Overview (Spring 2025)
Do you find it challenging to manage course content while also fielding unexpected student questions about completing assignments? Would you like to learn how to develop strong writing prompts, communicate clear expectations, and provide better scaffolding and support to students? Are you seeking a community that you can discuss the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on assignment design with? The Transparent Assignments Series is designed to guide you through the process of revising an assignment for clarity and transparency so that you have fewer process questions to answer and more students can succeed at the task. Did you know that transparent teaching is actually an equity minded teaching strategy? Faculty who adopt this evidence-based practice can reduce gaps in retention rates among first-generation students.
Please join the Learning Resource Center (LRC) and Faculty Development for a four-part series as we work toward creating more transparent writing prompts, better scaffolding, and more effective collaborations between instructors and the Writing Center.
Program Dates & Times
We'll meet from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on four Tuesdays:
February 18 with the option to join in-person in FacDev Commons or via Zoom
February 25, March 4 & 11 via Zoom.
What are the easy steps involved?
Complete a short application.
Enroll in the online, asynchronous Get Up to Speed with Transparency in Teaching Canvas course. You will be assigned modules to complete before and then throughout the series.
Attend and fully engage in (including keeping camera on) all three series meetings and the final one-on-one consultant meeting.
Work with a writing instructor from the Learning Resource Center to modify your assignment guidelines in one of your spring courses using our easy template.
Share your revised assignment guidelines and complete a follow-up FacDev final assessment.
Who is eligible to apply?
All faculty, tenure-track and lecturers who are teaching during the spring 2025 semester with a real assignment they want to significantly revise are encouraged to apply. This is highly appropriate for faculty who give writing assignments and are interested in learning how a partnership with the LRC could be optimized. Priority will be given to those who have not yet learned about transparent assignments and faculty not already implementing a specific teaching intervention this semester.
Funding
$200 for completing all program requirements. Refer to the steps involved in the program in the section above for a list of program requirements. If you have previously completed this program, you are welcome to apply again but you will not be eligible to receive funding.
Application
Applications are no longer being accepted. Please join this interest list to receive information about our next program.
Unable to Attend?
We typically offer this series each semester and sometimes as a two-hour workshop. We have even been invited to departments to provide this workshop; contact us at facdev@csun.edu if you'd like us to come to you. However, we also have an entire resource about this template in our Transparent Assignments Teaching Toolkit, which you can learn more about asynchronously.