1. Designing assignment instructions
NMMU Writing Centres

2. Overview of this session
Introductions
Outcomes for this workshop
Importance of clear assignment instructions
Principles of quality teaching and learning
Social purposes of writing tasks
Using sequencing and scaffolding when planning written assignments
Critique of examples of assignment instructions
Evaluation

3. Introductions
Please introduce yourself, specifying your title, faculty, department and the modules you teach.
Also mention your expectations of this workshop.

4. Outcomes of this session
Clarifying what needs to be considered when designing assignment instructions
Identifying social purposes of different genres, including genres of writing tasks
Using sequencing and scaffolding when planning written assignments
Evaluating examples of assignment instructions with reference to principles of quality teaching and learning (T&L) practices

5. Importance of assignment instructions
Deep learning depends less on the amount of writing assigned in a course than on the design of the writing assignments (Anderson, Anson, Gonyea & Paine in Bean 2011)
Assignment instructions model genre and writing practices for students, but can also be confusing
Students’ experiences of writing assignments influence how they develop writing and reading literacies
Carefully designed assignments enhance learning of course content
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6. Some principles of quality T&L
Start where students are; use language that students understand
Teach for diversity (gaps in background knowledge)
Make expectations explicit; model clear writing
Use valid, reliable and fair assessment practices - formative and summative
Align the assignment to a rubric which specifies learning outcomes and assessment criteria
If in doubt, have your assignment instructions edited

7. Writing-to-learn assignments: short, for writer’s benefit, no marks
Address course content via regular short assignments
Personal (daily/weekly)– notes, logs, micro- themes, letters, attitudes, minute papers, journals, forums, writing to read or discuss
Transactional – summaries, letters, reviews, feature articles, scripts, dialogues, manuals
Link writing with action – campus or community research reports, presentations– Improve quality of students’ writing by giving feedback and expecting revision on drafts; small group problem-solving.

8. Scaffolding and sequencing tasks
Before students write long research papers they need to write short assignments that are less cognitively demanding (e.g. ‘Write a paragraph in which you list/ classify/ summarise …’) or give a one minute paper at the beginning or end of a class (see handout Using Writing to promote active learning)
For the first full length essay, the lecturer could design a fairly easy topic and supply all the research sources
For the second essay task, the lecturer could provide a slightly more challenging topic and send students to the library to find a limited number of their own sources, and so on

9. Designing writing assignments
What is the purpose of the writing task?
What are the needs of the students who will engage with this task?
How does the task align with the objectives of the course content? How authentic is it?
How accessible is the content to students?
How will the writing process further students’ content knowledge and academic literacy?
What content knowledge, attitudes and literacies are expected of students in this task?
(Kroll & Reid 1994:21 in Ferris & Hedgcock 1998)

10. Identifying social purposes of writing tasks
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11. A Note About Genre (Text Type)
Specifying a genre or text-type (abstract, research report, journal article, laboratory report, site report or reflection paper) helps students to make decisions about document design and organisation, tone and style.
Knowing the genre helps students have an idea of what the lecturer’s expectations might be (if the genre features have been explained)

12. Continuum of difficulty in written assignments
First Year Students Postgraduates
Known readers Unknown readers
Friendly readers Sceptical readers
Familiar topic Unfamiliar topic
Information is provided Information generated
Familiar genre Unfamiliar genre
Short (e.g. micro-themes) Long (e.g. dissertations)
Few sources Many sources
Single purpose Complex purposes
Well-defined task Ill-defined task
(Adapted from Hesse, 2012)

13. Effectively Designed Assignments
a meaning-constructing task
interactive components
clear explanations of the lecturer’s expectations
(Anderson, Anson, Gonyea & Paine in Bean 2011).

14. A Meaning-Constructing Task
A “meaning-constructing task” asks students to apply their own critical thinking to a problem that is relevant to the discipline they are studying.
This kind of task presents the problem within a rhetorical context that gives students a role, a purpose, a targeted audience and a genre.
Examples of the student’s role in writing are: academic expert, grant applicant, site inspector, fellow student, and so on
These are examples of purposes: clarifying something that puzzles the reader; changing the reader’s opinion about an issue; deepening the reader’s sense of an issue’s complexity.
Specifying an audience, especially one that is authentic (besides the assessor), can enhance student motivation (Hughes 2009)

15. Interactive Components
initial brainstorming or free-writing
handing in an annotated reference list before writing
writing multiple drafts
receiving feedback on drafts from the lecturer or peers
allowing students to rewrite assignments for a better mark can encourage deep learning
(Anderson, Anson, Gonyea & Paine in Bean 2011)

16. Example of an assignment
Imagine that you are a 19th century parent who wants his or her daughters to go to university (role). Write an argumentative essay (genre) to persuade (purpose) the leaders of Oxford University (audience) to admit female students. This essay should show your familiarity with the historical context and mid-19th century thinking regarding the education of women. Hand in an annotated reference list (interactive component) on 13 March 2014 and your first draft for peer feedback (interactive component) by …

17. Explaining expectations
Unpacking the assignment instructions in class
Showing students a good example of the genre they will use for writing and explaining the features of the genre
Discussing the marking grid (or rubric) in class

18. Application Activity
Discuss the following examples of assignment instructions taking the considerations for assignment designing (see handout) into account:

19. Where we are South Campus – Linda Mostert, Room 06LG11
Tel: ,
North Campus – Sivu Tywabi, M214C, 2nd Floor
Tel:
2nd Avenue Campus – Shena Lamb,
Tel:

20. References
Bean, J.C Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Cuseo, J The cornerstones of first-year student success: Research-based principles of effective human learning, student retention and personal development. Front Range Community College, Fort Collins, Colorado.
Ferris, D., & Hedgcock , J.S Teaching ESL composition: purpose, process and practice. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Hesse, D. year unknown. Writing Beyond Writing Classes: Useful Strategies for Busy Professors. Available:
Hughes, C Assessment as text production: drawing on systemic functional linguistics to frame the design and analysis of assessment tasks, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, Vol. 34, No.5, pp
Reed, Y., Granville, S., Janks, H., Makoe, P., Stein, P., van Zyl, S. with Samuel, M (Un)reliable Assessement Perspectives in Education. Special Issue Assessment of Change in Education,21(1).