ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
Introduction
Pretend that you’re an instructor of an online course. You want your students to reveal their proficiency in analyzing and interpreting a particular idea from your course, so you’ve decided to assign them a formal writing assignment. Here’s what you’ll do:
Directions
Write the assignment prompt. The prompt should make your expectations clear in terms of what you want your students to write about, but it shouldn’t try to micro-manage what they do (if you’re too prescriptive, you’ll have to grade twenty papers that are all the same). The prompt should make it clear what subject you’re teaching (it’s up to you—anthropology, criminal justice, math, whatever—just be sure that the reader can tell what the course subject is).
Create a rubric for the assignment—this is something that lets the student know how they’ll be graded, and also guides them toward the goals you want them to achieve. You can use the rubrics in this course as a model if you like, or choose some other kind of rubric (there are many different types) after doing some research. DO NOT COPY any rubric, but you can use it as a guide to create your own.
Write a summary of your work that explains
What kind of writing assignment you’ve chosen, out of the three Irvin identifies
Why you chose the one you did, i.e. why you think it’s best suited for your subject matter/prompt
What you think the most difficult part of the assignment will be for your students, and why?
HOW TO WORK ON THIS ASSIGNMENT ( EXAMPLE ESSAY/ DRAFT)
As the instructor of an online course, I have chosen to give my students a formal writing assignment to gauge their ability to analyze and comprehend a specific concept from the course. I will describe the assignment’s instructions, the grading criteria, and a description of my work in this essay.
Assignment Prompt: Throughout this sociology course, you have been exposed to a variety of theories and concepts. You will be required to evaluate and understand the concept from the course that most appeals to you for this task. Write a thorough investigation of the concept in your essay and discuss its significance for sociology.