Does transparency make the work too easy for students?
What kind of difficulty or challenge do you want your students to experience? Challenging questions and problems can sometimes motivate students and stimulate their intellectual development. But some difficulties can discourage students’ motivation and even diminish their success. For example, difficulty locating the necessary resources to do their academic work, or difficulty understanding academic expectations, or difficulty assessing the quality of their work while they still can still improve it are challenges that result in lost working time and even self-doubt about whether they belong at all in a specific course or discipline or school. Transparency is necessary if you want to see the best quality work that the students can do so that you can offer them stimulating challenges to reach further. The quality of students' work improves with transparent instruction because they can spend 100% of their working time doing their best quality work. Without transparency, many students spend a large portion of their time figuring out how to approach the work and/or how to acquire the needed resources. This reduces the amount of time they can spend actually doing the work, thus reducing work quality and limiting how much a teacher can guide them to achieve. Transparent conversations with students about the purposes, tasks, and criteria for their upcoming work can help teachers to identify and provide necessary resources and understanding that students need in order to demonstrate their best work. Publications by educators on six continents offer a variety of perspectives on how transparency helps students to learn more effectively and produce higher quality work. In situations where you intend for students to approach assigned work without information about the process or the necessary resources, explain to students why this is a pedagogically sound decision and how it may stimulate their creative and investigative skills.
What if I don't want to give students information about how to do the work because my goal is for the students to figure out how to do it on their own (or be more creative)?
In some of our research studies, instructors in creative fields like performing arts, engineering, and architecture raised this question. They were concerned that providing examples to students might stifle their creativity. In these instances, we asked the instructors to share this pedagogical rationale when they explained the purpose of the assignments. For example, “The purpose of this assignment is for you to struggle and feel confused while you invent your own process and methods for addressing the problem… This may help you to focus on practicing creativity and/or research skills.” We believe this helped to preserve the students' sense of belonging and their academic confidence. Instead of doubting themselves, students expected to struggle through an intended period of feeling lost and they trusted that this would be followed by clarity and understanding. This may even have contributed to the students' higher persistence and retention rates we saw in our studies.
What if I don't have time to be transparent in my teaching?
The most time-efficient way to ensure transparency is to engage students in helping you TILT their learning experience! Invite students to parse an upcoming assignment or project by using the student version of the TILT Framework, called “Unwritten Rules: Decode Your Assignments and Decipher What's Expected.” This is how to know for sure that the upcoming work is transparent, relevant, and accessible for your students and that they all have the necessary resources to complete it before the work begins. Students are the experts on how they understand and approach upcoming work. Investing a short amount of time (usually less than 5 – 10 min) before students begin the assignment saves you time in constructing the assignment prompt. Teachers have found this reduces the amount of time they spend explaining the work to individual students later, and reduces the time spent grading the completed work. (See Winkelmes, M.A., Copeland, D., Jorgensen, E. Sloat, A., Smedley, A., Pizor, P. Johnson, K. & Jalene, S. (2015). Benefits (some unexpected) of transparent assignment design. National Teaching and Learning Forum, 24(4), 4-6.)
How is Transparency different from spoon feeding?
The student version of the TILT Framework, called “Unwritten Rules: Decode Your Assignments and Decipher What's Expected,” is a tool that stimulates students to take an active and responsible role in their learning. Using the TILT Framework improves students' ability to interpret instructions and encourages them to recognize the value and applicability of what they will learn from an assignment. The framework enhances students' metacognition and engages them actively in parsing instructions and seeking clarity and/or necessary resources before they begin their work. Using the Framework just twice in a course can encourage students to apply the framework to other academic assignments and projects and even co-curriculars. Publications by educators on six continents offer a variety of perspectives on how transparency helps students to learn more effectively and produce higher quality work.
Does Transparency lead to grade inflation?
Students can spend much of their allocated working time figuring out how to do an assignment, what the completed work might look like, and if they are working effectively. After that, they can do their best work that's possible with the remaining time. The resulting grade is not a measure of the student's their full understanding or the best work they can achieve. Rather it is an indicator of what the student has time to do after they spend a portion of their working time gathering necessary resources and figuring out an approach to the work. When students spend 100% of their allocated working time on carrying out an assignment, the quality of their work is a more accurate indicator of their understanding and best effort. College instructors who applied the TILT Framework in their teaching reported that the quality of students' work improved and the amount of time spent grading that work decreased. Teachers usually do assign higher grades to higher quality work that demonstrates better understanding. [T. Howard. (June 2019). Journal of Political Science Education 16; M. Winkelmes et al.. (May 2015). National Teaching and Learning Forum 24). Full citations are available on the TILT Examples & Resources webpage under the “Publications” heading.
Will students still benefit if my transparent assignments don't follow the Transparent Assignment Template exactly?
Yes! The Transparent Assignment Template is the visual artifact from communications between teachers and students in our study. We used it as a guide to help teachers and students think together — either online asynchronously, or in the physical classroom — about the purposes, tasks and criteria for academic work. Use it as a guide. As long as your communication with students results in their clear understanding of the purposes, tasks and criteria for their work before they start working, you can expect to see the kind of learning benefits we found in our study. When students use the Template to discuss your assignment prompts, they gain expertise in parsing assignments, and they help you to understand how to make the work more transparent for them before they begin doing it. When students using the Template reflect back to you that they understand the purposes, tasks and criteria for an assignment as you intended, that they can judge what successful work will look like, and that they have the resources and readiness they will need to complete the work, then you know you have achieved transparency.
How will I know if I'm offering transparent instruction exactly like teachers in your study did?
If you incorporate transparent instruction at your own discretion, then you'll be doing what the teachers in our study did. We asked teachers to offer transparency around the purposes, tasks and criteria for academic work in their courses in their own way at their own discretion. We offered a small amount of training via onsite and online workshops and some tools: the Transparency Framework for students, a Transparent Assignment Design Template for instructors, and a self-guided checklist for instructors. These and additional tools are available on the TILT Examples and Resources webpage. We intentionally avoided rigid protocols for how to adopt transparency in your instruction for two main reasons: 1) we expected variation; and 2) we wanted to demonstrate what teachers in a variety of higher education contexts around the country could expect if they adopted Transparent Assignment Design at their own discretion with the goal of improving students' learning and increasing equitable opportunities for all students to succeed.
Does transparency make class meetings boring for the more advanced students and does it waste their time?
For advanced students, transparent instruction serves as an affirmation of what they understand, and also an important way to improve their metacognition. This helps them fully recognize the value of what they are learning in the classroom and how they can apply it elsewhere. Transparent instruction will also help them become more self-regulating learners who are better equipped to assess the success of their in-class contributions and to make adjustments accordingly that will improve the class meeting experience for all students.
Is there variation in the effectiveness of Transparent Assignment Design across disciplines or levels of expertise?
Transparent instruction seems to benefit students across the disciplines and at all levels of expertise in classes ranging in size from small to large. A 2013 publication identifies the transparent methods that were most effective for students at introductory, intermediate, and advanced/graduate levels in a variety of disciplines (Winkelmes, Liberal Education, 2013). For example, students in advanced level STEM courses benefited from in-class activities to gauge their understanding via peer work on questions that require students to apply new concepts, while students in introductory STEM courses also benefited when instructors provided information about cognition and learning at difficult transition points in the course. In smaller introductory social science courses, students benefited from debriefing tests or assignments during class, while in larger introductory social science courses, using the TILT Framework to discuss the learning goals and design rationale of upcoming assignments was an even more effective transparent method.
We expected some of the greatest potential long-term gains in retention and graduation rates would come from offering Transparent Assignment Design in introductory and intermediate-level courses, so we focused our main efforts there first. We saw higher retention rates into the third year of college for students who received transparent instruction in at least one course in their first year of college. The benefits for students in our studies are statistically significant (with effect sizes in the small to medium range). For underserved students (first-generation, ethnically underrepresented, low-income), the gains are larger (with effect sizes in the medium to large range). The gains are in three areas: 1) metacognitive awareness of skill development, 2) belonging, 3) confidence. Some of the student benefits surprised us. For example, students in STEM courses felt the courses helped them improve their writing skills significantly, while students in enormous courses felt strongly that their instructors knew and valued them individually as students, and wanted them to succeed. In advanced undergraduate level courses, other transparent instructional methods are effective, including: offering running commentary in class about what kinds of disciplinary methods are in use, and inviting students to participate in class planning and agenda construction (Winkelmes, M.A., Bernacki, M., Butler, J., Zochowski, M., Golanics, J. & Harriss Weavil, K., Peer Review, 2016). A list of transparent methods offers more information.
Is there such a thing as too much Transparency?
Instructors who are beginning to apply transparency can sometimes include an overwhelming amount of transparency in an assignment prompt. This often happens when they discover that there are too many skills they want the students to practice at the same time while working on an assigned project. For introductory level students, too much information can become overwhelming and non-transparent because it asks students to focus on learning too many things simultaneously. Many instructors take a look at an assignment prompt and decide to divide it into several connected assignments that allow students to focus on one or two skills or learning goals at the same time. This allows space for students to practice skills, absorb feedback, reflect on the quality of their learning and then improve the quality of the work by revising it while the project is still underway.
Is there online help or a self-guided online tutorial I can use?
A self-guided checklist is available, as well as a rubric that measures the amount of transparency in an assignment. (Palmer, Michael S., Gravett, Emily O., LaFleur, Jennifer. (2018). Measuring Transparency: A Learning-Focused Assignment Rubric. To Improve the Academy 37 (2), 173-187.)
Also check the videos, podcasts, example assignments and resources on the TILT Examples and Resources webpage, including these publications:
- Winkelmes, M. (2023). Introduction to Transparency in Learning and Teaching. Perspectives In Learning, 20 (1).
- 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.). Reframing Assessment to Center Equity: Theories, Models, and Practices. Routledge.
- Winkelmes, M. (2019). How to Use the Transparency Framework. In Winkelmes, M., Boye, A., and Tapp, S., eds. Transparent Design in Higher Education Teaching and Leadership. Routledge.
What other ways can I offer transparent instruction, in addition to assignment design?
We are testing the impact of various methods of offering transparent instruction. We focused heavily on Transparent Assignment Design at the introductory and intermediate college levels, because we expected that would have the biggest possible benefit on college students' retention and graduation rates, and their continued success in careers and/or post-graduate study. Read or listen about the impact of other types of transparent instruction in the “Talking About Transparent Instruction” and “Publications” sections on the TILT Examples and Resources webpage. Please send your own examples and suggestions that you'd like to share on the TILT website to wink@tilthighered.com
How can a department or program or even a whole institution most effectively implement transparency in learning and teaching?
There are many effective models. TILT works at the statewide and regional levels and within institutions to engage teams of instructors, staff, administrators, and students in transparent strategic planning and communication work that focuses on student success goals. TILT has been used to make curricula, programs, co-curriculars, courses, and assignments more transparent, relevant, and accessible for students. Successful models include instructors, staff and administrators working together in a community of practice (or learning community). Centers for teaching and learning often organize faculty learning communities in collaboration with TILT.
How can I contribute to TILT's work and research?
We welcome your participation! There are several ways to get involved:
- Organize a group of instructors/staff from your institution who share a common institutional goal, and implement TILT as a team to pursue that goal. Gather data on the impact of your work.
- Send your own examples and suggestions that you'd like to share on the TILT website to wink@tilthighered.com
- Inquire about joining the TILT Research Team if you'd like to help us study the data we are gathering, and contribute to co-publications (wink@tilthighered.com).
- Arrange a workshop, training, or professional development day for your institution, consortium, or conference. (TILT Professional Development Opportunities)
- Please contact Mary-Ann Winkelmes (wink@tilthighered.com) with additional questions and suggestions.