7 Assignment selection

What considerations did you bring to your assignment selections? Did you think about word counts, scheduling, etc.?

EG: I built my assignments around my learning objectives:

• A learning objective emphasizing close, contextual, and situated reading practices became a “Group Annotation and Reflection” assignment
• The goal of applying theoretical frameworks to contemporary cultural artifacts became a “Semiotic Analysis” assignment
• The goals of applying cultural studies approaches to your everyday life, and of practicing reflexivity, became a “Personal Cultures Essay”
• And a learning outcome about noticing connections between course material and your everyday life became short “Weekly Update” reflection pieces

If you want to get technical, the approach to assignment “decision-making” is part of a pedagogical model of “constructive alignment” which argues that course outcomes, your chosen teaching and learning activities, and assessments should all inform one another. The takeaway here is to trace clear rationales between the intended outcomes, readings, and assessments—but if you’d like to see this approach in action, I’d recommend recent Sherman Centre graduate resident Katherine Eaton’s blog post on working with this model for course design.