Creativity in Assignment Design

This session was facilitated by FCIP’s Anti-Oppressive Pedagogies Specialist in Faculty Development Justin D. Wright and FCIP’s 2023-24 Anti-Oppressive Pedagogies Faculty Scholar Dana K. Harmon.

Part 1: Justin introduces the topic and goals for the session: to identify oppressive, inaccessible assignment design and to explore creative alternatives that allow all students to demonstrate their knowledge.

 

Part 2: Justin identifies a few basic truths about oppressive and anti-oppressive assignment design and evaluation.

 

Part 3: Justin discusses some alternative creative methods for student evaluation and student learning, such as video essays, news articles, and current events.

 

Part 4: Justin lists some questions to consider when deciding what your assignments and evaluations should measure about your students.

 

Part 5: Justin provides examples of alternative assignments that draw on students’ creativity.

 

Part 6: Justin provides examples of alternative assignments that require analysis or evaluation.

 

Part 7: Justin provides examples of alternative assignments that require work similar to a term paper, but that result in shorter documents.

 

Part 8: Justin provides examples of alternative assignments that only require students to understand the course material.

 

Part 9: Justin provides examples of alternative assignments that require the integration of many skills and types of knowledge.

 

Part 10: Justin discusses a case study of a student who benefited from a creative alternative assignment.

 

Part 11: Justin gives tips for being creative and flexible with assignments and assessments in a pre-prepared course.