Equitable Learning Opportunities Through Transparent Assignment Design

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An online workshop led by Mary-Ann Winkelmes, Brandeis University

FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021
10 A.M.-12 NOON

Open at no cost to Virginia faculty/instructors of any rank or discipline, but space is limited! (Additional sessions may be added if interest exceeds capacity.)

The new incoming student population in U.S. higher education is increasingly diverse, multi-generational and non-traditional. Yet these are the same students colleges and universities often struggle to serve adequately. Transparent instruction is a technique that promotes student success on several dimensions and is easy to apply in both online and face-to-face settings. Studies have shown that using transparent assignments significantly enhances the performance, academic self-confidence, sense of belonging, and persistence of all students, with historically underserved students showing the greatest gains (Winkelmes et al., 2016; Gianoutsos & Winkelmes, 2016; Winkelmes et al., 2019). Join us for this highly interactive online workshop, led by one of the country’s leading scholars of transparent instruction.

The workshop will consist of four parts:

  1. Review of research findings
  2. Small-group discussion of sample assignments
  3. Work in pairs or groups to apply the evidence-based Transparency in Learning & Teaching (TILT) framework to the design of one of your own class activities or assignments
  4. Brief presentation of ongoing opportunities to deepen your learning

Participants will leave with a draft assignment or activity for one of their courses and a concise set of strategies for designing transparent assignments and class activities that equitably promote students’ success in online, face-to-face, and hybrid teaching/learning environments.

This event is brought to you by the Virginia Educational Development Network and the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), with generous financial support from the Lumina Foundation.

About the Presenter
Mary-Ann Winkelmes is the executive director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Brandeis University. She has held senior leadership roles in the campus teaching centers at Harvard University, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and has taught as a member of history and art history departments at most of those institutions. Winkelmes founded and directs the Transparency in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (TILT Higher Ed) Project, which promotes direct conversation between faculty and students about methods of teaching and learning. She has published book chapters and peer-reviewed articles on college teaching and learning and on the history of art and architecture. She has received numerous teaching awards as well as grants for her art historical research from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Kress, Delmas, and Mellon foundations. Winkelmes holds a PhD from Harvard University.

Please contact Jodi Fisler if you have any questions.