Creative Assignments Workshop (4/22/22)

If you're interested in viewing the slides from our Creative Assignments workshop (4/22/22), please use the link below. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-5DgunvNZL69rseSmce0RkNIV8dptNed/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=102739642533239513676&rtpof=true&sd=true - GJS

Since we ran out of time to discuss the creative rubric examples today, I've posted links below. Please take a look and consider sharing your thoughts, or your own examples of rubrics you use to evaluate creative work, as a comment on this post! - GJS Creative Thinking VALUE Rubric (from AACU): https://teaching.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/value_rubric_packet.pdf Creativity Process & Product (from OECD): https://www.oecd.org/education/class-friendly-assessment-rubric-creativity.pdf Co-Creating Rubrics with Students (from UC Boulder): https://www.colorado.edu/center/teaching-learning/teaching-resources/assessment/assessing-student-learning/rubrics/co-creating-rubrics-students

Hope this is the right place to share this: 10 Individual Reflections @ two points each (essentially “Gimmes”). Starting in Week Two, students are asked to develop (guided) reflections on their independent and (starting in Week Three) collaborative coursework for a given week. Not only do they articulate their new learning, they connect that to prior knowledge as well as examine their work habits and related choices. Students have the following options for these reflections: • Traditional 2-3 page essay • 5-6 minute Voice Recording or Video • Sketchnotes (a hybrid of note-taking and creative doodles that presents students’ grasp of new information, gleaned from scholarly reading, and connection of those ideas to specific novels, plays, or films in the course) Collaborative Project #1 @ 20 possible points (Due at the end of Week Five) Student learning teams review and evaluate two recent journal articles (less than ten years old) on material presented during the first third of the course. The project also includes a works cited or bibliography page and collaboratively written (guided) reflection on team work habits and related choices. Teams can choose between: • TV Newscast (WeVideo) • TV Talkshow (WeVideo) • Podcast -- starting in Fall 2022 – (anchor.fm) Collaborative Project #2 @ 20 Possible Points (Due at the end of Week 10) Student learning teams review and evaluate two books, two journal articles, and two digital sources to have to do in some way with intersections between course material on one hand, and systems of power, oppression, equity, and justice on the other AND create a readers’ guide based on that work. The project also includes a works cited or bibliography page and collaboratively written (guided) reflection on team work habits and related choices. Teams can choose between: • Readers’ Guide Flipbook (Flipsnack) • Reader’s Guide Infographic (Canva) Collaborative Project #3 @ 20 possible points (Due at the end of Week 14) Student learning teams 1) revisit five to six novels, plays, or films presented in the course, 2) examine them in terms of power, oppressions, equity, and justice, AND 3) brainstorm practical solutions to how we might better address similar longstanding ills in 21st century society. The project also includes a works cited or bibliography page and collaboratively written (guided) reflection on team work habits and related choices. Teams can choose between: • Interactive Academic Poster (Power Point or Prezi) • Interactive Digital Scrapbook (Canva) Capstone Project – Individual Semester Reflection @ 20 Possible Points (Due at the end of Week 15) Students develop a guided reflection in which they revisit and evaluate their learning for the course. Students have the following options: • Traditional Five to Six-page Self-Assessment Essay • Five to Six-minute Self-Assessment Video Questions for “Guided” Individual or Team Reflection • For you introduction, describe your work and related activities for the week/semester in general. • Briefly describe the projects, processes, and skills you will discuss. • Discuss three points/projects you found most enjoyable and explain why. • Explain three processes for the projects described above. Describe how the processes were challenging and rewarding. • Explain three skills you gained or improved upon during the week/semester. These do not have to relate to what you have discussed already, but they can. • Describe why you find these new or improved skills interesting, useful, enjoyable, and/or challenging. • How might you improve your independent and/or collaborative work habits and related choices in the course? • Describe your biggest “A-ha Moment” this week/semester. • How does that same “A-ha Moment” connect to something you have learned in other courses? • In your conclusion, do not simply summarize what you have already said. Answer the implied “So, what?” question. • Leave yourself (and your reader) with something to think about. • Remember, this is not a forum to complain about team members, assignments, the course, instructor, or previous grades.

After the workshop ended, we struck up a discussion about the issue of scale when it comes to creative assignments, namely: How do you incorporate creativity/alternative modalities into especially large classes? The example from our discussion was the 450-person IAH courses that run in lecture halls, but we could certainly use this discussion to comment on the ways we scale creative assignments to class size as well. What experience do you have with handling the challenges of creativity with a large group? Alternately, if you have any sources that address this question, please feel free to share here as well!