparent assignments do not have to change all their assignments to this format. Winkelmes found that by incorporating just two problem-centered or relevant assignments that require critical thinking skills, students can be more successful in the classroom. Specifically, students improved in academic confidence, a sense of connection, and skills that employers are looking for (Winkelmes et al., 2016). Furthermore, retention rates increased for all students, and students from diverse backgrounds and first-generation students benefited more in all areas mentioned.

The Transparent Assignment

A faculty member’s first step is to identify which assignments to transform into transparent assignments (TILT: Higher Ed, 2023b). This requires faculty to reflect on assignments that students struggle with and/or assignments that likely pose a challenge as the activity entails problem-solving and critical thinking skills. One of our assignments that students benefited from, yet struggled to complete, was a professional interview assignment. Following is the assignment description provided to students in their syllabi and their learning management system.

Professional Interview Assignment: Interview a social worker by yourself or one other peer. Your interviewee should be someone who has been working in the field for more than one year. The person you choose should not be a partner, relative, or roommate. Your interview should take place face-to-face, by phone, or virtually. Interviews cannot be conducted via email. Following this interview, you will type up your interviewee's responses in a Word document and submit them online. Professional writing is expected. Please use complete sentences and proper grammar.

As standard practice, we frequently reviewed the class assignment and encouraged students to seek help if they faced any difficulties. Even with the in-class discussions, we would hear phrases like, “I don’t know what you want,” and “I don’t know where to start.” Students would wait to contact us with questions a few days before the assignment’s due date and, in some cases, after it was due. When we redeveloped the assignment using the transparent assignment format (see revised in the next section), we noticed that students were quicker to ask questions and were more successful at completing the tasks. The transparent assignment format makes the faculty’s implicit knowledge more explicit by directly stating a purpose, the tasks the students need to do to complete the project, and the criteria used for evaluation purposes (Winkelmes, 2013; Winkelmes et al., 2016).

Purpose

Transforming an assignment to a transparent format requires clearly stating the assignment’s purpose (TILT: Higher Ed, 2023b). This may include detailing how the activity is related to the material being taught in class, the course competencies, and/or how the skills or knowledge gained from doing the assignment will help them in their discipline. We should not assume students understand these connections. When students do not see the purpose behind an assignment, they may become frustrated and view it as busy work. Assessing our Professional Interview Assignment, it was clear we failed to explicitly define the purpose of the assignment. After clarifying the assignments’ purpose, no longer did we hear students ask, “Why do we have to do this project, anyway?”

Professional Interview Assignment Purpose: During the semester, students will learn about the roles and services conducted by social workers along with the populations served. This assignment is designed for students to learn firsthand about the social work field from the perspective of one social worker. It is also designed to help students begin to build or expand their professional network while learning about social worker tasks, populations served, and conditions that shape clients’ lives.

 

Tasks

When asking students what prevented them from turning in the Professional Interviewing Assignment on time, one frequent comment was “I did not know how to start, so I just shut down. I know you said we should ask for help, but I was too embarrassed.” After developing the assignment's purpose, a faculty member's next step is to list the steps a student should take to complete an assignment (TLT: Higher Ed, 2023b). Detailing tasks removes some of the guesswork and can lower anxiety for those students who are unsure how to start a project. When developing tasks for already existing assignments, the faculty should reflect on what parts of the assignment students asked questions about and where they stumbled. Faculty then can be proactive and provide directions for those areas. In addition, faculty may want to provide more specific directions or informational links on how to use software that is required to complete the project. Not all students enter the classroom with the same technology literacy skills and may not know how to use certain software or applications such as PowerPoint, Google Docs, or other video recording software. These students may find themselves spending all their energy on learning a new tool and run out of time before they can focus on the course content needed to complete the project and pass the class.

Our original professional interview assignment did provide students with some information on how to complete it but not enough to help a novice learner be successful. Following are the tasks added to the assignment:

Professional Interview Paper Tasks:

1. Identify a human service professional to interview by talking with people you know, or by calling an agency you are interested in.

2. If you need help with finding a person, please connect with your faculty ASAP.

   1. Start reaching out to the person by phone or by email. Do this early on so if they are not available, you can find someone else. Remember people are busy and waiting until the last minute to find someone can be challenging. A sample email is in D2L.

   2. Establish a time and place to interview. If possible, send the interviewee the questions (located in D2L) ahead of time so they can think about their responses.

   3. Arrive at your interview on time and dress business casual. Bring a copy of the questions (located in D2L), paper, and a pen for taking notes.

   4. Following the interview, send the person a card or an email thanking them for their time. You are starting to build connections with social workers (sample email can be found in D2L).

   5. Following the interview, type up the responses in a Word document and submit via D2L. Professional writing is expected. Please use complete sentences and proper grammar.

Evaluation Criteria

The last step to making an assignment transparent is to give the student the criteria used to evaluate their assignment (TILT: Higher Ed, 2023b). Faculty can clarify their expectations in many ways including a rubric, a checklist, or an example of a completed project. Faculty can also have students use the evaluation criteria to evaluate an example assignment or complete a peer review. For the Professional Interview Assignment, students were provided with a rubric that included point values for each question.

Personal and Professional Field Reactions

We found moving assignments to transparent assignments to be extremely beneficial. We have seen an increase in students completing assignments on time and having higher grades. We have also found that developing transparent assignments can be challenging. Additional modifications were needed for most of our transparent assignments, especially the task section of the assignment description. At the end of the project, we asked students what could have made the assignment directions better, and most of the time, students were able to provide helpful feedback. A common question is how much direction to give. Faculty may fear that giving too much direction will take away from students' creativity and remove opportunities for critical thinking (TILT: Higher Ed, 2023c). For these assignments, faculty can lower student anxiety by explicitly sharing with the students that it is expected they may feel challenged and should anticipate needing time to wrestle with and think out parts of the assignment. When faculty deliberately state this expectation in the instructions, students will know that they are not alone when feeling unsure about what to do right away.

Next Steps

Winkelmes (2013) found that by developing two transparent assignments in a course, student learning outcomes and student confidence improve. The logical next step faculty can take is to implement a transparent assignment design for all problem-centered assignments. When providing students with samples and real-world examples, assignments should change in ways that are current and relevant.

The practice of seeking feedback from students on challenges experienced when completing assignments is powerful. An aspect of the transparent format, this useful strategy can increase instructional effectiveness and student learning. We suggest adopting a consistent practice of asking for and applying student feedback.

Faculty can commit to learning more about equitable teaching interventions. TILT Institute invites faculty to individually or as a team, participate in ongoing research or submit transparent examples on their website (TILT Higher Education Institute, 2023c). Additionally, ongoing practice of critical reflection and an openness to adopting new techniques helps faculty and students achieve meaningful learning in the higher education classroom.

Discussion Questions

1. What are two assignments that you could rework into the transparent format?

2. Which student types in your class/past experience do you think would benefit most from transparent assignments?

3. How might you explain the TILT framework to a colleague who was concerned that too much direction was being given to students?

 

References

Blom, E. & Monarrez, T. (2020). Understanding equity gaps in college graduation. Urban Institutes. https://view.ckcest.cn/AllFiles/ZKBG/Pages/493/understanding_equity_gaps_in_college_graduation_1.pdf

Bowman, N. & Denson, N. (2022). Institutional racial representation and equity gaps in college graduation. The Journal of Higher Education, 93(3), 399–423. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/00221546.2021.1971487?needAccess=truede

de Brey, C., Musu, L., McFarland, J., Wilkinson-Flicker, S., Diliberti, M., Zhang, A., Branstetter, C., & Wang, X. (2019). Status and trends in the education of racial and ethnic groups 2018 (NCES 2019-038). U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/ pubsearch/

Lin, Y., Fay, M.P. & Fink, J. (2023). Stratified trajectories: Charting equity gaps in program pathways among community college students. Research in Higher Education, 64, 547–573. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11162-022-09714-7

TILT: Higher Ed. (2023a). https://tilthighered.com

TILT: Higher Ed. (2023b). TILT Higher Ed examples and resources. Author. https://tilthighered.com/tiltexamplesandresources

TILT: Higher Ed (2023c). Frequently asked questions. Author https://tilthighered.com/faq

U.S. Department of Education. Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics. (2019). Status and trends in the education of racial and ethnic groups:  Indicator 23: Postsecondary graduation rates.  https://nces.ed.gov/programs/raceindicators/indicator_red.asp 

Winkelmes, M.-A. (2013). Transparency in teaching: Faculty share data and improve students’ learning. Liberal Education, 99(2), 48–55. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1094742

Winkelmes, M., Bernacki, M.L., Butler, J., Zochowski, M., Golanics, J.D., & Weavil, K.H. (2016). A teaching intervention that increases underserved college students' success. Peer Review. 18(1 / 2), 31–36. http://www.aacu.org/peerreview/2016/winter-spring/Winkelmeshttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/309351208_A_Teaching_Intervention_that_Increases_Underserve

 About the Authors