8 Assignment Design

Your course may have multiple types of assessment and evaluative events, but there are two tasks specific to a TBL module of learning: the quizzes that are part of the RAP and the group application activities. As with the careful design of learning outcomes and TBL modules, these tasks should also be developed with intention and care with the priority of providing formative assessment. Tasks should be frequent and provide early, immediate feedback to support learning.

“The most clarifying action a student can take is to make a decision” (Roberson & Franchini, 2014, p. 278).

As noted in the section on outcomes based design, TBL course and module learning outcomes are aimed at higher order cognitive learning and the tasks should be designed to support them. In completing tasks, students should demonstrate the verbs that reflect application, analysis and evaluation. The activities should be rich and substantial enough to require collective decision making and not be solved with a simple Google search.

It is important that task should not focus on a “product” as this creates an urgency to produce and team discussion will be more on the logistics of how to produce it, rather than engaging with the group process to address the problem and the rich learning that comes with it. This further supports that the group tasks should largely have low or no stakes grading (Dickinson, 2011; Michaelsen & Sweet, 2008; Roberson & Franchini, 2014; Sibley & Ostafichuk, 2015).