Transparent Assignment Design

Example A: Sociology 

Example B: Science 101 

Example C: Psychology

Example D: Communications

Authors of Examples A-D describe the outcomes of their assignment revisions

Example E: Biology

Discussion Questions (about Examples A-E)

Example F: Library research Assignment

Example G: Criminal Justice In-Class activity

Example H: Criminal Justice Assignment

Example I: Political Science Assignment

Example J: Criteria for Math Writing

Example K – Environmental History

Example L – Calculus

Example M – Algebra

Example N – Finance

Transparent Assignments Promote Equitable Opportunities for Students’ Success Video Recording

Transparent Assignment Design Faculty Workshop Video Recording

• Transparent Assignment Template for instructors (Word Document download)
• Checklist for Designing Transparent Assignments
• Assignment Cues to use when designing an assignment (adapted from Bloom’s Taxonomy) for faculty
• Transparent Equitable Learning Readiness Assessment for Teachers
• Transparent Assignment Template for students (to help students learn to parse assignments also to frame a conversation to gather feedback from your students about how to make assignments more transparent and relevant for them)
• Measuring Transparency: A Learning-focused Assignment Rubric (Palmer, M., Gravett, E., LaFleur, J.)
• Transparent Equitable Learning Framework for Students (to frame a conversation with students about how to make the purposes, tasks and criteria for class activities transparent and relevant for them)

• Howard, Tiffiany, Mary-Ann Winkelmes, and Marya Shegog. “Transparency Teaching in the Virtual Classroom: Assessing the Opportunities and Challenges of Integrating Transparency Teaching Methods with Online Learning.” Journal of Political Science Education, June 2019.
• Ou, J. (2018, June), Board 75 : Work in Progress: A Study of Transparent Assignments and Their Impact on Students in an Introductory Circuit Course Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah.
• Palmer, M. S., Gravett, E. O., & LaFleur, J. (2018). Measuring transparency: A learning‐focused assignment rubric. To Improve the Academy, 37(2), 173-187. doi:10.1002/tia2.20083
• Winkelmes, M., Allison Boye and Suzanne Tapp, ed.s. (2019). Transparent Design in Higher Education Teaching and Leadership.Stylus Publishing.
• Humphreys, K., Winkelmes, M.A., Gianoutsos, D., Mendenhall, A., Fields, L.A., Farrar, E., Bowles-Terry, M., Juneau-Butler, G., Sully, G., Gittens, S. Cheek, D. (forthcoming 2018). Campus-wide Collaboration on Transparency in Faculty Development at a Minority-Serving Research University. In Winkelmes, Boye, Tapp, (Eds.), Transparent Design in Higher Education Teaching and Leadership.
• Copeland, D.E., Winkelmes, M., & Gunawan, K. (2018). Helping students by using transparent writing assignments. In T.L. Kuther (Ed.), Integrating Writing into the College Classroom: Strategies for Promoting Student Skills, 26-37. Retrieved from the Society for the Teaching of Psychology website.
• Winkelmes, Mary-Ann, Matthew Bernacki, Jeffrey Butler, Michelle Zochowski, Jennifer Golanics, and Kathryn Harriss Weavil. “A Teaching Intervention that Increases Underserved College Students’ Success.”Peer Review (Winter/Spring 2016).
• Transparency and Problem-Centered Learning. (Winter/Spring 2016) Peer Review vol.18, no. 1/2.b
• Winkelmes, Mary-Ann. Small Teaching Changes, Big Learning Benefits.” ACUE Community ‘Q’ Blog, December, 2016.
• Winkelmes, Mary-Ann. “Helping Faculty Use Assessment Data to Provide More Equitable Learning Experiences.” NILOA Guest Viewpoints. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois and Indiana University, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment, March 17, 2016.
• Gianoutsos, Daniel, and Mary-Ann Winkelmes.“Navigating with Transparency: Enhancing Underserved Student Success through Transparent Learning and Teaching in the Classroom and Beyond.” Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Association of Developmental Educators (Spring 2016).
• Sodoma, Brian.“The End of Busy Work.” UNLV Magazine 24,1 (Spring 2016): 16-19.
• Cook, Lisa and Daniel Fusch. One Easy Way Faculty Can Improve Student Success.” Academic Impressions (March 10, 2016).
• Head, Alison and Kirsten Hosteller. “Mary-Ann Winkelmes: Transparency in Teaching and Learning,” Project Information Literacy, Smart Talk Interview, no. 25. Creative Commons License 3.0 : 2 September 2015.
• Winkelmes, Mary-Ann, et al. David E. Copeland, Ed Jorgensen, Alison Sloat, Anna Smedley, Peter Pizor, Katharine Johnson, and Sharon Jalene. “Benefits (some unexpected) of Transparent Assignment Design.”  National Teaching and Learning Forum, 24, 4 (May 2015), 4-6.
• Winkelmes, Mary-Ann. “Equity of Access and Equity of Experience in Higher Education.” National Teaching and Learning Forum, 24, 2 (February 2015), 1-4.
• Cohen, Dov, Emily Kim, Jacinth Tan, Mary-Ann Winkelmes,“A Note-Restructuring Intervention Increases Students’ Exam Scores.” College Teaching vol. 61, no. 3 (2013): 95-99.
• Winkelmes, Mary-Ann.”Transparency in Teaching: Faculty Share Data and Improve Students’ Learning.” Liberal Education Association of American Colleges and Universities (Spring 2013).
• Winkelmes, Mary-Ann. “Transparency in Learning and Teaching: Faculty and students benefit directly from a shared focus on learning and teaching processes.”  NEA Higher Education Advocate (January 2013): 6 – 9.
• Bhavsar, Victoria Mundy. (2020). A Transparent Assignment to Encourage Reading for a Flipped Course, College Teaching, 68:1, 33-44, DOI: 10.1080/87567555.2019.1696740
• Bowles-Terry, Melissa, John C. Watts, Pat Hawthorne, and Patricia Iannuzzi. “Collaborating with Teaching Faculty on Transparent Assignment Design.” In Creative Instructional Design: Practical Applications for Librarians, edited by Brandon K. West, Kimberly D. Hoffman, and Michelle Costello, 291–311. Atlanta: American Library Association, 2017.
• Leuzinger, Ryne and Grallo, Jacqui, “Reaching First- Generation and Underrepresented Students through Transparent Assignment Design.” (2019). Library Faculty Publications and Presentations. 11. https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/lib_fac/11
• Fuchs, Beth, “Pointing a Telescope Toward the Night Sky: Transparency and Intentionality as Teaching Techniques” (2018). Library Presentations. 188. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/libraries_present/188
• Ferarri, Franca; Salis, Andreas; Stroumbakis, Kostas; Traver, Amy; and Zhelecheva, Tanya, “Transparent Problem-Based Learning Across the Disciplines in the Community College Context: Issues and Impacts” (2015).NERA Conference Proceedings 2015. 9. https://opencommons.uconn.edu/nera-2015/9
• Milman, Natalie B. Tips for Success: The Online Instructor’s (Short) Guide to Making Assignment Descriptions More Transparent. Distance Learning. Greenwich Vol. 15, Iss. 4, (2018): 65-67. 3
• Winkelmes, M. (2023). Introduction to Transparency in Learning and Teaching. Perspectives In Learning, 20 (1). Retrieved from https://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/pil/vol20/iss1/2
• Brown, J., et al. (2023). Perspectives in Learning: TILT Special Issue, 20 (1). Retrieved from https://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/pil/vol20/iss1/
• Winkelmes, M. (2022). “Assessment in Class Meetings: Transparency Reduces Systemic Inequities.” In Henning, G. W., Jankowski, N. A., Montenegro, E., Baker, G. R., & Lundquist, A. E. (Eds.). (2022). Reframing Assessment to Center Equity: Theories, Models, and Practices. Stylus Publishing, LLC.