Open Ended Assignments

Deanna E. MayersDirector of Curriculum

Blendedschools.net

Overview

This session will review the many tools in Blackboard that allow teachers to collect open ended  assignments from their students.  The session will focus on how to design open ended assignments so they challenge students to think deeply about the content.

Assignment Parts

1. Prompt that sets up a charge to do something

2. A product or performance that demonstrates progress in learning

3. A rubric that describes how well students need to demonstrate progress

Planning a strong Assignment or

Project1. Identify content, focus standards, and skills2. Determine the product (or performance)3. Identify demands and quality4. Write a prompt5. Write a rubric6. Do the assignment (yes, you the teacher!)7. Make an instructional plan (what resources

or learning activities will the students need to successfully complete the assignment/project?)

Adapted from Assignments Matter by Eleanor Dougherty

Authentic Project

• GRASPS is an acronym representing • Goal• Role• Audience• Situation• Performance• Standard

GRASPS projects put the student in a real-life situation in which they can apply what they have learned in the unit to create product.

GRASPS

• Goal: • Your task is• The goal is to• The problem or challenge is• The obstacles to overcome are

• Role: • You are• You have been asked to• Your job is

• Audience: • Your clients are• The target audience is• You need to convince

Situation: • The context you find yourself

in is• The challenge involves

dealing withProduct, Performance, and Purpose: •You will create a _____ in order to ______•You need to develop _______ so that _________Standards and Criteria for Success: •Your performance needs to •Your work will be judged by •Your product meet the following standards

The Understanding by Design process recommends the design of authentic projects in the form of a GRASPS.

Connections to Common Core - Deeper Learning

Delivers the skills and knowledge students will need to succeed in a world that is changing at an unprecedented pace.

Deeper learning prepares students to:•Master core academic content•Think critically and solve complex problems•Work collaboratively•Communicate effectively•Learn how to learn (e.g., self-directed learning)

Start thinking…

•Ask students to predict what would happen if an aspect of a familiar system, such as the government or transportation, were changed.

•Ask students to build something using limited resources.

•A task that generates questions and hypotheses about what may or may not work.

•Experimental, Environmental or Invention?

Project Example

Project Example

RubricsHolistic rubric

A holistic rubric requires the teacher to score the overall process or product as a whole, without judging the component parts separately (Nitko, 2001).

Analytic rubric

In contrast, with an analytic rubric, the teacher scores separate, individual parts of the product or performance first, then sums the individual scores to obtain a total score (Moskal, 2000; Nitko, 2001).

Start a New RubricMust have a Name for the rubric, consider the name

carefully if you plan to reuse the rubric.

• Add your Criteria

• Add your Achievement

• Points, Point range, or Percent

• Give some description of what that level requires/means

Rubric for Students

Choose how you want students to view the rubric:

• Students see rubric before grading

• Rubric without scores

• No

Create from existingCreate a new rubric from an existing rubric

• Choose “Create from existing” from the dropdown

• Choose the rubric you want to begin with

• Edit and submit.

Reflection Question

What are the benefits of created a project that integrates concepts or

standards in multiple content areas?

References• Understanding by Design Expanded 2nd

Edition, ASCD 2005, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

• How to Assess Higher-Order Thinking Skills in your Classroom, ASCD 2010, Susan Brookhart

• Assignments Matter, ASCD 2012, Eleanor Dougherty