The only way to really understand mathematics is to learn and discover it on one’s own. Thus students will select a mathematical topic, read and teach themselves any necessary background to understand it and then investigate the topic. Various interim reports will be collected throughout the term. Projects are graded based on the following:
Mathematical content 1/3
Creativity 1/3
Quality 1/3
This was an actual assignment I gave students in a non-majors course in the early stages of my career. What was I thinking! Not only was the topic way too broad and vague, a mathematical topic, but the grading standards? How was I to grade these things?
These students were participants in Denison’s now-retired honors program, and they mostly rose to the challenge. But only after a lot of coaxing and direction from me. Moreover, grading was a nightmare. Who was I to say the students were not creative?
As we turn to those piles of grading at the end of the semester, remember, just like my experience above, you’re the one who asked for this. Are there ways that we can still challenge our students, have them create meaningful work, and make it manageable to grade?
My hope in creating such a wide-open assignment was to permit students to follow their interests and play to their strengths. The sky’s the limit! But in reality, I was giving my students too much choice. Dr. Barry Schwartz, professor of psychology at Swarthmore, has studied the effects of increased choice, which led to his book, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less. The paradox of choice states that increasing the number of available choices does not necessarily make it easier to find the best option; instead, it can actually make it harder. I definitely saw this in my students.
The next time I taught the course, I tried a scaffolded approach:
Week 1 – which three chapters were most interesting to you
Week 2 – given those three chapters, look at the unanswered questions at the end of each chapter, then choose two that are interesting to you.
Week 3 – meet with me to discuss those six questions
While this approach took more effort on my part, especially during the meetings, it did help students arrive at their selection feeling that they made the “right” choice. This approach addressed the choice issue, but it did not address my problematic grading structure, which was still a headache at the end of each semester.
More recently, I have turned to the TILT framework for large assignments. TILT stands for Transparency in Learning and Teaching, which provides a simple three-step structure: purpose, task, and criteria. Aside from making the assignments more manageable to grade, with just two assignments, the TILT format has been shown to boost students’ academic confidence, increase their sense of belonging, and help students practice skills and understand their relevance beyond the classroom. These results are particularly pronounced in first-gen students.
While I have gotten better at the task part of my assignments (the step-by-step instructions), the students really value the purpose component. It answers the question: Why are you making me do this particular assignment? Instructors using TILT often report a decrease in comments referring to assignments that “feel like busywork.” In addition, in the criteria section of the assignment I share redacted examples of prior submissions. Examples that worked well, and those that did not. Oftentimes the latter were more instructive for students.
So as we turn to our piling of grading, make some notes to self for next year. Are there ways moving forward that we can be more strategic about our assignments, including scaffolding large writing assignments or using the TILT structure to increase student buy-in? As they say, an ounce of prevention (or planning) is worth a pound of ungraded essays.
Upside:
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With TILT, students are more engaged with assignments and understand their purpose.
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With scaffolding, students are more likely to stay on task and progress.
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Both methods make grading more manageable.
Downside:
- Both TILT and scaffolding take significant startup time. But if you start small, one or two assignments, within a few years of retention, the assignments will be more transparent for your students and more manageable for you to grade.
Still learning from my misstakes mistakes…