Be Careful What You Ask For
By Lew Ludwig
The only way to really understand mathematics is to learn and discover it on one’s own. Thus students will select a mathematical topic, read and teach themselves any necessary background to understand it and then investigate it. Various interim reports will be collected throughout the term. Projects are graded based on the following:
Mathematical content 1/3
Creativity 1/3
Quality 1/3
This was an actual assignment I gave students in a non-majors course in the early stages of my career. What was I thinking? Not only was the topic way too broad and vague, a mathematical topic, but the grading standards? How was I to grade these things?
These students were participants in our institution’s now-retired honors program, and they mostly rose to the challenge. But only after a lot of coaxing and direction from me. Moreover, grading was a nightmare. Who was I to say the students were not creative?
As you turn to those piles of grading at the end of the semester, remember, just like my experience above, you’re the one who asked for this. Are there ways that you can still challenge your students, have them create meaningful work, and make it manageable to grade?
If you teach a seminar or upper-level course, you may turn to semester-long projects to permit students to follow their interests and play to their strengths. The sky's the limit! But in reality, giving students too many choices can be problematic. Dr. Barry Schwartz, professor of psychology at Swarthmore, has studied the effects of increased choice, which led to his book, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less. The paradox of choice states that increasing the number of available choices does not necessarily make it easier to find the best option; instead, it can actually make it harder. I definitely saw this in my students.
Try this more scaffolded approach to help students beyond the paradox of choice. Present students with a list of possible topics:
Week 1 - ask the students which three topics are most interesting to them
Week 2 - given those three topics, explore them more deeply - what is known, what prior knowledge is needed, and its applications.
Week 3 - students meet with you to discuss their findings
While this approach will take more time at the beginning of the term, especially during the meetings, it will help students arrive at their selection feeling that they made the “right” choice. While this approach addresses the choice issue, it does not address the problematic grading structure, which can still be a headache at the end of each semester.
Consider using the TILT framework for large assignments to address the grading issue. TILT stands for Transparency in Learning and Teaching, which provides a simple three-step structure: purpose, task, and criteria. Aside from making assignments more manageable to grade, with just two “TILTed” assignments, a large study showed the TILT format boosted students’ academic confidence, increased their sense of belonging, and helped students practice skills and understand their relevance beyond the classroom. These results are particularly pronounced in first-gen students.
While I have gotten better at the task part of my assignments (the step-by-step instructions), the students really value the purpose component. It answers the question: why are you making me do this particular assignment? Instructors using TILT often report fewer comments referring to assignments that “feel like busywork.” In addition, in the assignment's criteria section, you can share redacted examples of prior student work: examples that worked well, and those that did not. Often the latter is more instructive for students.
So as you turn to your piling of grading, make some notes to yourself for next year. Are there ways moving forward that you can be more strategic about your assignments, including scaffolding large assignments or using the TILT structure to increase student buy-in? As they say, an ounce of prevention (or planning) is worth a pound of ungraded projects.
Upside:
With TILT, students are more engaged with assignments and understand their purpose.
With scaffolding, students are more likely to stay on task and progress.
Both methods make grading more manageable.
Downside:
Both TILT and scaffolding take significant startup time. But if you start small, one or two assignments, within a few years of retention, the assignments will be more transparent for your students and more manageable for you to grade.
Lew Ludwig is a professor of mathematics and the Director of the Center for Learning and Teaching at Denison University. An active member of the MAA, he recently served on the project team for the MAA Instructional Practices Guide and was the creator and senior editor of the MAA’s former Teaching Tidbits blog.