The elements of assessment design for digital and multimodal projects follow established best practices for assessment design in general. You will need to align your assignments closely with your learning outcomes, make sure the assignments are achievable and level-appropriate, provide scaffolding for each assignment, and be transparent with your instructions and expectations.
However, digital and multimodal assignments have some special considerations as well. These types of projects may be less familiar to students, so extra explanation, time, and support is necessary.
When designing a digital assignment for the first time, it’s best to start small. You don’t need to completely overhaul your curriculum and you don’t want to end up entangled in a vast, complicated plan. Try adjusting an existing assignment or creating a new one that measures similar outcomes. Focus on content you already teach well and that aligns with your course objectives. While digital projects are often suited for end-of-semester research, they can take many forms depending on your course needs.
Incorporating a digital research project into your classroom requires planning and preparation to make sure that your students are set up for success. Here are five steps to consider when designing your project:
Each step is described in more detail below. When each of these steps is followed, it helps immensely in creating a digital research assignment that is clear and concise. The goal is to provides support for students to understand what they need to do and do it well.
Ideally, you will want to start planning and designing your project early to ensure enough time to refine the project and develop a scaffolded approach to student learning.
To start your assignment design, start by thinking about your course learning outcomes. What types of assessments and research projects could demonstrate mastery of those outcomes? What is your vision for the skills that students will learn? Work backwards from here to figure out what requirements you’ll have and what tasks students will have to take to complete the project.
Next, consider what research questions your students will be answering and determine how broad or narrow to make the focus of the research. Remember that a digital research project should still incorporate all of the components of a traditional one. Students should be asked to incorporate sources, synthesize information, relay important arguments, and present a unifying thesis to answer a research question.
Think through format options for your students’ final products. What final products would align with learning outcomes and students’ research goals? Will you accept any type of final product or will it be more defined based on the goals of the assignment?
Identify the digital methods, tools, or existing technical infrastructure that students will use for the project. You can limit the number of choices or leave it completely open to the students. If requiring specific tools, select tools that are either open access or supported through AU.
Lastly, make sure to have an understanding of the technical skills that students might need to successfully complete the project. Walk through the tasks you’re asking students to do and try out the technologies you’re asking students to use so you have a sense of what they will need and how to avoid potential barriers.
When designing your assignment, be sure to specify the purpose, clearly articulate the central task and all instructions, and specify format and citation requirements or other parameters.
Once you have a sense of the basic design for the assessment, you should spend some time determining how you will support your students during the project. Consider the following questions:
Determine ahead of time what support you can or will be willing to offer to your students during the creation phase. If your students need help during the semester while they work on their project, what will you or won’t you be able to help them with? If you can’t help them with a particular piece of the project, think now about who can and make sure your students know how to get in touch with them.
It can be helpful to select a set of support resources ahead of time for your students. Direct them to tutorials, workshops, or campus resources (like the Library). Look for existing resources before designing or creating your own.
As part of your assessment design, create a rubric that clearly outlines the grading criteria for the project. Clearly articulate to your students what your expectations are for their final projects. Whenever possible, try to prioritize process and effort alongside the final product. This will help your students feel more comfortable experimenting and will keep them focused on the research aspects of their project.
As much as possible, try to avoid grading students on the professional quality of their final product. Evaluate their work according to the goals of the project, the quality of their research, and how they chose to present it. In most instances, students should not be expected to produce a professional-quality documentary, podcast, or website as part of their research project. Remember that the ultimate task is still generating new knowledge and contributing towards scholarship. Always keep in mind the overall point of the assignment and what successful completion of the outcomes looks like.
Before students begin work on their digital research projects, decide whether you want to preserve their work. Are you interested in making the products they recreate available for external audiences or future students in upcoming semesters? If so, try to think about what preservation steps you'll want to take before the projects are finished.
If you plan to share their work openly, consider having the students add a Creative Commons license to their work so others can reuse it.