2018 ASHS Annual Conference

With an ever-increasing number of “first gen” (e.g., first generation in their family to attend college) students attending Land-Grant universities, teachers are being challenged to find ways to both effectively reach/teach these students and assess their learning. There is strong scientific evidence supporting the idea that by taking simple steps to make assignments more “transparent”, not only “first gen” but all students can benefit. A simple concept referred to as “transparent assignment design” can be used to improve student learning. There are three key parts to a “transparent” assignment. These include purpose, task, and criteria. A clearly written purpose helps students to understand how the assignment is linked to their learning, the skills they will practice, knowledge that will be gained, relevance to their life and connection to the learning objectives of the class. The task clearly defines what the students will do and how they will do it. This can include steps that they should follow and things they should avoid. The criteria for success can include a checklist or rubric from which the assignment will be graded. It can also include an annotated example of previously graded student work (used with permission, student names redacted) from the past to show what excellence or “A-grade” final product work looks like. In Fall, 2017, teaching faculty from the Agriculture and Food Systems and Integrated Plant Sciences interdisciplinary programs at Washington State University were invited to attend a facilitated workshop/retreat focused on “transparent assignment design”. Faculty were prompted to bring assignments that they were already using in their classes. Following instruction about the concept, review of before-and-after examples, and discussion, faculty were assembled into pairs to work together and help each other to make their assignments more transparent. Faculty response to the workshop was determined afterwards by an on-line survey. By way of example, for the HORT 310 “Pomology” course, a comparison of both the assignment and representative student work before (2016 class) and after (2017 class) the assignment was made transparent will be compared and contrasted. Assignments that are revised to be more transparent need not be any less rigorous than their former version. However, when they are developed and deployed properly, they can help to enhance student learning and result in higher quality student work that is easier and faster to grade.