Context
There are benefits in assessment and learning if students are able to demonstrate their mastery of course material in a variety of ways. Student performance is usually funneled through several common skill sets: writing, recall and application tests, and practical. Providing alternative venues for students to demonstrate concept mastery allows instructors to assess learning separately from specific testing and communication skills: do they understand course information to the degree they can accurately define it and produce its logical outcomes in a completely new system? To what extent are students struggling to comprehend ideas versus struggling to demonstrate their comprehension in conventional writing or testing? Asking students to produce a creative assignment demands that they fully comprehend and accurately apply material, but do so in a manner that allows them to use their strongest methods of comprehension and communication.
Step-by-Step Implementation
Creating options for creative assignments requires thinking through the learning outcomes, but also the extent to which you are willing to allow student interpretation.
- Create a clear assignment. The most important step is a clear assignment with a rubric students understand. Make sure you identify for students which learning objectives the assignment is asking them to demonstrate. Fully explain both the required components and outcomes, as well as the rubric(s) for assessment. If the assignment is truly open, how will you assess learning outcomes in a parody song versus an illustrated children’s book or a political manifesto? How will you communicate these expectations and standards to students?
- Decide if you are open to student ideas. Consider whether you want to provide choice (create a visual illustration of a process) or whether you want to open the floor up to any ideas students might have. If the assignment is completely and accurately applying an idea in a medium of the students choosing, consider a project proposal or workshop component so that you may clarify student plans and provide feedback to support their work.
- Consider how to deliver assessment. In addition to learning objectives, to what degree will the excellence of execution play a part in the grading?
- Consider time constraints. If you are open to experiential assignments – games, puzzles, and activities that students lead classmates through – make sure that you have enough time for both the presentation of the assignment and debriefing the experience afterwards. Students will learn more about the concepts presented from processing how an activity demonstrated an idea, and the student who designed the experience will gain direct feedback on the accuracy and clarity of their project.
Effectiveness
When a creative assignment is one of several more conventional options, a few students opt for it. Many choose to go down a known path, but those who do the creative option are often students looking for a challenge. When the entire assignment is creative with no conventional option, I’m impressed with the excellence of execution. I usually see far more superior work than in a typical crop of papers or tests.
Qualitatively, I see much greater engagement in learning and more ownership of material. Assignments that allow some degree of personal expression or sharing expertise that often doesn’t make it into an academic classroom setting facilitates connections among students, especially among native and international students, so much so that I started moving creative assignments from the end of the course to the first third to facilitate peer and classroom engagement.