Signature Assignments

SIGNATURE ASSIGNMENTS

Each General Education course will include one or more signature assignments that provide meaningful, authentic learning opportunities to engage students in learning goals of both the course and the GE curricular category and attribute(s).

HOW ARE SIGNATURE ASSIGNMENTS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER ASSIGNMENTS?

What signature assignments are:

  • Representative of student learning in the course
  • Provide authentic and meaningful learning experiences
  • Connected to learning outcomes of the course, GE curricular categories and attribute(s)

What signature assignments are not:

  • Single assignments (in-class work, low stakes assignments etc.)
  • The “most weighted” or “highest point” assignments
  • Disconnected from learning outcomes
  • Easily removed from the course

how do i design signature assignments?

 

One resource available to you is the Signature Assignment Design Checklist. This checklist will walk you through the process of designing meaningful signature assignments or modifying an existing assignment into a signature assignment. 

 

Examples of signature assignments include, but are not limited to:

  • Reflections (written, oral, artistic, multimedia)

  • Presentations (oral, visual, musical, artistic)

  • Compositions

  • Research projects

  • Service-learning projects

  • Social, economic, or environmental justice projects

  • Creative endeavors (artistic, design, technological, problem solving)

There is no media/modality requirement for signature assignments -- instead we encourage instructors to shape the assignment based on learning outcomes.

Interested in learning more? Sign up to for the Quick Start (training for course approval).