Higher ed hosts a bewildering number of professors who 1.) fail to provide examples of completed projects and assignments, 2.) actively avoid examples on the premise of promoting creativity, and 3.) presumably enjoy a comfort zone of non-clarity.
Possible Solutions:
Rubrics and Examples
- Rubrics clarify assignment expectations, guiding students on where to spend their energy and creativity.
- Rubrics support teachers in grading neutrally, quickly, and clearly.
- Examples communicate vast amounts of information about quality, completeness, and acceptable work.
- Multiple examples inspire creativity instead of limiting it.
"Two or more vastly different examples of successful A-grade assignments encourage student inferences and higher-order critical analysis. Multiple examples expand creativity rather than limiting it." —NRS
Addressing Privacy/Copyright Issues
- Get written permission from previous students to display their work.
- Bite the bullet. Start from scratch and create new project examples yourself.
- State copyright and ownership of the work clearly the course introduction, including that students may not copy or reuse the examples provided.
- Define plagiarism clearly—with examples--and reiterate the school’s policies. Many international students bring vastly different cultural and institutional perspectives on plagiarism, citations, original work, sharing, cheating, etc.
