1. Effective Assignment Design
Focus on: Scaffolding
All following information taken from: DiPietro, C., Janes, D. & Brancato, E. (2014). Including Writing in Your Course: A Toolkit for OCADU Faculty. Retrieved from

2. Thoughtfully designed assignments help students by offering them opportunities to develop skills, use vocabulary, familiarize themselves with conventions, and apply new knowledge in guided and structured ways. These assignments help students understand how their work fits within the bigger picture of their learning in the course and program of study.
Research in the scholarship of teaching and learning has demonstrated that students learn best when:
teaching and learning activities are explicitly and directly connected to the learning outcomes of the course.
assessment methods clearly evaluate how students have achieved the goals articulated in the course learning outcomes.

3. Blumberg (2009) states that “instructors can maximize student learning by viewing objectives as the unifying and driving force for teaching…When class activities follow course goals and objectives, the course is aligned” (p ).
This is called constructive course alignment and means that all the assignments in a course clearly relate to the larger learning outcomes.

4. One strategy for designing assignments that are well-aligned with course outcomes is backwards design.
Instructors begin by considering:
what students need to be able to accomplish by the end of the course (learning outcomes),
what teacher-led and student-centred activities through the course will help students get there, and
how assignments will give students opportunities to practice what they’ve learned and measure their progress.
As well, in any effective assignment design, transparency and clarity must also be considered.
A useful resource is the downloadable book by Fink (2003) A self-directed guide to designing courses for significant learning

5. Assignment instructions should explain1
why students are being asked to write 2
how the writing relates to their learning 3
what they need to do to achieve it.
As students progress from beginner or novice to more advanced or expert writers in their disciplines, they will need less explicit guidance as they come to internalize the expectations or conventions of writing specific to their disciplines and professions.

6. Assignment prompts like analyze, describe, argue, compare, summarize, and evaluate introduce different writing tasks.
Assignment prompts (or what are you asking your students to do?)
Less sophisticated
define, describe, discuss, summarize, review, outline, show
More sophisticated
demonstrate, explain, compare, contrast, comment, support, argue
Most sophisticated
evaluate, analyze, criticize, synthesize, interpret, propose, justify, prove

7. Instructor’s Checklist:
Do your assignment instructions:
identify the task of the writing using appropriate prompts?
identify the genre of the document and the conventions (tone, structure) of this genre?
outline what the document needs to accomplish in order to be successful?
use clear and objective language?
identify the audience of the assignment?
suggest how the student might approach the assignment?
provide formatting guidelines?
state the due date?
describe the criteria you will use to evaluate the assignment?
identify what percentage of the total grade the assignment is worth?

8. One great strategy to follow for effective assignment design is to “SCAFFOLD” complex activities. Scaffolding refers to any kind of support in which an expert provides a framework that assimilates more difficult skills and concepts in order to allow the novice to focus on a specific skill or concept that might otherwise be difficult for them to access or understand.

9. What is a Scaffolded Assignment?
Scaffolding an assignment means breaking down the assignment so that students are able to develop it in clear, logical stages.
A scaffolded writing assignment might ask students to propose a topic for a writing assignment, create a reference page of research related to the topic, prepare a draft, and finally, revise their draft before submitting their work for grading.

10. Examples Possible steps in a complex assignment
Smaller assignments to help students master each step
Topic selection
Free writing
Proposal
Working thesis statement
Research
Annotated bibliography
Read Map
Evaluation of sources
Critical Review
Literature Review
Draft
Outline
First Draft
Revision
Peer Review
Examples

11. One effective method of scaffolding is to take a complex assignment, such as a literature review, lab report, or research essay and break it into smaller components. Providing formative feedback on the earlier assignments will help students master each step in the process before proceeding further.
This type of scaffolding helps students get started on complex assignments early and ensures that they are on track throughout.
Examples

12. Brief commentary on scaffolding by University of Toronto instructor.

13. One additional benefit of incorporating scaffolded writing assignments is that early writing and early feedback may act as a plagiarism deterrent. Students who are engaged in the creation of their own ideas and the development of their own arguments may be less inclined to expropriate the ideas of other scholars or to recruit someone else to produce course work for them.
As students become more proficient writers, they will need less explicit guidance and instruction.

14. Strategies for Successful Scaffolding
Define clear learning objectives.
Think about what assignments you would like students to complete and how the assignments will help students meet those learning objectives.
Organize assignments in a way that culminates in your learning objectives.
Be clear with students about the purpose of the assignment.
Be clear with students about your expectations.
Time assignments so students can see the connection between your lectures and the skills they need to complete assignments.
Be creative. There are many different ways to scaffold assignments to engage students and improve learning outcomes.

15. What scaffolded writing activities or assignments will work best in your course?
Unassessed writing activities: Free-writing and brainstorming activities can be used as short, informal activities in the classroom to stimulate class discussion about a reading for the day.
Low-stakes writing assignments: Have students answer a series of questions about their writing/report prior to engaging in critique or reading responses or journaling.
High-stakes writing assignments: Have students complete an analysis essay or explain a concept (conceptual statement) or create a proposal.

16. Scaffolding Writing Assignments Scaffolding can serve different purposes, depending on the level of ability of your students:
Beginner Level Or Novice
For beginner level or novice students, scaffolding an assignment allows them to practice and gain experience with new skills in a focused and controlled manner, increasing the chance that they will integrate them successfully in a complex assignment.
Advanced Students
For more advanced students, scaffolding models writing processes, structuring their approach to a written assignment in a way that encourages them to begin planning and researching early, use the appropriate strategies to generate ideas, plan, organize and revise their writing, and receive formative feedback from their peers and instructors.

17. In the case of novice writers, focus on breaking the assignment down in a way that supports skill acquisition and development.
Novice Writers
Structure the smaller assignments in ways that build towards a complex task in a systematic manner and ensure students have opportunities to acquire new skills with guidance before being asked to integrate them more independently.
Use scaffolding to enable students to develop skills and strategies gradually, and walk students through the process of building from tasks of lower cognitive complexity to tasks of higher cognitive complexity.
Examples

18. In the case of more advanced writers, focus on breaking down the assignment in a way that gives students the space and time to develop and edit their writing.
Advanced Writers
Structure the smaller assignments in ways that provide students with access to multiple opportunities for feedback from both their instructor and peers, and sufficient time to undertake a revision process, enabling them to respond to and incorporate that feedback.
Use scaffolding as a way of encouraging their understanding of writing as a process.

19. Time-saving Tips! (for Scaffolding Assignments)
Take advantage of technology. Blackboard can help you assess/manage assignments.
If students are submitting drafts, give most of your feedback early on, so students can benefit from it, and produce better assignments. Then, for final drafts, simply assign grades.
Give only pass/fail grades for the smaller, less consequential steps. This can be done very quickly through Blackboard and will leave time for marking the larger pieces.
Focus feedback on your specific learning objectives. For example, if your goal is to develop students’ skills at critical thinking, don’t waste time correcting grammar - focus on content and how well the student is meeting your expectations.
Stagger assignments. Give students a choice of which assignments they can do, with different deadlines. This will stagger marking duties over the semester.
Build learning communities or peer groups. Having students give feedback to their peers throughout the process has been shown to improve student learning and transference of skills. Caution: While peer evaluation is a very effective strategy, having any of the marks dependent on that evaluation can be problem

20. Troubleshooting Scaffolding
CONCERN
SOME RESPONSES
“Scaffolding takes
too much time.”
Yes, it takes time in design, but it will save time and most importantly frustration when grading, particularly large final assignments.
Use technology -Blackboard
Build learning communities in the class so peers can offer one another feedback

21. Troubleshooting Scaffolding
CONCERN
SOME RESPONSES
“My students don’t like a lot of small
assignments. They complain it’s too
much work.”
Be explicit about process and value of working step by step towards goals; explain that it isn't really MORE work, just organized differently
Students report that scaffolding reduces stress
Emphasize connections to course learning objectives

22. Troubleshooting Scaffolding
CONCERN
SOME RESPONSES
“It adds too much to
my marking load. I don’t have time!”
Not everything has to be marked, or marked individually: give group feedback
Give pass/fail grades for less consequential assignments.
Stagger assignments
Give early feedback
Have students review their peers papers
Focus feedback on learning objectives
Develop grading rubrics to facilitate marking

23. Troubleshooting Scaffolding
CONCERN
SOME RESPONSES
“I tried grading and giving feedback on early drafts and students just made the specific
changes I suggested and expected better marks.”
Give pass/fail grades for early drafts—or take off grades if students don’t submit a draft.
Make clear criteria for actually getting a better mark (e.x. a revision rubric)
Define revision and discuss process and expectations explicitly—show examples of drafts of your own writing
Make final step worth the bulk of the marks

24. Troubleshooting Scaffolding
CONCERN
SOME RESPONSES
“I like the idea of peer review but I’m afraid that students won’t take it seriously.”
Do it in class and introduce by discussing the professional peer review process
Ask student reviewers to answer specific questions on a handout (broad Qs around thesis, argument, and organization tend to be better than grammar) and give you a copy of this feedback. You can then mark the feedback— Pass / Fail

25. Troubleshooting Scaffolding
CONCERN
SOME RESPONSES
“Scaffolding makes it too easy and will
alienate the brighter students.”
If every stage has a learning goal, even the brightest students can push themselves further at each stage.
With the structure scaffolding provides, you can make assignments much harder and more interesting, which will challenge and satisfy the best students, while still making it possible for everyone to succeed