---
tags: bok-seminar
---

# alt-assignments-day-01

## activity 0: introductions

- who are we?
- what/why are alternative assignments?
- intro to some of the basic terms used in assignment design

## activity 1: goals

Let's start by trying to articulate our hopes and dreams by writing down some ideas on cards. Let's break them down into:

1. learning objectives for our students: things we want them to know or be able to do by the end of a given lesson or course (it's sometimes helpful to take a look at something like Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives for an activity like this)
2. all the other goals you may have, as a teacher, as a scholar, as a citizen, as a representative of your discipline. Really feel free to think big here. Do you want to create a more equitable University? more educated citizens? Do you want to stop climate change? (maybe limit yourself to goals you think Higher Ed can actually tackle!)

List as many of these as you can as individuals in 5 minutes, then share with a partner. As you share, definitely feel free to add more goals of your own if their cards are giving you ideas.

## activity 2: forms

In pairs, poke around on the internet together, linking below examples of forms or communication and making that inspire you. These can certainly be examples of academic work, but they needn't be.

As you share with each other, try to come up with some language for articulating what the work is doing and why you think there's something intriguing there for students.
* Does it offer a new way of communicating the ideas of your discipline?
* Does it help provide a more authentic means of assessment?
* Is it interesting in ways that are hard to define?

Please share links to anything digital here, but also write the names of the interesting forms you discover on cards!




### inspirations

- Explainer video/animation
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/33746058?h=a77882875d" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/33746058">CreatureCast - Tardigrades</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user1747626">Casey Dunn</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

- Infographic

- [oral history of manhattan project scientists and their equations](https://www.manhattanprojectvoices.org/):
- making wikipedia entry

- Physical models
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_KTlbRLGvEQ" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>


- Debate
- Podcast
- Game ( Class specific Boggle-trivia-jeopardy)
- Mock teaching

- Data visualization (e.g. provide a dataset and goal)
- Know and show (e.g. ask students to redraw and explain figure from an important paper)
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## activity 3: alignment

While we won't by any means solve this problem today, our goal over the next two weeks is to consider how can discover alignment between the results of activities 1 and 2.

## links

- The Harvard College Writing Program's [Brief Guide to the Elements of the Academic Essay](https://writingproject.fas.harvard.edu/files/hwp/files/hwp_brief_guides_elements.pdf)
- The HCWP's [Brief Guide to Designing Essay Assignments](https://writingproject.fas.harvard.edu/files/hwp/files/hwp_brief_guide_assignments.pdf?m=1370441313)
- The Vanderbilt Center for Teaching's page on [Understanding By Design](https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/understanding-by-design/)

- Video essays. example, [Black Boyhood](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtXPTGkuJIA)
- key terms
- [formative vs summative assessment](https://www.gre.ac.uk/learning-teaching/assessment/assessment/design/formative-vs-summative#:~:text=Formative%20assessments%20have%20low%20stakes,against%20some%20standard%20or%20benchmark.)

## inspirations

### Scavenger Hunts

Link to company that puts on [Scavenger Hunts](https://www.cluego.net/locations/events-throughout-globe/boston/?gclid=CjwKCAjwy_aUBhACEiwA2IHHQDErK_P8WMV-XcZjJ9c1l9oxfTARTT8OdzvFA8JnY_Vht61RJdB6WRoCUHkQAvD_BwE)

### Zines
[zine on issuu from mimi thi nguyen](https://issuu.com/poczineproject/docs/evolution-of-a-race-riot-issue-1): written by a zinester turned academic
- [barnard zine library w/ resources](https://zines.barnard.edu/)
- [COVID-19 zine from asian american feminist collective](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59f87d66914e6b2a2c51b657/t/5e7bbeef7811c16d3a8768eb/1585168132614/AAFCZine3_CareintheTimeofCoronavirus.pdf)
-

###

## notes