What is Clear Assignment Information?

Give clear instructions and draw out what students should learn.

• How are the assignments embedded in the course and how do they help learning the course material?
• Is there a specific structure in which the assignments are worked off? E.g. feedback loops, building up on each other, ...
• What are the deadlines and how do you handle late submissions?
• If you prefer no deadlines, state which submissions are accepted.
• Do students have to present something and how do you envision a presentation?
• How do they find out when their presentation is due?
• Do students have to form groups? Is there a process to find team members?
• Do you have tips or help for finding group mates?
• Specify how students can demonstrate that they master the topic in the assignments.
• What are the important assessment criteria?

Why Does it Matter?

• Online students need a reliable source of information that they can go back to and look things up because they have much less opportunities to double check in person or verbally.
• Often enough, online students and you have no common background or shared understanding of your expectations.
• People usually approach tasks based on the academic culture from their home university and major (which might strongly differ from what you want to see!).